As evidenced in Psalm 51, David had genuine sorrow for his disobedience unlike king Saul before him. You see, Saul had an outward sign of repentance, but David’s was from the heart. This is so crucially important when we seek forgiveness from those around us.
After David is confronted with his sin by the prophet Nathan, he responds immediately, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Compare David’s response to Nathan with Saul’s response to Samuel when he also was confronted with a grievous sin. Back in I Samuel 15:30, Saul says, “I have sinned, but please honor me now before the elders of Israel, and go back with me.” There is a major distinction between the two responses. David responds that he has sinned against Yahweh—an admission of guilt and true sorrow over his deeds. But Saul says, "please honor me." We are not a very humble people. I have seen a lack of humility destroy marriages. Very rarely will a man or woman apologize without an explanation of their wrongdoing. Most of the time, the apology is accompanied with, "now please honor me." I was watching the debate between Clinton and Obama and Clinton was asked to comment on her false claims that she was under gun fire when she visited Bosnia as the first lady. As you probably know, she made up this story only to be shown to be a liar when her Bosnia arrival (without gunfire and very peaceful) was shown on video tape. Here was her response when asked about the incident:
I have apologized for it. I've said it was a mistake. And it is, I hope, something that you can look over because, clearly, I am proud that I went to Bosnia. It was a war zone. General Wesley Clark is here in the audience with me, as one of my major supporters. He and I were talking about it before I came out. You know, our soldiers were there to try to police and keep the peace in a very dangerous area. They were totally in battle gear. There were concerns about potential dangers. The former president of Bosnia has said he was worried about the safety of the situation. So, I know that it is something that some people have said wait a minute. What happened here? But I have talked about this and written about it. And then, unfortunately, in a few occasions, I was not as accurate as I have been in the past. But I know, too, that being able to rely on my experience of having gone to Bosnia, gone to more than 80 countries, having represented the United States in so many different settings, gives me a tremendous advantage going into this campaign, particularly against Senator McCain. So, I will either try to get more sleep, Tom or, you know, have somebody that, you know, is there, as a reminder to me. You know, you can go back for the past 15 months. We both have said things that, you know, turned out not to be accurate. You know, that happens when you're talking as much as we have talked. But, you know, I'm very sorry that I said it. And I have said that, you know, it just didn't jive with what I had written about and knew to be the truth.
In other words, "I apologize, but please honor me." Before we become too critical of the former first lady, senator, and presidential candidate, don't we do the same thing--or worse?
That is why David was a man after God's heart. I believe God is pleased when we apologize in total humility and without explanation. It is hard to do.
I would love your feedback...either post here...or email me privately at clbetters@grpc.org. Part four coming tomorrow.
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