To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba. [1] Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. [2] Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,and cleanse me from my sin! [3] For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. [4] Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. [5] Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Here we learn four things about repentance. 1) Repentance requires that we feel the weight of our sin. David says “against you, you only have I sinned.” David, of course, knows he sinned against others as well. He sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, himself, and the nation as a whole. But in comparison to all that his sin against God was so infinitely greater that it’s all he could think about. 2) Repentance requires that we own the guilt of our sin. David says “that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” David doesn’t minimise his sin or make himself out to be the victim of poor circumstances. He owns his sin and knows God would be just to judge him for it. 3) Repentance requires knowing the steadfast love of God right from the outset. David says “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” Owning our sin and feeling our sin is a difficult thing to do. If we don't feel the safety that comes with knowing the steadfast love of our heavenly Father, it becomes almost impossible to own it fully. It is so comforting to open the Lord’s prayer with the words “our Father” and to say that long before we come to the moment of repentance in the Lord’s prayer. 4) Finally, repentance requires us to turn from our sin and to forgive others who sin against us. This last thing is easier said than done. How do we forgive others their sin against us? Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us”. (Eph 4:32 – 5:2) To forgive others we need to know the forgiveness of God and know ourselves to be beloved children who are imitating their Father in heaven.
