Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness
- Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God. We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway. We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway. As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others. In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
In the
theological commentary from three years ago, I set forth a fair explanation of
how it is that this chapter can say that God told David to do a census but then
got angry at him for doing a census in the first place. For anyone struggling over that concept, I
would recommend reading that post.
What I am
going to focus in this post is the repentant heart of David. You see, God may ask David to do a
census. But when David goes about it
using the wrong method – forgetful of the requirement of the offering to God –
David immediately repents. He knows his
guilt and is humble before the Lord.
God
relents. But look at what it is that
causes the relenting of the Lord. David
goes and offers up a sacrifice. The
sacrifice costs something of David. But
David would have it no other way. David
insists on paying for the sacrificing.
His heart is genuinely repentant for his sin. He disobeyed God, and rather than denying
accountability he acknowledges his sin and asks for forgiveness. And God is happy to relent.
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