How bad are you? What have you done in your life that is so bad that God will not forgive you? Could it be the seriousness of a particular sin, or the fact that you have confessed the same sin so many times that you lose count, and lose hope that one day God's patience will run out and His forgiveness will stop. Have you committed the unpardonable sin, whatever you think it may be? You feel you are a Christian for the most part but there is this nagging doubt about your salvation cos you aren't really sure if God has really forgiven you...after all the sin was pretty bad.
In 2 Samuel 11, we see a shocking display of sin by a man who was said to have a heart after God. One day from his palace, David saw a beautiful girl bathing. He lusted after her and had her brought to the palace. He then slept with her and got her pregnant, all the while knowing that she was married. If this was not bad enough, he then orders the commander of the woman's husband to put him in the front of the fiercest battle and then to withdraw from him to let him be killed. The commander does as the King orders. The man is brutally killed. To satisfy his lust, David had committed adultery and murder, two of the most severe moral sins before God. Can you top that? How bad is your sin compared with that? I don't think many of us can lay claim to have done something that is worse than that.
What was surprising was really God's willingness to forgive once David repented. The prophet Nathan confronted David about this sin. There was no hesitation, no protest, no attempt to hide the sin. David's response was swift and to the point. "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Sam 12:13). His repentance was immediate. The response from God through the prophet was equally swift. "The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die". Immediate repentance was met with immediate forgiveness.
Psalms 51 gives us an insight into what was going through David's mind at that time. The Psalm was written when Nathan had confronted him about his terrible sin. David knew that until he acknowledge the sin, it would always be before him and before God. He also knew that it was against God and God alone that he had sinned. And God desired truth in the inward parts. David knew that he could not simply just cannot hide his sin from God and pretend that it will go away. For God saw everything, knew everything and felt everything. And God was waiting for him to come clean.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalms 51:1-12
How bad are you?