The Apology-seeking God
Ultimately, the Lord makes apology between two people possible. We know this, because he has written the book on forgiveness. Literally.
The Bible is God’s testimony to forgiveness and restoration. When God shows his glory to Moses on Mount Sinai, the opening words of his declaration are, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Exodus 34:6-7).
The First Requirement
The journey toward reconciliation is a deliberate one. In order to begin the journey toward forgiveness and reconciliation, however, we must begin with humility.
We see an example of this with King David of Israel. For all his greatness, he was still a man subject to temptation.
We know the story of his sin. When he saw Bathsheba bathing in the evening, he sent for her and violated her. Then he developed an elaborate cover-up that included the sacrifice of Bathsheba’s husband, who happened to be one of David’s generals. (The Bible portrays David’s sin as an abuse of power. It does not hold Bathsheba accountable.)
As long as David tried to cover his sin, he blocked his own road back to God. Only when Nathan the prophet confronted him with his sin did he gain the ability to approach God humbly. We this in Psalm 51, David’s psalm of confession.
Psalm 51 and Humility
Psalm 51 is his confession and is one of the most vulnerable psalms in the Psalter. It is so effective because it is honest. The title at the beginning of the psalm reads, “To the Choirmaster: A Psalm of David, when Nathan the Prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.”
The title (sometimes called a superscription) is not an editorial note added by the Bible printers. It is part of the text. This is why I find the psalm so remarkable. The opening words show us that David made his confession public.
“To the choirmaster. A psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba”
The psalm is not just public, but permanent. He gave his prayer to his choirmaster to arrange into a hymn that ultimately became part of the national songbook we know as the Psalms. The title is David’s public confession, “This shat I did, and I was wrong. Here is my open confession for all to read.”
The psalm begins,
“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.”
--Psalm 51:1
Humility as the Benchmark of Apology
The psalm’s opening words set the standard for genuine humility.
--“Have mercy on me, O God”: I claim no rights to what I ask. I cannot demand that you forgive me. I come with empty hands.
--“According to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy”: I understand that you owe me nothing. Mercy comes from your heart alone.
--“Blot out my transgressions”: I make no attempt to hide my sin or to minimize it. I make no excuse. Only you can pardon me.
Forgiveness is not based on repayment. It is based on the willingness of the one who has been wronged to forego any claim to payback. Toward the end of the psalm, David wrote,
“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise.”
--Psalm 51:16-17
Everything for Nothing
This makes an apology is the most presumptuous request imaginable. We come as guilty parties and request pardon. We have nothing to offer and ask for the world. But this is precisely what the Lord wants in our confession, because pardon free of charge, based on nothing more than confession and request, allows him to show the world that he is a God who is “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
Doug Knox