Saturday 9 March

Psalm 51, Hosea 5:15-6:6, Luke 18:9-14

When repentance meets forgiveness

This is David’s prayer, his confession of sin and his plea for God’s forgiveness. David names his sin – transgression, iniquity, sin, evil. He declares, ‘Against you, you only, have I sinned’ (v. 4). The heart of the sin matter is always sin against God. But when that heart of sin turns in repentance, it meets with forgiveness and salvation, compassion and steadfast love, undeserved, inexplicable gifts of God to us. Such mercy does not minimise our sin, far from it. But like David’s, our sin, enormous as it is, is wildly outdone by God’s grace.