Jesus came not only to save us but to transform us as well. Understanding how transformation occurs is essential for us as believers who want to become more and more like Jesus. Obviously, and entire book could be written of the process of transformation but from time to time God gives us a nugget related to radical change in our lives. One of those can be found in Genesis 32.

Remember Jacob and Esau the quarrelling twin sons of Isaac. Jacob and Esau were not identical twins and were very different in appearance and character. Although Esau immerged from the birth canal first, Jacob was holding on to his heal as one who wanted to take his brother’s place as the firstborn. At it’s Hebrew root, Jacob can mean “supplanter” or deceiver. To supplant means to replace and Jacob certainly took his brother’s place by treacherous deception. If you read Genesis 25-32, you will see that Jacob beat his brother Esau out of his birthright (a double portion of the inheritance) and later posed as Esau before Isaac who was old and essentially blind and received “the blessing” that should have been declared over the older brother. After defrauding his brother, Jacob fled for his life. He went to Haran where his uncle Laban lived and settled with his family there. During his time with Laban, Jacob married Leah and Rachel, but was often swindled by his uncle in business deals and deals relating to his wives. Jacob certainly reaped what he had sown. The deceiver was often deceived.

Finally, Jacob had endured all the fraud he could take from his uncle and decided to take his family and his fortune and return to the land of his father. Only one problem stood in his way. His brother Esau still lived in the land and the last time he saw his brother, his brother had murder in mind.

The night before he would encounter Esau, Jacob sent his family and his servants ahead of him to form a buffer between Esau and himself. He stayed behind and encountered a man who wrestled with Jacob throughout the night. Initially, Jacob may have thought this man was a wandering thief or a scout sent ahead by his brother. But apparently, as the night wore on, Jacob began to sense that something supernatural was in the air and that the man with whom he was wrestling might not be a man at all.

Jacob wrestled all night and clung to the stranger but as sunrise approached, the stranger asked Jacob to let him go. “But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’” (Gen.32:26). Then the man (apparently an angle of the Lord) asked Jacob what his name was. Angels come on assignment. They don’t just wander around picking fights with strangers. The angel undoubtedly knew Jacob’s name so why did he ask?

I believe he asked because Jacob needed to face himself. Jacob knew that he was facing an encounter with his brother in a few hours that could be deadly. Undoubtedly, he had been doing some serious soul searching in the days leading up to this moment and the final challenge was to consider his name which meant deceiver. Biblical names reflect character. Fraud and deception had defined Jacob’s life and had set some very serious consequences in motion. Before God could bless him, Jacob had to face himself and his failings as a man.

Too many of us want to run on to the good stuff in our conversion process without truly facing our sinful nature and our failings. We try to come to Jesus without acknowledging how badly we need him. But Jesus himself said, “He who is forgiven much, loves much” ( Lk.7:47). To love much, we need to be aware of how much has been forgiven. Facing ourselves honestly and humbly before the Lord can bring us to a place of blessing.

The blessing Jacob received was a new name, Israel, which also indicated a new character. It means “triumphant with God” and spelled a turning point in his life. A new name launched a transformation from a man of deceit to a man of godliness. It began with an honest evaluation of his own brokenness, sin, and failings. That kind of honesty before God brought a blessing and launched him into a critical process of transformation. Our own transformation will require such a self-evaluation and an honest look at who we have been with a hopeful perspective on where we are heading.

One of the keys to a growing relationship with the Lord and the power of the Spirit flowing through us is the practice of confession and repentance. Confession is the act of agreeing with God about sin and repentance is a commitment and often a recommitment to align our hearts and actions with the will of God.

David’s confessional psalm (Psalm 51) after his sin with Bathsheba has always impressed me with his lack of self-justification. Because of the gravity of the sin and his fear of the possible repercussions for him, Bathsheba and the nation, David kept quiet for nearly a year after his sins of adultery and murder. When God finally confronted him through Nathan the prophet, David made no excuses but fully owned his sin and the consequences.

