As I was meditating on these verses, I looked at David’s passive and active responses to his sin and the implications of those choices. In verse 3, David remembers when he took a passive approach and kept silent over the sin in his life. He remembers his pain and despair that burdened him day and night. He felt the weight of the Lord’s hand on him and even his physical strength was dried up.
In contrast, starting in verse 5 we see that anguish led him to act up in courage against the sin in his heart. He acknowledged his sin to the Lord and did not cover up his iniquity. What stands out to me is that he had to tell himself “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”. He made an intentional choice in his mind to become vulnerable and put himself before the Lord. In response, the Lord “forgave the iniquity of [his] sin”. And he felt the blessing of the Lord upon him. His personal story of struggle and coming back to God, led him to worship the Lord telling Him who he is back to Him - “You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.”. But not only did he direct his joy of salvation back to the Lord, he chose to continue to have an active response to the Lord’s deliverance. He tells the people that he will instruct, teach and counsel them. He encourages them not to fight against God’s will like a stubborn horse but yield to it and trust the Lord. And lastly, he tells them to “be glad in the Lord,…rejoice,….and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!”
And the heart of God has not and will not change. We see this story fleshed out in the words of Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son. The son was in physical weakness and mental agony similarly to David. He made the conscience choice to put his hope in the mercy of his father. And do you know what his father said? “‘For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’” (Luke 15:24) How beautiful. And do you know what they did? They celebrated - the same response David encourages us to have when we, the lost, find ourselves in the forgiving arms of our good father.
- Dana Holtkamp