"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold by Your generous Spirit."
Psalm 51:10 - 12 NKJV
This is a Psalm of David's confession to God after his adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband murdered. He had spent a year of misery trying to hide his sin of adultery, betrayal and murder; but, he couldn't hide it from God, who saw it all and after a time, sent the prophet Nathan to expose him 2 Samuel 12:7. We cannot hide from our sin, if we do, God has a way of bringing it to the light.
Adultery shatters families and marriages and, yet, some people commit this act living two lives. It betrays the innocent partner and displays to children that they are not really important. In some cases, acts such as this, can lead to murder as we often see in the media. The awful thing about it, is the adulterer's schemes at hiding the sin, with lies and manipulation. It may be exciting for some, to live in such a way but, it is devastating to be on the end of it all.
As we've seen, David tried a cover up for about a year and never repented. God would have given him every opportunity, like He would one of us; but David ignored all of this. Therefore, God sent Nathan who exposed him.
David eventually repented and wrote this Psalm about his sin and confession. He was ready to start again and had learnt his lesson. He asked God to give him a clean heart and a renewed, totally for God, Spirit.
It can often feel like God has left us when we are in sin. He doesn't, it just feels that way. He never leave us but, the Holy Spirit will convictt us and we may feel like we are a million miles away from God, until we repent. With adultery, we need to confess and ask God to forgive us and - wait for it - also the partner who we have betrayed. Not many people want to do this but, if we don't, we are still hiding it and it could come back and bite us one day. We need to be free.
At times such as these, we need to feel the joy of God's salvation. That wonderful, elated time when we were first saved - the honeymoon. It will come but, firstly we need to confess and put things right and leave the rest to God.
For the betrayed partner, it may take some time for healing and forgiveness to sink in and, this is where our faith comes in, What we are dealing with here, is the terrible cost of adultery and betrayal.
However, there is good news here. When we repent God makes a way forward. We’ll look at this tomorrow.
Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard
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