“I put my hope in You, Lord ; You will answer, Lord my God. For I said, “Don’t let them rejoice over me — those who are arrogant toward me when I stumble.” So I confess my guilt; I am anxious because of my sin. Lord , do not abandon me; my God, do not be far from me. Hurry to help me, Lord, my Savior.”
Psalms 38:15‭-‬16‭, ‬18‭, ‬21‭-‬22
There’s nothing more humiliating than being found out or being wrong in front of a group of people.
King David had sinned. His soldiers were out fighting, but for whatever reason, David stayed home. One day David gazes out over his kingdom from his perch on his palace roof and spots a beautiful women bathing on the roof of a house below. He sees her accidentally-no harm-no foul, but what he does next is no accident! David calls for the lady, has an affair with her while her husbands out fighting for him, she becomes prego, so now its scandalous! He sends a message to his troops and calls for the lady’s husband, sends him home for the night, figuring he will enjoy being with his wife. Not so! The soldier, Uriah has more integrity than David does. HE REFUSES TO GO HOME, CHOOSING RATHER, TO SLEEP ON THE PALACE PORCH! David tries again-the next night he gets Uriah drunk and he STILL WON’T GO HOME! Refusing to own his bad, David instead to sends Uraih back into battle with sealed orders to Uraih’s commanding officer to place Uriah on the frontline during the heat of the battle, then to signal a retreat, leaving Uriah to be slaughtered by the enemy!
My how the rumors must have flown among the officers as well as back in Jerusalem! The lady, Bathsheba, is now showing, so David calls her back to the palace and now marries her as Uriah’s widow! You know that were people in the Kingdom who had figured out the truth: that their King had stayed home from work, committed adultry, resulting in a baby, arranged for the death of one of his soldiers (murder), and had married Bethsheba to try to cover his sin! It is from this context that David writes Psalm 38!
David is publically repenting for his sin, a prayer for which is found in Psalm 51. David knows that God knows about his sin. He reasons that his people, whom he has led, protected and even led in worship, KNOWS or at least SUSPECTS what he’s done! His enemies, whether they were those he had fought in battle or hecklers from his own kingdom are HOPING that David is guilty!
So, along with an admission of his personal guilt, David prays, “I put my hope in You, Lord ; You will answer, Lord my God. For I said, “Don’t let them rejoice over me — those who are arrogant toward me when I stumble” (vs 15-16). Though David was in a pickle himself, I believe his real motive was to never bring shame to God’s name, despite his failures.
So David prays what needs to be prayed, “So I confess my guilt; I am anxious because of my sin. Lord , do not abandon me; my God, do not be far from me. Hurry to help me, Lord, my Savior.”
David knew, no matter what, no matter how badly he’d sinned, that God would forgive and restore him. David understood God’s grace. He knew God’s grace and his sin was erased. Did that mean that there were no natural consequences for sin that David committed? Of course not. Uriah was still dead. Bethsheba still grieved for him. The child concieved from David’s lust died shortly after being born and David never got to build a permanent worship center or temple for his people because of the blood he had shed.
David did, however, experince God’s grace, forgiveness and restoration. He went on to be considered one of the greatest kings in recorded history.
Remember, no matter what you’ve done or what circumstance you find yourself in, EVEN IF ITS YOUR FAILT-GOD’S GRACE IS GREATER THAN YOUR SIN! Cry out to God today. Tell Him your sin. Ask for forgiveness and watch His grace go into motion!
Think about it!