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David Scudder
DaveBethel at gmail dot com Sr. Pastor of Bethel Chapel Church
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We all know what it’s like to feel that we are a failure. It is a miserable feeling. It is a common feeling. In fact, we have all failed God, and He has told us how to deal with those failures. Jesus said we should come to Him: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). That is easier said than done, though. The problem is that we don’t want to come to God when we feel dirty. We avoid Him, the holy, pure One who knows every wrong we have done, but we need Him desperately. What should we do?
King David’s life can give us the answer. David was a great man, and yet he was also a great failure. One day, after he became king, he let his eyes wander. He began lusting after a beautiful woman. Then he let that lust grow until he slept with her. When she got pregnant, he conspired to have that woman’s husband killed so he could take her as his wife. After her husband was dead, David thought that everything was all neatly covered up and that all would be fine—but life wasn’t fine. David was miserable. (You can read the full story in 2 Samuel, Chapters 11 & 12).
For about a full year David lived in denial. God gave David all that time so he could repent of his sin on his own, but he refused to do it. He probably thought that the guilt would go away if he just ignored it long enough. He continued to feel bad about what he had done, but he did not face it honestly. It wasn’t until the prophet Nathan confronted David with his failure that he repented. David wasted a whole year of his life being miserable (David describes what it felt like in Psalm 32:3-4). That got me to thinking. I wonder how much time we have wasted being miserable because we were waiting until we FELT ready to pray to God, instead of just dealing with our failure as soon as we recognized it?
How did David come to God when he didn’t feel worthy to come? You can read about it in Psalm 51. In verses 1&2 of that Psalm, David began by admitting his absolute need for God’s gracious forgiveness. David did not offer any excuses, or any mention of his good works. David could have reminded God of his courageous victory over Goliath, his years of patience while King Saul was trying to hunt him down and kill him, or the number of inspiring Psalms that he had already written. No, David skipped over all of those things. He understood that his good works could not pay for his failure. David relied completely on God’s grace. Notice how he prayed: “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:1-2).
David understood that God’s grace was his only hope. David didn’t make any promises to DO something for God in order to be forgiven. He just asked for God’s complete and undeserved forgiveness. That’s hard for us because accepting God’s grace is humiliating. When we accept His free grace, we are admitting that we don’t have anything good within ourselves to offer God. We can’t come to God and bargain with Him. We can only come like a penniless beggar. In other words, God must get all the credit for our forgiveness.
God’s forgiveness always begins with cleaning us up on the inside. That often isn't where we want it to start. Frequently, we just want our guilt to disappear so we can look good to others. If we don’t allow God to change our heart attitudes that led us into sin, though, it’s like letting an unclean cut heal on the surface without draining the infection that is underneath. Charles Spurgeon, the British Baptist preacher of the 19th century put it this way: “The hypocrite is content if his garments be washed; but the true [petitioner] cries, ‘WASH ME.’” If you would like to hear more about God’s forgiveness, go to www.BethelChapelChurch.com, click on the picture page to open the site, and then click on the words “The Pulpit” underneath the name of the church at the top of the page. Look through the message titles and click on “How Failures Should Pray.”
God's message of grace and forgiveness is for you. It doesn’t matter how much we have failed. If we hate our failures, our sins, and are willing to humbly ask Christ for forgiveness, we can be free from guilt. We can again seek God with a joyful heart.
King David’s life can give us the answer. David was a great man, and yet he was also a great failure. One day, after he became king, he let his eyes wander. He began lusting after a beautiful woman. Then he let that lust grow until he slept with her. When she got pregnant, he conspired to have that woman’s husband killed so he could take her as his wife. After her husband was dead, David thought that everything was all neatly covered up and that all would be fine—but life wasn’t fine. David was miserable. (You can read the full story in 2 Samuel, Chapters 11 & 12).
For about a full year David lived in denial. God gave David all that time so he could repent of his sin on his own, but he refused to do it. He probably thought that the guilt would go away if he just ignored it long enough. He continued to feel bad about what he had done, but he did not face it honestly. It wasn’t until the prophet Nathan confronted David with his failure that he repented. David wasted a whole year of his life being miserable (David describes what it felt like in Psalm 32:3-4). That got me to thinking. I wonder how much time we have wasted being miserable because we were waiting until we FELT ready to pray to God, instead of just dealing with our failure as soon as we recognized it?
How did David come to God when he didn’t feel worthy to come? You can read about it in Psalm 51. In verses 1&2 of that Psalm, David began by admitting his absolute need for God’s gracious forgiveness. David did not offer any excuses, or any mention of his good works. David could have reminded God of his courageous victory over Goliath, his years of patience while King Saul was trying to hunt him down and kill him, or the number of inspiring Psalms that he had already written. No, David skipped over all of those things. He understood that his good works could not pay for his failure. David relied completely on God’s grace. Notice how he prayed: “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” (Psalm 51:1-2).
David understood that God’s grace was his only hope. David didn’t make any promises to DO something for God in order to be forgiven. He just asked for God’s complete and undeserved forgiveness. That’s hard for us because accepting God’s grace is humiliating. When we accept His free grace, we are admitting that we don’t have anything good within ourselves to offer God. We can’t come to God and bargain with Him. We can only come like a penniless beggar. In other words, God must get all the credit for our forgiveness.
God’s forgiveness always begins with cleaning us up on the inside. That often isn't where we want it to start. Frequently, we just want our guilt to disappear so we can look good to others. If we don’t allow God to change our heart attitudes that led us into sin, though, it’s like letting an unclean cut heal on the surface without draining the infection that is underneath. Charles Spurgeon, the British Baptist preacher of the 19th century put it this way: “The hypocrite is content if his garments be washed; but the true [petitioner] cries, ‘WASH ME.’” If you would like to hear more about God’s forgiveness, go to www.BethelChapelChurch.com, click on the picture page to open the site, and then click on the words “The Pulpit” underneath the name of the church at the top of the page. Look through the message titles and click on “How Failures Should Pray.”
God's message of grace and forgiveness is for you. It doesn’t matter how much we have failed. If we hate our failures, our sins, and are willing to humbly ask Christ for forgiveness, we can be free from guilt. We can again seek God with a joyful heart.
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