Most men or women who faced such dire consequences would have made an attempt to spread the blame around, excuse his or her behavior or at least minimize it in some way. It would have been easy for David to point out Bathsheba’s culpability in bathing outdoors where she might be seen or her eager willingness to come to his apartment. After all, David was just a man and couldn’t help himself after she threw herself at him the way she did. He might have blamed Uriah for not being a husband who met his wife’s emotional needs so his failure as a husband actually set up both of them for an inevitable affair. Not only that, but it was a one-night stand based on impulse – not a long-term, premeditated affair. David could have confessed his years of struggle with sexual addiction and checked into a clinic for 30 days. He could have easily tried to justify himself and excuse his actions as being only human.

However, David simply owned his sin and entrusted himself to the mercy and unfailing love of God. He made no excuses. He simply declared his sin and took full responsibility for his actions. He responded with godly sorrow and asked for cleansing and mercy rather than attempting to convince God that he simply couldn’t help himself or that he was the real victim in some twisted view of reality. God’s response was immediate forgiveness and a promise to walk with David through the consequences of his actions.

I see many believers today who do not walk in an intimate relationship with God or who are not filled with the Spirit because they continue to justify or excuse sin in their lives. Godly sorrow for sins is hard to come by in a culture that wants to hold no one responsible for their actions and excuses sin based on past wrongs done to the person, genetic predispositions, or brain chemistry. We live in culture of double and triple standards that makes everything a “shade of gray” where right and wrong have no meaning and, thus, the idea of confessing a wrong and repenting of it loses all meaning.

The recent tragedy in California where white policemen shot and killed a young black man demonstrates our confusion. As soon as word got out that a white policemen had shot an unarmed black youth, many leaders in the black community immediately decided that the cop was a racist who had gladly shot down a black man in cold blood. Racism is about unwarranted stereotypes that project negative qualities on an entire race or class without considering the individual.

In California, the racism was first apparent not in the policeman but in the community that quickly assumed that every white cop would gladly gun down a black man if given the chance without looking at the facts or the individual. But no one called that rush to judgment racism. No one pointed out the double standard and so many judged (possibly unjustly), many rioted, many stirred the waters of racial hatred and no one called it sin. The white policeman may, in fact, turn out to be a racist but his sin cannot justify or excuse the racism and sin of others or nothing changes. Sin is sin and needs to be owned and confessed in order for God’s grace to touch a life, a situation, a neighborhood, or a nation.

Two people will never be reconciled and two races will never make peace until they both acknowledge their sins and their need for the blood of Jesus. We can no longer excuse or rationalize sin and refuse to hold anyone responsible for their actions because God still holds them responsible. The answer to sin is not excusing or denying but confessing and repenting. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 Jn.1:9-10).

The Spirit of God brings healing and transformation when we own our sins and lay them at the foot of the cross. We cannot give away what we do not own. We cannot give our brokenness or sinfulness to Jesus until we own it. If you’ve ever thought that you wanted to be like David, it starts with no excuses. Be blessed and know that God is so willing to forgive when we acknowledge how much we need it.

Our freedom in Christ is dependent on two essential things.  The first is that Christ took responsibility for our sins.  That is grace.  “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus took on the responsibility of our debt because it was a debt we could not pay.  The second essential is that we take responsibility for our sins. Many believers fail to experience freedom from sin, brokenness, and their past because they will not take ownership of the failings and faults in their own life.

We are glad for Jesus to own our sins but somehow we are not willing to do the same.  However, if I don’t own something I can’t legally give it away.  If I don’t own my own failings and faults I cannot give them to Jesus so I retain the very things I wish to be rid of. I just want Jesus to take away the things I struggled with and the things I’m ashamed of without me ever having to acknowledge those issues in my life. Lets just keep my secret sin secret.

Philip Yancey says, “People divide into two groups: not the guilty and the “righteous,” as many people think, but rather two types of guilty people. There are guilty people who acknowledge their wrongs, and guilty ones who do not” (Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing about Grace, p.181).  John tells us a story where those two categories collided with Jesus illuminating the sins of both.  You know the story.  In John 8, Jesus is teaching in the temple courts and a group of religious leaders haul a young woman into the courtyards and essentially throw her at the feet of Jesus.  She has been caught in the act of adultery and the religious zealots quote the Law of Moses that demands she be stoned to death because of her sin. They ask Jesus what he has to say about this woman and her punishment.  Interestingly, the Pharisees are trying to place Jesus in the middle of a religious controversy.  If he denounces the Law as too punitive then he opposes Moses and will be seen as a false teacher.  If he hands out the rocks, he will be despised by the people witnessing this event because he showed no mercy.

