Just this once

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me this death only. And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the Lord. And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. – Exodus 10.16-20

Pharaoh, it seems, had had enough. He seemed convinced. God was stronger than he and there was nothing he  could do about it.

‘I have sinned against your God and against you. Forgive my sin, only this once, and take away the penalty.’

Pharaoh wanted out of his dilemma, but he did not really want to change. He just wanted out of the immediate trouble. Forgive me – but just this once.

That sounds awful and we think ‘of course Pharaoh would say something like that. He was an enemy of God and His people.’

But I think there is a warning here for us. We took take our sin and our repentance lightly. We would never say ‘only this once’ but ‘only this once repentance’ is more common that we would like to admit.

We sin, we realise it, we ask God to forgive us – and then we go right back to the sin the next time temptation appears.

True repentance means I say the same thing about my sin that God says about. It means there is a real heart change. It is not just to get through the crisis. It is not a temporary fix. It is not an escape clause for a problem. True repentance is not a ‘just this once’ kind of attitude. True repentance is a Psalm 51 spirit – ‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.’

What is our repentance like?