Against You

“Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” —Psalm 51:4

Remember that David tried to cover his sin by bringing her husband Uriah home from battle so Uriah could lie with her and think it was his baby. Uriah was too noble to go in to his wife while his comrades were in battle. So David arranged to have him killed so that he could quickly marry Bathsheba and cover the sin that way.

Then Nathan says, “You are the man!” and asks, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord?” David breaks and confesses, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Psalm 51 describes what David felt and thought as he laid hold of God’s mercy. Some might say that Christians after the death of Jesus do not pray and confess this way. They should not think and feel this way. I don’t think that’s right. Jesus, once for all, by his life and death, purchased our forgiveness and provided our righteousness. We can add nothing to the purchase or what He’s provided. We share in the forgiveness and the righteousness by faith alone. Psalm 51 is the way God’s people should think and feel about the horrors of their own sin. This is a psalm about how we should feel crushed for our sin well.

We should respond as David did and turn to God, pray for cleansing, confess the seriousness of our sin, and plead to a mighty, sovereign, righteous God for renewal. We have sinned against our Saviour, and in the process may have hurt or destroyed His children and even those who have yet to believe. We should feel crushed for our sin, and we should grieve. But with a godly grief that rests on the need of a Saviour who is desiring to pour out His mercy. So grieve like David, and rest in the same comfort that he knew could only be found in a glorious sovereign God.