The self-righteous feel no need for mercy so they are concerned about the letter of the law. The crowds watching the spectacle feel the weight of their own sin and their hearts cry out for mercy because they themselves need so much. John recalls that at the moment of decision, Jesus simply stooped down and began to write on the ground.  This is the only account in the gospels of Jesus ever writing.  What he wrote we don’t know.  Many think he began to write out the sins of those who stood in the crowd ready to stone the adulteress.  Perhaps, he wrote scriptures related to mercy or confession. Still, we don’t know. What we do know is that Jesus simply pointed out that everyone in the courtyard that morning belonged to the “guilty of sin” group.  The only difference was that the woman acknowledged her sin (albeit under duress) while the ones holding the stones did not. Convicted of that reality, they all left one after another dropping their stones in the dust.

Jesus told a related parable that Luke recorded for us. “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.    The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk.18:10-14).

Again, one acknowledged his sin while the other remained silent about his own. We fail to acknowledge or, at least, fully acknowledge our sin because we fear the judgment and rejection of men but also because we fear the rejection of God. Many of us read the call to repent and confess as God’s way of shaming us or getting more dirt on us for the scandal sheets in heaven. But it is just the opposite.  God calls us to take responsibility for our sin so that he can forgive, heal, and exalt us in the kingdom. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Whoever humbles himself by acknowledging his sin, his weaknesses, and his failings will experience more fully the grace of God and will more readily extend that grace to others.

Jesus told Simon the Pharisee, “He who has been forgiven much loves much.”  The truth is that we have all been forgiven much.  But not all of us acknowledge or allow ourselves realize how much has been forgiven. We deny, rationalize, and minimize our failings but not the failings of others. In doing so, we greatly limit our love for God and our healing.

There is no question that we are sinners.  The only question is which group of the guilty will I stand with? If you desire freedom and healing you must stand with the ones who take responsibility for their “stuff” so that Jesus can finally take responsibility for “their stuff.”  Blessed are the poor in spirit who acknowledge their sin, their weakness, and a great need for a Savior, for they shall be healed and set free. We can all be blessed today by owning “our stuff” because once we own it, Jesus will be glad to take it off our hands.

I was thinking today about our propensity to hide our sins and failures. It’s quite human to do so.  In a sense we come by it honestly.  Adam and Eve responded in the same way immediately following the first sin.  As soon as they had eaten fruit from the forbidden tree, their first response was to cover their shame with fig leaves, then to hide from God, and then to blame others for their actions.  It was a bit ambitious to think that they could hide from the God of creation who had made everything they saw and had fashioned them by hand. And it wasn’t like they could slip away in the crowd because there was no crowd – but shame and fear easily distort our judgment…even the best of us.

Take David, for instance, and his now famous transgression with Bathsheba.  I have no doubt that after their moment of passion they were both overcome with shame. I believe they were both godly people who fell in a moment of weakness.  Because of that, I believe shame overwhelmed them and they left when it was over vowing that it would never happened again.  But then Bathsheba discovered her pregnancy. Her husband Uriah had been in the field with David’s army for weeks or months. The palace servants knew they had been together – just chatting of course – but now her pregnancy would cement the case against them.  At first, overwhelmed with shame and remorse they are both now overcome by fear.

David and Bathsheba’s adultery carried the possibility of unthinkable consequences. The Law demanded death for all those who committed adultery.  In this case an unborn child would die as well.  Although it was unlikely that capital punishment would have been imposed in this case there would certainly be scandal. Uriah would, of course, divorce his beautiful wife. The army who laid their lives on the line for their king would all feel betrayed by a man who was stealing their wives while they camped in the fields at his command.  David was not just a political leader but a religious leader as well.  Now the man who wrote most of the worship hymnal for Israel and the man who danced before the Lord with all his might was an adulterer.  There was so much to lose if the adultery were discovered.

