I have sinned

So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” – 2 Samuel 12.13-14

Nathan called David out on his sin. He told David that God was going to judge his sin. David knew now that he was not going to get away with this, but I suspect that he knew already that he couldn’t.

So what was David going to do when confronted with his sin? There a couple of ways that David could have reacted. They are the same kinds of things we can do.

He could have just flat out denied it.
He could have made excuses.
He could have blamed Bathsheba for being naked in her garden.
He could have admitted and confessed his sin.

Fortunately he chose the right path – ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’

David had sinned against his army. He had sinned against Bathsheba. He had sinned against Uriah. He had sinned against Joab by drawing him into his plot. But most of all he had sinned against God because all sin is rebellion against Him.

When David admitted his sin the truth of ‘if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ was fulfilled. Nathan said ‘the Lord has put away your sin, you shall not die.’

That didn’t mean that there were no consequences to his sin – there would be plenty to follow. But his sin was forgiven and his fellowship with God restored.

When we sin it is a shame that we have a hard time just saying ‘yes, I sinned God, and I am sorry.’

As bad as David’s sins were God was still willing to forgive him. What undealt with sins are we harbouring in our lives?

All we can do when we realise it is do what David did and say ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’