Christian Foundations #9

The LORD: Merciful,Gracious, Slow To Anger, Abounding in Steadfast Love, and Faithfulness. Forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sin.

This is what God tells Moses when Moses asks God to see Him.

(ESV)

5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

We can see these attributes of God in the story of David in 2 Samuel ch. 11-12 when he goes into Bathsheba and has her husband murdered.

David does not deserve to be forgiven, but he is and he writes about this in .

Do you think that David should have been forgiven? Why or why not?

(ESV)

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

51 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

We can see that David was asking for the things that the Lord had said He was to Moses. David was not coming to God with a new concept, God had already claimed He was these things: merciful, abounding in steadfast love, One that blots out transgressions, and cleansing from sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

Can you feel the weight in this? David is not making excuses here. I am a transgressor a sinner and I have done this to you God, I have done evil to you. He could have tried to put blame on Bathsheba. Lord she was naked on the roof where I could see her. No this was Davids fault and he took blame for it.

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Here we see David telling God that he has always been a sinner and transgressor, and that there has never been a time when he was worthy of forgiveness. David had to put total trust in Gods mercy.

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from your presence,

and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Where is Davids works towards his salvation? There is none God is doing all the work. and after David is forgiven then the works come.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

As followers of Christ, how does this Psalm pertain to us today?

As you read this Psalm, can you see yourself in it? Why or why not?