So fear leads to hiding and deception. David determined to bring Uriah home to report on the battle and David assumed that, while in Jerusalem, Uriah would spend the night with his wife. Later, everyone would assume the child was his. When he refused to be with his wife while his men were in the field, David set him up to be killed in battle.  A dead man could not disclose that he had not been with his wife on his short furlough to Jerusalem.  With Uriah dead, the secret sin was safe and life could go on with some serious regrets to deal with to be sure.  But … it was over.

However, it wasn’t over.  For those who serve God, unconfessed and unrepented sin does not stay hidden and does not go away.  There are two reasons for that. Either Satan will bring the sin into the light to destroy people, families, reputations, and ministries or God will bring the sin into the light so that it can be dealt with and so that reconciliation can occur between the sinner and a loving God.  Either way, the sin will be brought into the light.

In the meantime, a guilty conscience and fear of discovery will torment the one hiding the sin. Listen to David.  “When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity” (Ps.32:3-5).  David sat on the throne for nearly a year without acknowledging his sin.  When Nathan the prophet came to confront David, the child from the adulterous evening had already been born.

I’m sure because of all the imagined consequences if the sin were brought into the light, David had simply hoped it would all eventually just fade away. Undoubtedly Satan had already lit the fuse on rumors from palace servants and soldiers who had wondered about Uriah’s death.  David had tossed and turned for months and we can assume Bathsheba had done the same.  Then God sent Nathan to pry the confession out of David and in that moment David confessed and God forgave.  There were consequences for the sin in the natural realm but all was reconciled in the spiritual realm. Even after adultery and murder, God walked with David through the consequences of his son’s rebellion and the hard years to follow.

Sin separates us from God – not just in a legal sense but also in an emotional and relational sense. We hide from God in our own ways and seal ourselves off from others who might discover our sin or remind us of what we have done. Sin also separates us from ourselves as we either loathe ourselves for the sin or excuse the sin while constantly quenching the Holy Spirit who is bringing conviction.  If we stay in our chosen denial long enough our hearts may harden so that we can no longer feel the tug of God trying to draw us back.

Sin has its costs. The cost of unconfessed and unrepented sin, however, accumulates with interest. Although we hope it will all go away, it doesn’t and as I said before, our sin will be brought into the light either by Satan the destroyer or by God the redeemer. The wise course is to quickly acknowledge, confess, and repent of every sin.  God is our redeemer and deliverer and when we have “blown it big time” we need him more than ever.  Our attempts to hide our sin and deceive others will simply create distance between us and the one who can save.

In addition, my experience is that good people don’t expect us to be perfect but they do expect us to tell the truth when we have failed.  “Blowing it” reveals that I can be foolish but lying about my failure reveals that I can’t be trusted. Satan does his greatest work in the dark and our secrets give him power over us.  He is a tormentor and a blackmailer and out secret sins gives him a wide playing field.

We all sin and our usual first response is very human – cover up, hide, deny our responsibility.  We fear rejection and we fear unknown consequences. But as believers we should not give into the human response because that is the flesh.  We should respond as the Spirit directs – humbling ourselves, telling the truth, repenting, and trusting God with the consequences. The penalties and interest are much less when we keep short accounts with the Father and cut sin off at the legs by our confession. It’s in the secret places that Satan gets a foothold that may soon become a stronghold. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  I believe the biblical principle is also that if we tell the truth, the truth will set us free.  Be blessed today by truth and don’t give into fear because fear is not from the Lord.

Alignment with God is the key to healing, the key to freedom, and the key to ministering in power through the gifts of the Spirit.  These gifts are treasures entrusted to us by our heavenly Father to be enjoyed and used for the sake of others. Numerous teachings in the New Testament alert us to the principle that we must prove to be faithful stewards of the small things before the Master will entrust larger things to us.  Faithful stewardship implies that we manage what has been entrusted to us in the same way the Master would if he were present.  The best way to insure the alignment between the Master and the steward is for them to have the same values, vision, and goals.

Another way to speak about that alignment is to say that their hearts are aligned.  God delighted in David because he was a “man after God’s own heart.”  David loved the things God loved and hated the things God hated. The greater the Old Testament prophet, the more his heart was aligned with the Father’s.  God used prophets whose hearts were not aligned with his (Jonah for instance) but certainly not in the same ways he used Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Daniel, Moses, etc.  God accomplished earth-shaking things through these men because he was willing to entrust the power and the prophecy of heaven to them.  He did so because their hearts were aligned with his.

