Romans 4:4-8

⁴ When people work, their wages are not a gift. Workers earn what they receive. ⁵ But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work.

⁶ King David spoke of this, describing the happiness of an undeserving sinner who is declared to be righteous:

⁷     “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven,

whose sins are put out of sight.

⁸     Yes, what joy for those

whose sin is no longer counted against them by the Lord.”

New Living Translation 

Verses 7-8 are a quote from Psalm 32:1-2.  David had sinned greatly with Bathsheba, and he knew all about shame and regret.  He also knew all about God's grace and forgiveness.

I have a lot of regrets.  I have sinned so much.  If I could turn back time and do some things over again, I would in a heartbeat.  The shame of my failures can be so intense, sometimes it takes my breath away.  Most of these failures are so private that nobody else even knows about them.  But I can't forget them.

The hope given in these verses, from King David's testamony and the teaching of the apostle Paul, is that God does forget them.  His forgiveness and cleansing is so deep and complete that if I take God at His word, I don't ever have to let the shame of the past weigh me down again.

David's sin was recorded in Scripture.  Everyone who has read the Bible for the past few thousands of years has known about his sin.  And yet, he was set free from the shame of it.  Sure, people may still label him an adulturer and a murderer.  But I don't know one single Christian who thinks of David in those terms.  They instead see him as God declared him to be:  a man after God's own heart.  

God forgave him, cleansed him, and called him righteous.  And this wasn't because of some great deed that David did to make up for his great sin.  There is nothing he could do that would ever make up for what he had done.  He couldn't bring Uriah back to life.  He couldn't give Bathsheba her purity back...or his own for that matter.  

No, David didn't do a thing to deserve what God did for him.  All he did was take God at His word.  He said that if anyone who sins would confess their sin, that He would be faithful and just, and forgive them of their sin.  David didn't just give a mental nod to this, he depended on it for his very life.

I can't imagine how he could have lived with the public exposure of his very worse sin, if he didn't have the comfort of knowing that God had forgiven him and declared him righteous.  He allowed God to take away his shame, and he didn't look back.  He moved on.  It is true that his sin had some lasting consequences.  But he didn't wallow in the shame.  He didn't try to hide it.  He didn't let it define him.  He belonged to God.  He was made clean and pure again.  

This happiness, this hope that Paul said David had, can also be mine.  It can be anyone's.  It only takes a moment to stop running from the shame, and instead confess it.  Repentance can seem so hard, because it hurts to own the shame that we rightfully deserve.  But the freedom it brings is soooo worth it!