Is there anything you wish was different?
Do you think it’s too late to change?
Feel hopeless about something?
Do you think about it often?
There are lots of reasons why people ruminate…
from trauma to regret and back again…
why, why, why rumbles on through a lot of people’s minds…
destroying their present and their future.
What do you think Wil Smith is thinking about right now?
There is no way he can escape his regret unless he retires to a cabin in the woods.
He is now met by the condemnation of his peers…
We can all no doubt relate…
You have probably done something you wish you could undo.
Maybe you embarrassed yourself at your brother’s wedding, crashed your dad’s car or asked a girl out who rejected and embarrassed you in front of all your mates.
Although it may not feel like it… these are minor incidents.
What about those who commit murder?
Adultery?
Rob a bank and end up in prison?
Does God give up on these people?
There is a difference between personal embarrassment and offending God.
Making a fool of yourself is regrettable but doing something which you know is wrong is more than regrettable and requires action to put right in God’s eyes.
How do you make things right with God?
What did David do after forcing Bathsheba to accept his adulterous advances, then seeking to cover up his wrong doings and finally murdering her husband?
A whole series of acts that were against God and his own conscience.
This is what happens if we are not careful… we sin to cover up sin and sin again until the whole thing spirals and we are far from where we believe we belong.
We are good people right?
We do what’s right surely?
It’s like eating one more slice of cheesecake… before you know it the whole thing has gone and you feel sick.
So what did David do?
He begged God for forgiveness.
Not as an act but as a person truly repentant…
HAVE MERCY ON ME , O GOD, ACCORDING TO YOUR UNFAILING LOVE. ACCORDING TO YOUR GREAT COMPASSION BLOT OUT MY TRANSGRESSIONS. WASH AWAY ALL MY INIQUITY AND CLEANSE ME FROM MY SIN.
PSALM 51:1-2
David knew that he had done wrong and that all joy had been removed from his life because of what he had done… and that only God could put it right.
David knows that he cannot put things right, that the wrongs he has done cannot be undone, but he is begging God for his mercy.
He is truly lost without God’s forgiveness.
How many people suffer that life now? Full of self-hatred and regret.. not realising that God is ready to forgive them… if only they would ask.
FOR I KNOW MY TRANSGRESSIONS, AND MY SIN IS ALWAYS BEFORE ME.
PSALM 51: 3
David cannot stop thinking about what he has done wrong.
It we transgress we too are beset by a guilty conscience and a ruminating mind that just goes over and over and over again what we have done and why we should not and wishing we had not and imaging what life would be like if we had not.
Many tend to stop there and get trapped in a constant downward spiral of regret, remorse, depression and self-pity.
People self-flagellate for years with a series of if onlys…
What should we do instead?
DO NOT CAST ME FROM YOUR PRESENCE OR TAKE YOUR HOLY SPIRIT FROM ME.
PSALM 51: 11
We need to accept God’s judgement.
We know God is all loving…
and all merciful…
but he is also all just.
He sent his only son to die for our sins, so that we could be free from guilt and Jesus has already paid the price for us.
However, we need to seek forgiveness with a truly penitent heart.
CREATE IN ME A PURE HEART, O GOD, AND RENEW A STEADFAST SPIRIT WITHIN ME.
PSALM 51: 10
The only way to recover from our own transgressions is to truly believe that God forgives all.
That the sacrifice has already been made and hence we seek his forgiveness so that the slate can be wiped clean.
All is then right again with our relationship with God.
God forgave David, a murderer, and Paul, a persecutor of Christians.
Why then will God not forgive you also?
Only blaspheming the Holy Spirit is outside God’s forgiveness and that is the subject of another post.
Why not let all be right again in your own mind?
Why not trust God’s love more?
Believe that you are forgiven by God and forgive yourself.
Accept God’s forgiveness and seek to glorify his name in everything you do.
God wants us all to embrace his love and to seek his kingdom.
A truly penitent heart is all that is needed to open the floodgates of God’s love.
FATHER GOD WE THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE GIVEN US. WE HAVE NOTHING WITHOUT YOUR LOVE AND GRACE. WE KNOW WE ARE SINNERS AND WE ASK THAT YOU FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AND HELP US TO LEAD A MORE GODLY AND FULFILLING LIFE. IN JESUS NAME WE PRAY. AMEN