Jesus said a great deal about the heart. Just a few quotes are:

Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.  (Matt. 5:8).

For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them. (Matt. 13:15)

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him ‘unclean.’ (Matt.15:19-20)

 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.  (Matt. 12:34)

This last scripture is most enlightening.  We all want to believe that our hearts are aligned with God’s heart. When we are in church and while we are hanging out with leaders in our churches we typically guard our words and say all the right things. Our words in those settings reflect the values, the perspectives, and the heart of Jesus.  But what about in other settings?

It’s amazing how often married couples come to me with detailed reports of what has been going on behind closed doors at home. These are usually long-time believers who have been serving faithfully in the church and who are well thought of.  But at home, behind closed doors when their words are not guarded, incredibly hurtful and nearly pornographic language pours out in the midst of their fights.  When it’s over they want to blame each other for making them so angry or they want to play the “I didn’t really mean it” card.  I know that we all say and do things that we regret later, but Jesus challenges us with the idea that our unguarded words reveal things that are in our hearts.  Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. If our hearts are full of love, mercy, compassion, faith, etc., words come out that reflect those qualities-even in unguarded moments.  If our heart is full of pain, resentment, distrust, lust, unbelief, or lies then those qualities show up as well.

The words we speak are interesting, however, because not only do our hearts influence our words but out words influence our hearts. The words we choose to say in every circumstance can train our hearts.  Paul tells us that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus in Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead we will be saved. (See Rom.10:9). In the Hebrew mind there is often a causative connection between two things joined by the conjunction “and.”  We recognize the same principle.  For instance, we might say that we went to the beach and got sunburned.  Although those are two different things, the first contributed directly to the second.  With that in mind, confessing with our mouths can deepen the belief in our hearts. In other words, the words we speak come from the heart but words spoken consistently can also train the heart.

In his book, Approaching the Heart of Prophecy, Graham Cooke said something I really liked.  The gift of prophecy under the new covenant is intended to comfort, strengthen and encourage people – always.  However, some with the gift do not always comfort or encourage.  In that context, Cooke says, “In tough situations we must ask God what the need is.  Do we need something? Does the other person need something?  Instead of speaking out the first nasty thing that comes to mind, we must settle into the Spirit of God and speak a word of edification. If we can get into a lifestyle of gracious speaking in our everyday conversations, our prophetic ability will grow in leaps and bounds. The heartbeat of God will become clearer and clearer to us” (page 17).

In other words, when God can trust us to speak comfort, encouragement, and strength to others then he will entrust us with greater gifts to steward because our hearts are aligned with his.  Our words will be evidence of that.  I’m not talking about our public words but our private words.  Those are the real indicators of what is in our hearts.

If we want to receive healing, freedom, ministry, and powerful gifts of the Spirit then we should become students of our own words.  They will point us to areas of brokenness in our hearts, areas where healing is needed, or repentance and will show us where our perspective are skewed.  Then we can submit those issues to the cross and the Spirit for correction.  We must also begin to speak as God would speak in every situation. When we misspeak we shouldn’t excuse it or blame others but learn from it. Relive the moment. Ask the Spirit how he would have had you speak in that situation.  Rehearse that in your mind and ask the Spirit to give you that response next time.  In doing so you will be training your heart while your heart is being healed.

All spiritual gifts are expressions of God’s grace that he wants us to administer to others (See 1 Pet.4:10).  As our hearts and words become more gracious, he can entrust more to us. Even anger doesn’t excuse ungracious words.  Paul told us to be angry and sin not.  Instead, we should remember, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col.4:6). This is one more key to freedom and power in the kingdom of God.  Today be blessed and be a blessing to others with your words.

David’s psalm after his sin with Bathsheba –

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 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 that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge … Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice … Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:1-17).

