Morning Dew
Key Passage: Psalm 51
Key Text: Psalm 51:4 – “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight..”
A friend once joked and said ‘blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken’. He said this to try and convince us not to be stubborn and obstinate, especially when we realise we are wrong. Malleability, moldability and tenderness of heart can be a great asset in situations that are fast moving and dynamic. We all have some degree of stubbornness in us and we all sometimes refuse to accept our wrongs, especially if confronted openly. We do this to save face, but we only make our positions worse off.
The key text today is taken from a Psalm David wrote when he had a very difficult situation on his hands. David had stayed back during a season he was supposed to have gone to war. Perhaps, he had now become so confident that his mighty men could deal with any enemy. Know one knows, but as he paced his veranda in the evening, his eye caught sight of a very beautiful woman bathing, and he lost his senses. He asked who she was; they told her she was the wife of one of his generals, Uriah the Hittite. David was consumed with lust and invited the woman over seduced her and slept with her. Sometime later the woman came back to David and told him she was pregnant. David thought of a smart plan to pass the baby off as Uriah’s child. He sent for Uriah and plied him with wine and food and asked him to go home. The guy just stayed at the palace and refused to go home. David tried again a second time and even suggested that he should go and enjoy his wife, but this loyal soldier refused to take the pleasurable route. David then decided he better get rd of the guy. So he sent a letter to Joab and asked that they set Uriah up in the place where the battle was fiercest, then withdraw from him, so he would be killed. Joab executed David’s plan to the letter. David was informed that Uriah the Hittite was dead and then David took Bathsheba Uriah’s wife into his house as one of his wives.
God then spoke to Nathan the prophet about David’s heinous sin. This is where David’s heart just shone through. He did not try to justify his actions, like his predecessor, Saul. When Samuel confronted him for disobeying God’s instructions, he began to justify himself and tried to save face. But David never once tried to explain his actions to Nathan. The bible tells us David’s first statement was ‘I have sinned against the Lord’. This is so powerful. He did not try to look good to Nathan. He refused to let man distract him from the real issue. He confessed exactly what was in his heart. He knew whom he had sinned against in the first instance and he immediately started repenting. David stayed seven days in God’s presence pleading with God to spare the child and forgive his sin. The child died and David got up, washed and changed his clothes, and went straight back into the house of the Lord and worshipped God.
These actions are not normal. They are actions of a man with a real heart for God. Most of us will sulk and cry and cast aspersions at God for letting the child die. But David did not act like that. He simply got up, washed, changed his clothes and went back into God’s house and worshipped him. He then went to his house and asked for food.
David knew something, God had accepted his repentance. He also knew that he had to quickly return to God’s presence. Here is a thought for you to consider. When you sin, do you always run to God’s presence or do you try and run far from Him? Adam and Eve ran from God’s presence when they sinned. People always tend to run away from God, but the truth is we need to run into God’s merciful hands whenever we sin. We need to go to Him in repentance and let Him restore us. After all, He is the only one who has the power to forgive sins and cleanse us from all our sins.
This is one of the greatest manifestations of the heart of David. Quick to repent. Quick to get back into fellowship with God. God said he would always look upon a person who has a contrite heart and a broken spirit. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
No wonder God called David a man after His own heart!
Let’s pray: Father God, thank you for showing the example of David in repentance. Lord your word says it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. Lord help us to always remember that we can find mercy with you and so we should not run away from you when we sin and do wrong. Father, please give us tender hearts that turn quickly back to you when we sin. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.