Truth and Consequences

Psalm 51 is about the sins of King David and the forgiveness of God. The actual story is found in 2 Samuel where King David misused his power to sexually exploit a married woman named Bathsheba. David’s act spirals out of control, and Bathsheba becomes pregnant. To cover up his grievous deeds, he has her husband killed. It is only when Nathan a prophet comes to confront him that he confesses to his heinous actions.

David was carrying around an awful secret. I think he was already close to a breaking point when Nathan challenged him because he confessed immediately. He did not incriminate Bathsheba saying that she tempted him. He did not justify his actions by telling an untruth about her husband, that she was the wife of an abusive man or glamorize his actions by saying it was love at first sight. Still, a cloud of gloom surrounded David’s family because of his actions.

David’s toughest punishment was being out of relationship with God. God never left him. David left God, and as he confesses in Psalm 51:6, God desires truth in the inward parts, the secret part. Other than God, only the individual knows the secrets in their heart. It is the sinful secret parts that separates one from God. 

David’s confession started the restoration process. With his confession, the heaviness in his soul gradually lifted. It was the wisdom that he gained from his mistakes that kept his heart and mind turned to God.  Honesty with God is a sure pathway to forgiveness, deliverance, and reconciliation with God.  

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me; Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (Psalm 51:10-12, KJV).

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