Is there ever a moment when such a prayer is inappropriate? Is there ever a time when we are squeaky clean in thought, word and action that we can be 100 percent certain that we ‘ve done it all correctly?
Mark you, I’m not inviting anyone on a guilt trip after you’ve done your best. King David, man of God, had sunk really low, and this psalm was his fitting response to his descent into the abyss of all that opposes goodness.
And yet, even as I consider that someone’s errors may not be quite so grave, or that a person might have done the best in the circumstances and still been misjudged by others who knew too little to support their judgements, I still believe that there is always room for repentance.
As I write, I recall the unpleasant experience of one Sunday morning when a teenager responded to an altar call. I was disturbed by her angry grandmother who also made her way to the communion rail, loudly scolding her granddaughter. “You have nothing to repent for!”, she shouted. She might have had knowledge of background information concerning her grandchild’s errors or lack thereof; but I was knocked out, bowled for six by that remark! What was I do, the leader present with a congregation of worshippers?
Well, suffice it to say, the discussions that ensued the following week indicated that the woman’s statements had set in motion undercurrents that brought historic errors to the surface – like the longstanding practice of judging actions, not by the merits, but according to standards set by the particular actor.
Thank God, David dd not flinch in his admission of transgressions, iniquity, sin. They were many yes, but all issuing from the basic human flaw, “5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me”.
So you don’t have to flirt with adultery and such abuse of power as allows you to cover up one mistake with another, and ultimately murder, to confess 1 “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions”.
We all transgress, sometimes even without recognising it. What is awful is to insist that we are always in the right. Indeed, there is no moment when the prayer for forgiveness is inappropriate. God’s abundant mercy and steadfast love will take care of those who pry their recognition that it is not all well with their soul.