Mercy!

Mercy!

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Psalms 51:1‭-‬2 KJV

Here was David, fresh from his sinful encounter with Bathsheba, and the murder of Uriah her husband. How did a man, loved by God, chosen by Hm to be king, given a kingdom and promised a dynasty that he didn't really qualify for by birth or pedigree, come to a point where another man's wife was his pursuit? How did a man after God's heart pursue after the things that went clearly against God's heart? 

This is a warning for me: I must never get to a point where I think I got it all figured out. Sin is not finally defeated until Satan is locked up forever. As long as this earth remains, the flesh will continue to threaten and I must keep depending on the finished work of Christ to overcome sin. I can't depend on ability, connections or influence; it just has to be a total and daily dependence on God alone. Even when I have been saved, there is a daily walk, a daily dying, a daily fighting that must be done to preserve that which I have received from God. 

At least, when David was confronted with his sin, he didn't make excuses, or hide from God. He simply went to God and cried out the words of the extract above. When I know I have done wrong, how do I respond? Am I quick to justify my actions or go to God for mercy? It is a delicate situation: God hates and punishes sin, yet His mercy seeks to forgive and restore. It is my reaction to sin that defines what I get. 

The devil can magnify the guilt of sin so much that we feel unworthy and think that God cannot forgive. That is a lie of the devil, as there is no sin, except the sin against the Holy Spirit, that God cannot forgive, if I truly repent and go to God for cleansing and restoration. His love is such that it will not let go until the end of time. No matter how bad the sin or deep the stain, the blood of Jesus is such that can cleanse thoroughly, deal with the root of sin and birth a new life in a man. 

We all need washing. There is no man alive who doesn't have a past which God wants to deliver him from. There is a man of sin that has to be put to death if a man would be all that God intends. However, like David put down here, God doesn't force his ideas on anyone. I must come as I am, with my baggage, certain that what God offers is more than enough to deal with my baggage. As David cried to God, so we must also cry to God for mercy. 

This washing is the deep cleansing from the inside that only the creator of the heart can do. It is not a focus on the outside: hypocrisy, eye-service and pretence, but a surrender of my heart to the One who made it and can heal it. Have I surrendered my heart to God for Him to do what He alone can do? And the benefits of God's washing is both earthly and heavenly. I get to have peace of mind down here, with a life of purpose, direction and impact, and then at the end of it all, I get to live with God forever and ever where He is. When I consider what 'forever and ever' means, I do not want sin to toy with my eternal destiny. No matter what the past has been, no matter how deep the stain of sin goes, God is able to wash it all away. No one and nothing else can. His time of favour is here.