Throwing ourselves on His mercy

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. - Psalm 51v1

Psalm 51 is an amazing psalm. It was written after David's sin with Bathsheba had been exposed. Nathan had said those immortal words 'you are the man!' David knew that he had been caught. The gig was up. He was busted.

He had a few choices. He could have made excuses. He could have begged for understanding. He could have had a pity party. We could have gone to counselling. He could have gone to group therapy.

But he didn't do any of that. His immediate response to Nathan was simple - 'I have sinned against the Lord.' In this psalm he gave a more detailed account of his response.

'Have mercy on me, O God,' is the start of his response. He knew that there was no hope in himself, his friends, or anyone else. He knew that his only hope was the mercy of God. He knew that he could only depend on God's lovingkindness and the multitude of His mercies.

What an example of how we should respond to sin in our lives. We can make all the excuses that we want. We try to get everyone to understand how hard it is to deal with sin. We can beg people to be patient with us while we continue to dally with our sin.

Or we can do what David did. We can simply admit our sin and throw ourselves on His mercy and depend on his lovingkindness.

It is a pretty clear option.