Have you ever felt like you just messed up too big this time? Have you ever doubted how someone could love you in spite of your shortcomings? Here’s the good news, when it comes to God’s love towards you, it’s not about what you’ve done; His love is based on His character. This is what David relays in his confessional psalm. Here is the opening of Psalm 51, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions” (Psa. 51:1).
This is the psalm that David writes after being confronted by Nathan the prophet, and being exposed for his sins of adultery and murder. One of the many beautiful things about this psalm is that David quickly focuses the reader on God, and not himself for forgiveness. In our sin nature, we often feel like people should give us the benefit of the doubt, or that they should forgive us because of who we are, or maybe what we have done for them in the past. Yet, David doesn’t entertain any such notion. David says that if he is to be forgiven, it is going to be because of God’s mercy and kindness towards him. Having this proper view allows David to feel confident in God’s love for him, and the fact that God will forgive him. When forgiveness is based on us, our confidence in God’s love very well could wobble at times. God wants us to know of His love for us, and to be confident in our right standing with Him as His child. The easy picture to shows us this is a parent’s love for their child. No matter what our children do, they are still our children, and we still love them. Jesus reminds us in the Gospels, that if we, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children; how much more so does God?
Maybe you have been blowing it lately. You haven’t been living the life that you know God has called you to as His child. Satan is whispering in your ear of your unworthiness of such an incredible love. Don’t listen to Satan’s lies. God doesn’t love you because you deserve His love or have earned it. God loves you because that is who He is according to 1 John 4. So, stop trying to earn God’s love, and instead rest in His love. If you are a child of God, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, you are no longer condemned, you are more than a conqueror through Jesus who loves you.
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Justin