The Lord Forgives

"O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath." Psalm 6:1
"I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping." Psalm 6:6
"The LORD has heard my plea; the LORD accepts my prayer." Psalm 6:9

I like the KJV of verse 1 where it reads "neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure." Here in Psalm 6, we can see that David is feeling convicted of some sin. He is remorseful over it to the point of not being able to sleep at night. He cries out to the Lord for forgiveness and mercy. And, we find out in verse 9 that he gets it. The Lord hears and accepts David's prayer for forgiveness and we can be certain that the Lord will do the same for us. If we are truly repentant, God will forgive.

Let me also mention verse 8 which reads, "Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping." If we are repentant and God has heard and forgiven, we are released also from guilt. In a recent Wednesday night service, a good friend was talking about this. Our consciences, Satan, and other people in our lives can continually accuse us of our sins and attempt to make us feel guilty even after the Lord has forgiven. All too often, it works. However, if you have been forgiven by God, you are free of this guilt. I believe that it would be unwise to not regret the sin. Regret for a sin can lead to obedience in the future. (It makes me cringe sometimes to hear someone say they have no regrets in their life.) However, God is our judge; not our conscience, not other people, and certainly not Satan. As Romans 8:33 reads, "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies."