In various Psalms, like Psalm 17, David makes the point of how righteous he is. He uses the fact that he does not lie or is not involved in violence, as a reason that God should grant his request. We can read these claims of David and wonder what planet he is living on. After all, David killed Uriah and essentially raped Bathsheba. Yet David can claim his righteousness.
To understand David’s standing before God, we need to understand the covenant that he lived under. God made a way at Sinai for the forgiveness of sins. Once the Tabernacle was built and the high priest was consecrated, animals could be sacrificed and atonement for sin would be provided. Annually on the Day of Atonement, a sacrifice would be performed for the entire Jewish nation. When that sacrifice was completed and the blood was taken into the Holy of Holies, for a brief second, Israel would stand completely sinless before God. Then someone would speak or act and the sins would begin to pile up.
David was part of that system, so when he sinned with Bathsheba he could take a sheep or several, to the tabernacle and have his sin forgiven. This was the covenant and it was the system that resulted in their sins being removed as far as the east is from the west.
Modern Christians are also part of a covenant, the New Covenant We confess our sins and they are removed. For every Christian, Christ has died for our sins. When we sin, we confess our sins and receive the blessing of the forgiveness of the cross. When we ignore our sin, do not confess our sin and maybe even enjoy our sin, we build a separation between us and God. We need to keep our accounts short, confess our sins as soon as we realize them and live obedient, righteous lives. Not perfect, but righteous, covered by the forgiveness of Christ.
In James 5:16 it says that prayer of a righteous person has great power. This is a person who is obedient, all caught up on their confessing and living a righteous life. This type of person, like David, has a greater power in prayer because their walk with God is closer. So, like David, I believe God desires us to examine ourselves, confess the sins we find and in our prayers, tell God what we have found and what we are doing about it. We realize, of course, that any righteous living is 100% by grace and empowered by the Holy Spirit, but we can still thank God for keeping us away from these temptations that used to plague us. We can tell God how we are doing and if it is obedient and great, tell him. Don’t boast or brag, but tell him, like David did. In that way, our righteousness and obedience can be kept forefront in our minds. If we know we are going to give a self-examination report each day to God in our prayers, we will be sure to keep our accounts very short.
To understand David’s standing before God, we need to understand the covenant that he lived under. God made a way at Sinai for the forgiveness of sins. Once the Tabernacle was built and the high priest was consecrated, animals could be sacrificed and atonement for sin would be provided. Annually on the Day of Atonement, a sacrifice would be performed for the entire Jewish nation. When that sacrifice was completed and the blood was taken into the Holy of Holies, for a brief second, Israel would stand completely sinless before God. Then someone would speak or act and the sins would begin to pile up.
David was part of that system, so when he sinned with Bathsheba he could take a sheep or several, to the tabernacle and have his sin forgiven. This was the covenant and it was the system that resulted in their sins being removed as far as the east is from the west. Modern Christians are also part of a covenant, the New Covenant We confess our sins and they are removed. For every Christian, Christ has died for our sins. When we sin, we confess our sins and receive the blessing of the forgiveness of the cross. When we ignore our sin, do not confess our sin and maybe even enjoy our sin, we build a separation between us and God. We need to keep our accounts short, confess our sins as soon as we realize them and live obedient, righteous lives. Not perfect, but righteous, covered by the forgiveness of Christ.
In James 5:16 it says that prayer of a righteous person has great power. This is a person who is obedient, all caught up on their confessing and living a righteous life. This type of person, like David, has a greater power in prayer because their walk with God is closer. So, like David, I believe God desires us to examine ourselves, confess the sins we find and in our prayers, tell God what we have found and what we are doing about it. We realize, of course, that any righteous living is 100% by grace and empowered by the Holy Spirit, but we can still thank God for keeping us away from these temptations that used to plague us. We can tell God how we are doing and if it is obedient and great, tell him. Don’t boast or brag, but tell him, like David did. In that way, our righteousness and obedience can be kept forefront in our minds. If we know we are going to give a self-examination report each day to God in our prayers, we will be sure to keep our accounts very short.
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