In our last post, we introduced the need for repentance once we have recognized we are guilty of moral impurity. As stated, there are two important aspects of the repentance process. The fist was discussed last week. This is the need to seek forgiveness from God. For the pre-believer, this is the starting point of a new life in Christ. For the believer who has given into sin, repentance allows us to be restored to a place of righteousness before God.
The next step is to complete the process of turning. You remember that the word repentance in the Scripture literally means, “to turn around”. This is not just turning away from sin, but more importantly involves turning toward a complete focus on God and his plan.
Israel’s second King, David made some very poor decisions which resulted in adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of another man. As is often the case, one sin led to another as he chose to lie and even commit murder to cover his sin. David’s friend, Nathan, who was also a prophet of God, courageously confronted David with his need to repent. David knew what he did was wrong but had yet to acknowledge this truth before God. When he does accept his need to turn back to God, we have his words recorded for us in Psalm 51.
I don’t have the space to print the entire Psalm but would encourage you to stop now and read it and meditate on its power. There are a couple of sections I will include because they show the point of this post. In verses 1-2, David cries out with these words, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” This is his heart’s desire to turn from this sin. This is the jumping off spot of gaining a renewed mind. David was not simply trying to alleviate guilt so he could live more peacefully, he hated what he had done and wanted that stain on his life gone so he could again stand pure before the God he loved.
I have heard it said, “Until we decide to love God more than we love our sin, true repentance will not happen.” David was not giving God his sin; he was giving God the part of his heart and mind that caused him to sin.
He goes on in verses 10-12 with these words, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” His sin had robbed him of a singular focus on God and his goodness. This had taken from him his source of genuine joy. He is pleading with God to restore the joy by healing the part of his mind and heart that he temporarily had given to Satan.
David reveals what was necessary in his life to get to this place. In verse 17, he says, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” A broken spirit is the choice to give up trying to please God in our own power and submitting to his authority and power to do the work for us. We will discuss how this can happen in next week’s post. By the way, even after all of David’s vile acts, God refers to him as “a man after my own heart!” This is the power of repentance!