Today starts a five-week study through Psalm 51, called No Turning Back. This week we will focus on verse 1, where King David, the writer of Psalms, cries out to God. What does it mean to cry out to God? When we pray, we often pray for God to bless our food, help us in our day, and protect us while traveling. But to cry out to God is something very different. When a baby cries out, they are in desperate need of something. When we cry out to God, it is because we are desperate.
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
— Psalm 51:1
Why did King David cry out to God?
Read 2 Samuel 12.
David’s sin was brought to light by the prophet Nathan. The king had an affair with a married woman, got her pregnant, and had her husband killed. Yes, David did all these things, yet we still regard him as a man after God’s heart. Why? How can this be? How can he still be considered one of the pillars of our faith? How could God use him after the sin he had committed? Because David cried out to God. He begged God for mercy. He called upon God’s steadfast love to overcome all the evil he had done. And God, in his abundant mercy, is willing to forgive.
Today, you might be thinking that your sin is too much for God to forgive. The enemy has convinced you your past is too egregious, too horrible, and too unforgivable… but God! But God, rich in mercy, can forgive, heal, and strengthen when we cry out to him.
God knows your sin, so don’t try to hide it. Confess it, admit it, and cry out to the God of all mercy and grace to forgive you and heal you. If God in his mercy forgives you, then you too can forgive yourself.
Visit clifec.com/NoTurningBack for series discussion resources and more!