Walking with God in intimate fellowship is the goal and the key to experiencing his presence, hearing him, receiving his promises, ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit, living with joy and everything else you can think of.  Walking with God is based on agreement with him. “How can two walk together unless they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3). To maintain our “agreement” with God we must deal effectively with any sin that creeps into our lives.  David’s psalm quoted above is vey instructive.  First of all, David knew the heart of God better than any man in scripture other than Jesus because he was “a man after God’s own heart.” Secondly, after his sin with Bathsheba he was in desperate need of realigning his life and heart with the Father.

It’s helpful to know that after adultery, murder and a year of covering up the sins, God’s forgiveness was not out of reach for David. Undoubtedly, David’s sin had set some consequences in motion that he would have to live with, but as soon as he confessed his sin to God he was forgiven and his walk with the Lord restored.  Some great difficulties loomed in his future but God, as a loving Father, would walk through those difficulties with him.  David’s heart and view of God revealed in Psalm 51 is the key to restoration.  Let me just point out a few keys but you should reflect on this psalm yourself for your own insights.

First of all, throughout this psalm David made no attempt to rationalize, justify or minimize his sin. He blamed no one else for his actions but acknowledged that he was totally responsible for the choices he had made.  Too many times we come before God like children caught with our hands in the cookie jar giving every excuse for our actions.  “I couldn’t help myself.  I was overpowered by the smell of those cookies. Actually, my sister made me do it! If mom hadn’t made the cookies in the first place this would have never happened! What’s the big deal anyway, it was only one small cookie?  Besides, the cookie rule is stupid and unfair!”  You get the drift. David could have tried to spread the blame around or deny his personal responsibility by declaring that Bathsheba shouldn’t have been bathing outside or that she should have refused to come to his apartment. Maybe if Uriah had been a better husband this would never have happened or if God hadn’t given David such strong sexual desires he could have said “no” to the temptation, etc.

Sometimes our approach to confession betrays our view that God will forgive our sins or continue to love us only if we convince him that the sin wasn’t our fault or that the biblical standard isn’t fair or that it is out of step with our current realities. David does none of that.  He relies immediately and totally on God’s mercy, his unfailing love, and his great compassion.

He refuses to bargain with God or to offer to somehow work off his sin through penance or good works or by never doing it again – “God if you will just forgive this, I will….” He acknowledges that there is nothing he can do to make his sin right or to make it go away.  He simply asks God to cleanse his sin and purify his heart because there is nothing else he can do. He declares that God’s standards are right and just and simply acknowledges his great failure in living up to those standards.

In this psalm, there is obviously godly sorrow in David’s heart for his sin.  He has wronged God first by violating his commands and wounding (in this case killing) those that God also loved. He feels his guilt and shame but he is laying all of that at the feet of God’s mercy and the cross which already stood in the mind of God (Rev.13:8).  Even after his great sin, David believed that reconciliation was possible and that God was willing to restore his joy because of God’s great heart and relentless love for his people.

David also understood that God is not interested in us carrying guilt and shame around for years so that our joy, our service to him and our testimony is suffocated by the weight of our past.  I see people who seem to carry guilt, shame and self-loathing over sins from there past as if they can earn God’s forgiveness through their self-inflicted misery and emotional suffering.  God is not interested in that because our refusal to accept his forgiveness robs him of our joyful service, our praise, and our testimony to sinners around us. Our insistence on continuing to carry our guilt and shame for past sins declares that Christ’s sacrifice was not enough for us.

David was not theologically clear on the cross but he was clear on the heart of God that provided the cross and so he pressed into God and trusted him totally for grace, mercy, unfailing love, cleansing, and restoration.  No excuses. No rationalization. Just confession and trust in the heart and character of God.  We need to come to God daily with every sin in the same assurance.  We can actually come with even more assurance because we are this side of the cross and understand what Jesus has done for us. If we believe that our sins, our brokenness, and the darkness we still discover in our hearts make us unacceptable to God then we will distance ourselves from him and begin to deny, justify and rationalize our sins until we no longer accept God’s standards in our lives.  God doesn’t require us to live up to his standards before he accepts us, he accepts us in Jesus so that by his Spirit we can begin to live up to those standards.

Dealing with sin and weakness in our lives on a daily basis through the cross is essential to our walk with the Father. Nothing is beyond his grace and mercy. David understood that and when sin was greater than David, God’s grace was greater than sin.  It still is.  Be blessed today in the unfailing love and sure forgiveness of your Father.

Jeremiah is sometimes known as the weeping prophet for the tears he shed over Israel,  but iI believe t was God weeping through him.  In Jeremiah 3, we are given a profound insight into the heart of God.

          During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the Lord. The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.

           Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’ ” declares the Lord. “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.  Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.  (Jer.3:6-15)

In this passage you hear the cry of God’s heart toward Israel, his unfaithful love.  This is an amazing passage because in it we discover that God divorced Israel because she had committed adultery with a stable of foreign gods through her idolatry. And yet, God’s heart still yearns for her like a jilted lover.  More than that, he is willing to take her back and bless her again if she will just return and acknowledge her wrongs.

More than once I have sat in my office and listened to a heartbroken spouse whose husband or wife had committed multiple affairs and showed no repentance or remorse for what they had done. When these men or women have asked me how to get their spouse back, my first thought has always been. “What is wrong with you that you would want them back?”  My next thought is usually that the person sitting in the chair across from me must have no sense of self-worth or self-respect to take someone back who has repeatedly given themselves to others in tawdry one-night stands in cheap motels and office couches,

But when I look at God, his cry for Israel to return is not a symptom of low self-esteem or some expression of co-dependence, but rather an expression of a God with an undying love for his people. I am amazed at how unrelenting God’s love is and when the apostle John tells us that, “God is love,” this is what that looks like.

How often did Israel rebel?  How often did they kill the prophets and finally the Son?  How often did they thumb their nose at their creator and run after foreign Gods? God’s love truly is unfailing – not just for Israel but for each of us.  He is the Father in the story of the prodigal son. If his relationship with Israel is any indicator, the prodigal could have drifted away again and again and the Father would have still longed for his return and celebrated the sound of his voice at the door once again.

It’s not that God is indifferent to our unfaithfulness. Discipline was still the order of the day for Israel and for us if we wander.  But the heart behind the discipline is the miracle.  It is a discipline tempered by a relentless love that calls us back from the edge of disaster – always.

We all wander from the Father at times, if only in our hearts or our priorities. Some of us walk away for years and violate his values over and over.  But there comes a time when we think about returning and the enemy always whispers, “He won’t have you. You’ve gone too far. He despises you for what you’ve done and you don’t want to hear what he’s got to say to you!” That is a lie.

The Father’s heart always cries, “return.” Acknowledge your guilt and it is forgiven. After adultery and murder, at the moment King David declared, “ I have sinned against God,” his sin was taken away. At the moment the prodigal began to confess his failings, the Father stopped him and restored him to the family with a celebration.  We never have to be afraid to return to the Father whether we have been away for a day or for years.  He is waiting.  His love has not failed. There is no need to hide or excuse or justify what we have done. Just say it and ask for forgiveness.  God is always ready to give that and more – because he has always loved us and always will. He has always loved you, and always will. If you have been away, go home.  He is waiting with the embrace of a father longing to hear your voice.

Sooner or later, we all “blow it” in our Christian walk.  Sometimes we are the only ones who know (other than God) and sometimes everyone has seen or heard about our failure. I have spoken often in the blog about keeping our hearts aligned with God as a key to keeping Satan at bay and for accessing the blessings and the power of heaven.  Staying in alignment with the Father is just as much about our response when we do sin, as it is when we avoid sin.

There are two individuals in the O.T. that model the best and worse response to the inevitability of sin while we walk in the flesh.  One was Saul, the first King of Israel and the second was David.  If you look at their spiritual failures David’s would seem to outweigh Saul’s failings by far but God had a different view.

Saul had a good start.  He, like David, was called from obscurity to be king.  He initially displayed faith and a humble heart.  But when the chips were down he failed in a way that might seem to us to be of little consequence.  In   1 Samuel 10, Samuel the prophet instructs Saul to go to Gilgal and wait seven days before proceeding with his plans to march against the Philistines. Samuel’s plan was to meet Saul in Gilgal, pray on his behalf, and offer sacrifices to God for Saul’s victory. Samuel was not only a prophet but also a priest as well from the tribe of Levi so his presence for the sacrifice was essential. However, in Chapter 13 we find that Saul had gathered an army, gone to Gilgal, and waited seven days for Samuels’ arrival. But as Saul and his men waited, the courage of many failed and they began to slip away from the ranks.  Saul, rather than waiting on Samuel as the Lord had commanded, took it upon himself to offer the sacrifice to keep more of his men from leaving. Of course, just as the smoke from the final sacrifice feathered out into the air, Samuel arrived.

