Psalms 51:1

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

(v1, NIV)

Been reading a lot of Psalms lately, so I thought I'd take a break from Romans from time to time. The last UWCCF bible study was on 2 Samuel 12 where Nathan rebukes David. Nathan rebukes David for the whole Bathsheba incident. The heading of Psalms 51 refers to the time when Nathan rebuked David in 2 Samuel 12. Reading Psalms 51 gives an insight to David's feelings at that time. It begins with him asking for mercy from God. Mercy is withholding from someone something bad that they deserve. In the case of David, he deserves punishment for the sin he had committed when he slept with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered. As humans we sin all the time. If it wasn't for God's mercy upon us, we would have been struck dead a long time ago. We need his mercy. We are dirty sinners at the mercy of him whether we like to admit it or not.