Honesty is the best policy, a phrase we’re almost all familiar with, but not one that all of us are really comfortable with. Even in Scriptures, I find it fascinating how blunt and honest the Bible can be about life situations. I mean, look at the little note written to the director about this particular psalm, it tells us that this psalm was written after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and this is what he said after he was confronted by Nathan.
Honesty in Scripture makes a lot of sense, even when it’s messy because life is MESSY!
As we look at this passage today, don’t miss the product of Nathan’s honesty with David; it’s honesty with God. Have you faced a situation like this before? Have you ever been confronted by God or someone else about your sin? What does it drive you towards? As I see it, it usually drives us towards bitterness and a self-deception or towards confession and repentance.
As we see in the story of David, David’s first action after confrontation was confession. He cries out to God begging for forgiveness. There’s an important lesson in here for us, we want to be people that are driven to repentance and forgiveness, not bitterness and self-deception. Repentance does a couple of key things that we see in this Psalm. First, repentance gives us a platform to honesty. Honesty before God and before others. The ability to own up to our own humanity and realize the depths of our sin and brokenness. However, it’s not just that, repentance not only gives us the platform to honesty with God, but it also gives us a pathway towards a reconciled relationship with God. It’s an invitation to come home.
David lived in a position of immense privilege and power, but ultimately, his life was in turmoil because of both his moral failure and inability to be honest before God. Have you ever found yourself with an inability to be honest with God? Sometimes we deceive ourselves in the process of hiding. Beloved, God sees you, knows you, and loves you. Allow that love to pave the way towards honesty, which provides the platform to be honest and the pathway to come home.
Lord, thank you that you know my innermost being and you love me just as I am. Search me, God, and know my heart, test me, and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Amen.
Seth Redden
High School Pastor