The text says: “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure.” (1 Sam.13:11-14).

Saul had received a clear word from the Lord through the prophet and clearly knew that sacrifices were to be offered by priests only.  But out of fear and ambition for success, he had ignored the command and the law. But notice Saul’s response to Samuel’s rebuke. He excused his decision and blamed others for his sin.  He rationalized what he had done as being necessary under the circumstances – “the men were scattering.”  He then deflected the blame to Samuel – “you did not come at the set time.” He then argues that he couldn’t help himself in that situation – “I felt compelled.” Finally he imputes a godly motive to his actions – seeking the Lord’s favor.

In essence, Saul had disobeyed God’s clear command out of fear and ambition but argued that he really hadn’t sinned because circumstances did not permit him to be obedient.  God’s command just wasn’t working for him and if Samuel had gotten there on time (which he actually did) none of that would have happened. Saul rationalized, minimized, and excused his sin.  The result was the loss of his kingdom because he did not honor God.

David was also called from obscurity. God gave him numerous victories in battle, removed Saul from the throne, and established a solid kingdom for David. Yet in a moment of weakness he committed adultery, tried to cover his sin through deception, ordered the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, and then took the grieving widow as his wife.  In my estimation, David’s spiritual failure seems a little more substantial than Saul’s.  Yet David’s kingdom was not taken away while Saul’s was.   Why?  I think the answer lies in David’s response to his sin.

Without question, David had to be confronted by Nathan the prophet before confessing anything.  But when he was confronted, his response was, “I have sinned against the Lord!” In Psalm 51, David reveals his heart regarding his sin.  If you will scan that Psalm you will see that David makes no excuses, blames no one else, and refuses to rationalize or minimize what he has done. Instead he owns his failure, calls it sin, declares that God’s standards are just and right and then leans on the unfailing love and mercy of God for forgiveness. At the same time he asks God to transform his heart so that he would not sin again.

Too often, we are convinced by the enemy that God only accepts us if we have it all together so when we fail we excuse it, deny it, minimize it, justify it or find someone else to blame.  That is not what God desires.  God desires a heart that honors God’s standards rather than claiming that they are unfair or unrealistic. He wants a heart that wants to live up to his righteous standards rather than giving up on them because “they don’t work for us” or don’t get us what we want.

Alignment with God’s heart is having a heart that believes that God’s ways are true and right and that believes Christ’s blood is sufficient for all of our failings.  To believe that God exists is not enough for a victorious life. We must also believe that he is full of grace, love and mercy for us…not just the first time we sin but every time we sin if we will honor him and be honest in his presence.  We need to give our sins and failures to Jesus every day but cannot give away what we don’t own. We don’t own it if we don’t take personal responsibility for it. God is not keeping score of our failures but is looking for a heart that trusts his word and his love.

Satan wants us to believe that the last time we sinned was the last time God’s grace, forgiveness, and love was available. When we believe that lie, we have aligned our hearts with Satan rather than with God. Our Heavenly Father wants us to believe that his mercies are new every morning and that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn.1:9). In many respects, David’s sin was much greater than Saul’s.  But the heart was the issue. David humbled himself daily so that God could lift him up.  Saul, in his effort to justify his failings, attempted to convince God that his standards were out of touch with Saul’s realities.  Once you open that door, Satan will have a field day. You will take of the tree and eat every day, justify it in your own mind, and then blame God when life is not working out.

David was called “a man after God’s own heart” not because his heart was always perfect, but because he desperately wanted his heart to be like the Father’s. Even when he failed, his goal was to have a more righteous heart shaped by God’s Holy Spirit rather than to convince God that his sins weren’t so bad or that he had no choice in the matter.

The way to experience the blessings and power of God in our lives is not just to live a righteous life, but to make a righteous response in the face of even great failings. Trust God to love and forgive no matter what.  Demonstrate that trust with a honest response to God that always honors his character and his standards.