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Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Yesterday we looked at the circumstances behind this Psalm. The major players were David, Bathsheba & Uriah. David initiated an affair with a married woman, she conceived, and then David orchestrated the killing of Bathsheba's husband Uriah...a noble warrior.
If we were grocery listing, let's see...David for sure committed adultery. Murder would make the list. He literally coveted his neighbor's wife. That's three of the Top Ten. He didn't just think about them. He did them.
If we secretly looked in our own hearts, we'd be feeling pretty good about ourselves, wouldn't we? We might've thought about 'em, but we didn't do 'em.
David was confronted by Nathan the prophet...and, for some reason, I made a notation in my Bible that this took place about a year afterward. Don't quote me on that, though, until I dig up where I found out that information. Anyway, let's take a look at the nature of this particular individual confession.
Note the first thing David appeals to: He asks God to be gracious to him. He's asking God for a favor he doesn't deserve and an enablement that only God can give him. He knew he couldn't earn God's forgiveness. He knew he didn't deserve God's forgiveness. He was giving God the freedom to be God and realizing that he wasn't Him...just like the Israelites did in Nehemiah 9 (see below).
And then, in similar fashion to the Israelites, he focuses on God, not himself. God's a God of loyal love...that no matter how bad we are He still holds up His end of the bargain. His compassion is great. Certainly capable of blotting out transgressions.
He asked to be washed from moral evil. Cleansed from sin. These particular terms might have been phrases used in tabernacle rituals that would allow an Israelite to get back into a right relationship with God, making them clean for service and worship.
And take note of the fact that, in verse 4, David pinpoints the worst affront is actually to God Himself. Not Bathsheba. Not Uriah or his family. Not himself, his wives or his family. Not even the nation of Israel. He took full responsibility for his own sin against His God. But then he focuses on God again: Just and blameless.
Then, in verses 5--7, he admits that He has a sin nature. Had it since birth...it wasn't his environment that caused the problem. The devil didn't make him do it. It wasn't a case of situational ethics. Nope. He was lured and enticed by his very own desires.
And, finally, he describes the pain he's in. Emotionally, he no longer is joyful. He's unhappy most of the time. He describes his pain as that similar to a broken bone...and I'd imagine in his younger days as a warrior he'd probably broken a bone or two, or he'd at least seen them broken and the pain that resulted from them.
What is missing? The grocery list of the sin. Remember earlier that I could even list them. I know David could've. But he didn't feel the need to record them for us. Maybe he did in more private moments, but I'd suggest that David didn't feel it was necessary.
It was more important to seek God's face, talk with Him through his own joyless pain, and admit to God that He was God and David wasn't...and to appeal to God and Him alone to hide His face from the sin...to blot out the iniquity..to purify him...to wash him...to cleanse him...
Not because he deserved it.
But because God is gracious. And loyally loving. With great compassion. Just. Blameless as Judge. Knowing us in our innermost being. Capable of giving us wisdom.
So, as I sit here, it seems evident to me that confession has more to do with focusing on God and what He can do for us rather than our grocery list of sins. It seems enough to ask God to cleanse us because we're not Him and blow it a gazillion times a day...and more on the cleansing tomorrow.
Brent 4:01 AM
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