Saturday 31 January 2009

Background

Much of the Old Testament speaks of the impact of sin on thelife of a community. The rebellion of humankind from the rule ofGod has corporate consequences. But in this particular psalm, wesee the radical effect of sin in the life of an individual. David(the traditional writer of this psalm) descended to the lowestdepths of evil but was still known as 'a man after God's heart'.David, as a king, was called by God to lead and instruct others.But how could this happen with such a flawed character? ThroughDavid we begin to learn about failure and forgiveness.

David's failure was to misuse his power. Bathsheba, a woman ofunusual beauty, caught his eye during a walk (see 2 Samuel 11). Thelook turned to a thought and then to an action. The action may nothave led to an immediate problem for David but the resultantpregnancy did - Bathsheba was a married woman! Wrestling free fromthe presenting problems led David to misuse his influence inarranging the death of Bathsheba's husband, Uriah.

Nathan, the prophet, confronted the king with his sin (2 Samuel 12) andseeing the error of his ways, David becomes a broken man. In hisfailure he seeks forgiveness from God, who called him to leadIsrael: God's own people. How could David possibly do this in hiscurrent state? Only by the forgiving, cleansing and renewing Godcreating a pure heart out of a broken one.

When David gets his desire - this time, a pure heart - then he canbegin to lead people in right ways. God chooses people like Davidto walk in God's ways so that others may have their 'eyes opened'and be led into life under the rightful king - the Lord. Davidfound forgiveness through failure and realised that he could leadpeople to right ways through his failure. I wonder how that speaksto us in our failures?

God, with grace, forgave David and created a pure heart in him.Jesus, a descendent of David, took on himself not just David's sinbut the sin of the world. The Cross on which Jesus died is thegateway, not only for the renewal of our hearts in failure, butalso, wisdom for teaching others to live.

To Ponder

What do you see as the links between failure andforgiveness?

How can your 'failures' point you back to God,and the renewal of your heart through Jesus?