My friend was very remorseful when he confessed, “I was tired and it had been a rough day.  To make things worse, my wife was preoccupied with her work so I felt all alone.  I told myself I deserved a little comfort and knew that no one would know. . .  So even though I knew it was wrong, I snuck into our guest room, locked the door and went on a porn site.”

King David fought the same demons when he had an affair with Bathsheba, and later tried to cover up her pregnancy by killing her husband, Uriah.   Sometime later we see a remorseful David crying out, “Have mercy on me, O God. . . Blot out my transgressions.  Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”  ^{Psalm 51:1-2}

My friend and King David were both sorry for their sin – for what they had done.  But Psalm 51 takes us even deeper when David says, “Against You, You only, have I sinned.” ^{Psalm 51:4}  Why would David say this when he knows how he also sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah?

It was because David first chose to forget about God, to forget about his relationship with the Almighty, to forget about the glory of God in his life. . . To forget all about God when he decided to chase a false god, telling himself that he needed something more.

Truly, David’s first and foremost sin – was that he deliberately chose to forget about God.  The same was true for my friend, and the same is true for you and I when we choose to sin.

We choose first to forget about God.  To forget how God’s love reaches to the heavens, is bigger than the most rugged mountains, and deeper than the ocean depths.  We chose to forget what Jesus has already done for us – purely because he loves us.  Yes, our first sin is that we choose to deliberately forget about God.

It is when we confess with all our heart, “Against You, You only have, I sinned” that we too can experience the same joy of forgiveness that David did.   Remembering the height and depth and beauty of the love of God is the first step in permanent and lasting change.

Remembering who our true God really is.  Remembering God first – will always give us more strength than we could ever have on our own.

Oh God, thank you so much for loving us.