King David had messed up pretty royally. From adultery to murder, with a pregnant mistress thrown in, I think it’s fair to say that he was in a place that he wished he wasn’t. As the king he probably thought he could keep things hidden, or at the very least stop people talking about it.

I reckon that deep down his heart was in a mess. He knew that God had given him all that he had. He knew the law. He knew what pleased God, and yet here he was in turmoil. How to fix what he had done? How to forgive the unforgivable?

I was listening to a song today whilst driving. The lyric “you’ve given ground you can’t retrieve’ reminded me of David. He found himself in a situation where there was no way out. He had allowed sin to infiltrate little by little until there seemed no way back to the days when he had the ear of Yahweh.

I wonder if you have found yourself in the same situation. What started out a lack of concentration slowly became a habit. You managed to keep it hidden for a while, but now it’s becoming much more difficult. 

Maybe in a moment of weakness you chose fleeting pleasure instead of resisting. That might not have been so bad, but the next time the opportunity presented itself it was harder to say no than you thought it would be. 

Whatever caused it, I’m pretty sure that all of us have found ourselves in a place at one time or another when we wished we could click our fingers and go back in time.

The song I referenced above goes on to say, ‘get on your knees, and fight like a man.’ The truth is that there is something that can be done. There is a way out. It involves talking to the one who is able to wipe slates clean. David knew this. In Psalm 51 he confesses that he has done wrong and admits that even if others don’t know about them, they are laid bare in front of God’s eyes. He doesn’t try and dodge the issues any longer but admits that he has done wrong. 

Fast forward to the New Testament, we read this in 1 John 1:9.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (emphasis mine)

All we need to do is admit we have messed up, say we are sorry and God takes care of the rest. I love the fact that He doesn’t just make us a little bit cleaner. It is the full Persil white processes. It doesn’t matter what dirt you ask Him to sort, we are made completely righteous. Every time.

The reality is that God can and does cleanse us. That doesn’t mean that the mess that has been created by our sin will just go away though. David found that out the hard way. The son that was borne out of his sin died. Uriah was still dead. 

When we confess our sins, our account with God is cleared – but there may still be people that we need to repair relationships with.  There may be consequences that we need to live with. The peace that is found knowing that we are right with God is worth all that though. 

I think we are often fearful of dealing with the consequences of sin, so we buy into the lie that if we ignore it, it will go away. It won’t, so better to allow the love of the Father to flow into the situation and begin to heal the wounds.

So wherever you find yourself right now, whatever ground you have given, know that with God there is nothing that can’t be retrieved.  God is a God of restoration and forgiveness. 

Get on your knees and talk to Him today.