Word For The Day: God’s Kindness Draws Us To Repeentance

The Word for Today is taken from Psalm 51:1. We continue with the theme of kindness today. Perhaps you can stop for a moment and read all of Psalm 51.

WHAT:

The background for this Psalm is 2 Samuel 11 and 12. In 2 Samuel 11, David committed adultery with Bathsheba then had her husband Uriah killed in an attempt to cover his sin. In 2 Samuel 12 the prophet Nathan confronts David with his sin. Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of confession before God. On what does David place his confidence to come before God and confess? Psalm 51:1 records David’s opening words of his prayer asking God for mercy based on God’s steadfast love sometimes translated “kindness”.

So here is the principle for today: God’s kindness draws us to Him when we need to confess and repent.

SO WHAT:

David begins his confessional prayer of repentance asking for mercy from God based on God’s kindness (steadfast love). David uses two different words for mercy in verse 1. The first is an appeal to God’s Grace, the second is an appeal to God’s compassion towards those in need. David needs both from God, and both stem from God’s kindness. God’s kindness motivates David to verbally confess his sin to God (3-4), to express his desire for forgiveness and restoration (7-11), asks for God to restore David’s joy of salvation (12), and David’s promise to testify of God’s grace towards sinners (13). By the way, this testimony of God’s Grace is recorded in David’s prayer of thanksgiving in Psalm 32. But it’s God’s kindness that draws us to God for restoration when we sin against Him.

NOW WHAT:

In Psalm 32:3-4 David records the hurt and harm of concealing sin and refusing to confess that sin before God. David would know this pain first-hand as he tried to conceal his sin for nearly a year. Psalm 32:5 is David’s testimony of God’s kind act of forgiveness and restoration. God is the One Person from whom we cannot conceal our sin, and He is the One Person who desires to make things right between us and Him when we sin. His kindness should draw us to Him in godly confession.

Is something separating us from God? He already knows, let Him demonstrate His kindness in forgiveness and restoration by confessing to Him our transgressions.

Be careful out there, but never timid (2 Timothy 1:7).
Pastor Tim