Psalm 51  1-4 A Cry for forgiveness.

New King James Version (NKJV)

51 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.

² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.

⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do as a Christian is to ask God to show us mercy, and ask for forgiveness.  We want to fight and press forward, but we forget that we can not blot out our own transgressions.  We feel like that we are not worthy enough to ask God to forgive us for our sins.  David realized that he had sinned against God, and he realized that he needed to ask God to forgive him for the sin he committed.   We also know that God is love, and we know God is full of mercy and grace. and is willing to forgive us when we cry out to Him to do so.  God does what he says, when He says our sin is forgiven as far as the East and the West, He means that.

Only God can cleanse us from our sin.  Nothing else has the power to remove our sin, except the blood of Jesus.   God does allow us to remember our past transgressions, even when they have been forgiven.  He does not do this to bring condemnation on us, or to make feel bad over and over for them.  Our sin that has been confessed and laid upon the Cross has been forgiven, and God does not hold it against us.  We remember it, due to the fact God does not want us to repeat our previous mistakes, and fall off the narrow path.  God wants us to be holy and sinless (even though He knows until we are with Him in eternity, we will sin).  

There are times we do not feel worthy of God's grace.  We feel like we have blown it one too many times, and God has completely abandoned us. This is a lie from the enemy.  As long as we have breath on this earth, we always have a chance to turn to God, repent of our sins, and be cleansed Acts 3:19 says:

¹⁹ Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

 

God makes redemption with him easy.  God says that He will refresh us when we ask God to forgive us of our sins.  Many times we do not feel that this is enough.  We feel that we need to add to God's forgiveness by penance, sacrifice, ashes, sackcloth, etc. We feel that we need to take the hot iron and brand the sin on our foreheads for all to see, or take the scourge and whip ourselves  as a punishment for our sins.  God does punish us as disobedient children, but when God does the correction, He does it lovingly.  God does say that 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay', 

 

The most encouraging thing of all is Christ is ALWAYS there for us to run to in need.  No matter how far we run away, God will accept us in his open arms when we run to him  Are you running to or from God?  If you are running away, please do not forget that you can repent and God will still love you.  

-Kevin