Knowing

Psalm 51 cont’d (the psalm David wrote after committing adultery):

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 you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.

There’s so much truth in this verse.

When we sin, yes we hurt others and ourselves, but ultimately we are going against God’s will and purposes and plans for our lives.  God is a holy God, he created us in his image to be like him, and when we sin against our maker he is right in his verdict and judgment, because it’s his character to be so.  We have acted against the very nature of God’s love toward us.

And he has to judge because he’s a righteous God.  What other kind of God would we want?

David knew what he had done was wrong, and he didn’t squabble about it.  He knew what he did was evil in God’s sight and that he deserved swift judgment and God’s verdict.

This verse is true repentance.  We can be sorry for what we’ve done to others, but when we realize how much that offense hurt another person that God too created in his image, and that we’ve turned against the Lord that we love, we truly feel sorrow that changes our actions after the repentance is over.

Have you ever experienced true repentance?  It’s a sorrow like none other, and it brings about change.