Tenderness Towards All Sin

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” (Ps 51:1-2 AV)

 

We know the context of this psalm very well.  David had an affair with another man’s wife, then had him placed at the head of a battle to be lost to the fray.  He then took his mistress and wedded her so it appeared as though the baby was born to them as part of their marriage relationship.  Nathan the prophet, who was also David’s cousin, came to him by the voice of the LORD and confronted David over his lust and deception.  It is from the conviction brought to David at the mouth of the prophet that spurns this psalm.  Considering the context, a question arose in my heart.  David was deeply moved by the seriousness of his sin.  He wept and sought God’s forgiveness.  He was willing to accept the consequences of his sin.  As well he should.  But it occurred to me that God hates all sin.  Not just the extreme like adultery and murder.  God hates it all.  So, why are we not moved as we should be regardless of the depths of our sin?  As David confessed and sought God’s mercy, the same should be done no matter the degree of sin.  Yet, that is not our nature.  We do not weep as we should.  We leave that to the worst failures in life.

Children are tender people.  When they fail, they tend to take it harder than they should.  My son and I were watching the Little League World Series highlights.  I forgot what two teams were playing but the score was very tight.  The team that had last ups was the team who was trailing.  I think they were down by two runs and one man on base.  It was two outs and the count was full.  The batter had a homerun in his eyes.  If he could just connect, maybe his team had a chance.  The pitch was thrown and the ump called strike three.  This poor young man went down to the ground.  He was so overwhelmed at being the last out of a game they were trailing, that he simply collapsed.  Boy, but if that didn’t bring back memories.  I can still remember what ballfield we were playing on.  I can remember the colors of our uniforms.  I can remember it like it was yesterday.  We were down by a lot of runs because we were one of the worst teams in the league.  We really didn’t have a chance, but in my mind, as long as I was at the plate, I could give our team hope.  I went down swinging.  It was the end of our season.  I was the last out of the entire year.  Like the young man mentioned above, I too collapsed in tears.  I felt so bad that I let down my team.  I felt ashamed that I couldn’t even hit a ball.  In the whole scope of things, no one but me will ever remember that failure.  No one’s life was radically changed.  Everyone else went on.  But me?  It still bothers me fifty years later.  What a tender heart we once had.

David was called a man after God’s own heart.  This was not the case because David walked in perfection.  We know he did not.  He was a man after God’s own heart because he took sin as seriously as God took it.  When he failed, his tender heart struck him down.  This is the opposite of how Saul responded to his own sin.  He only confessed to mitigating the circumstances.  He was never struck with guilt and shame apart from the circumstances.  The point this morning is: that we need to remain as tender towards little sins as we do the big ones.  They should bother us just as much.  Our hearts should be broken when our actions displease the Father.  Our souls should be in torment when our sins stick up God’s creation.  We should be pricked in the heart when we violate God’s word.  These things should bother us. Let us seek to always stay tender to the will of God and be ready to confess and forsake no matter how small the matter.