An Excerpt From My Journal.

January 14, 2010

I've listened to this sermon called The One Who Answers Our Cry about four times in the past 2 weeks. The text for the sermon is 2 Samuel 22 - if I hadn't listened to the sermon, this scripture would have had an entirely different meaning for me...it might even be a bit discouraging. But listening to the message - one at the end of a series on Samuel and David - the speaker gives context. This Psalm of David is written after Psalm 51 - the Psalm written after David takes Bathsheba and commits adultery with her, gets her pregnant, schemes to try to cover it up, and when that plan doesn't work, has her husband killed on the battlefield. This very same man writes about the Lord being his rock, refuge, and shield. He tells of how he cried out to God and He rescued him from the grips of death. And my favorite part - "He rescued me because He delights in me" David - adulterer, murder, liar - someone just like me - proclaims not just that God loves Him, but also that the God of Heaven and earth delights in him! Wow!
And it gets even better...in the very next verses David says "The Lord rewarded me for doing right; he restored me because of my innocence. For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not turned from my God to follow evil. I have followed all his regulations; I have never abandoned his decrees. I am blameless before God; I have kept myself from sin. The Lord rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence."
My initial reaction is to think David was either crazy or a liar We know he sinned. The Bible states it very clearly. But David had it right. He actually believed God when he said that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness [1 John 1:9]. Psalm 51 is a Psalm of confession - and a cry to the Lord to show him mercy and restore him to right-standing. Psalm 51 is moving - I read it and relate to it often...but 2 Samuel 22 is even more powerful to me. In Psalm 51 David is doing what I do all the time - confessing sin, crying out to God to rescue him...but in 2 Samuel he is boldly embracing the loving promises of God. He is proclaiming his right-standing with the Father - despite what he has done. He mourned over and confessed his sins...but then he embraced God's abundant grace. He really believed it.
Oh, that I would be able to truly see the love of my Father who's grace and love are so abundant and unending that when I confess my sins to him, he really does create in me a clean heart and I am again blameless - washed whiter than snow.