A Model of Repentance

When David was a young man, God could see enormous potential in him. He saw his faith even as a teenager! It was beyond what you would normally even imagine.

In the biblical account of the Prophet Samuel’s visit to David’s home, we learn how God viewed this young man: He directed Samuel to anoint him king!

Yet we also see that David’s father didn’t look very highly on him. David was not supported by his family. Even his siblings—his “mother’s children”—were alienated from him (Psalm 69:8). Psalm 27:10 says, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” Why did David write that? Parental rejection must have been on his mind. His physical father apparently didn’t do his job well. But David said, I don’t need to worry about that. God will take care of me. He is my real family!

David had enormous talent and an inspiring hope, but he also likely had more iniquities and sins than we may imagine; he uses both of those words quite a bit in his psalms. Perhaps after being deprived of attention from his father, he descended into some wrong thinking while taking care of the sheep. Later he got into some extremely serious sins. God said He would not allow David to build His temple, because “[t]hou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars … thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight” (1 Chronicles 22:8). God was happy to use Solomon to create a totally different setting around Jerusalem, with peace and prosperity. (Sadly, Solomon too ended up getting involved in terrible sin!)

Consider a few passages where David describes his sins. Psalm 25:11 and 18 say, “For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great. … Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.” How many of us would write such poetry? He could never do that if he had a lot of vanity.

“Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed,” David wrote. “There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me” (Psalm 31:9-10; 38:3-4). David had real problems and challenges. It is hard to find anybody who was more tried and tested than this man! Of course, he brought a lot of those difficulties on himself, and God really had to correct him. At times he probably didn’t discipline himself as he should have. But God tested him, knowing what this man could do and the scale of responsibility he could fulfill in the future!

“For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me” (Psalm 40:12). That sounds very negative, but David was deeply examining himself. He saw himself for what he was, and at times that was quite bad! But God never gave up on him. He knew that David had tremendous potential, and that this man had to be purged of all his sins to take on that great responsibility.

That is exactly what David worked very hard to do. “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities,” David said. “Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away” (Psalm 51:9; 65:3). He really was a man after God’s own heart, which meant that every little sin had to go!

David had challenges to fight against, and he sinned, but did he ever know how to repent! When you think of people repenting, you probably would think first of all of David. He did some very foolish things, but look at his repentance! His attitude truly is a model of repentance for all of us, and it is illuminated beautifully in the psalms. That is astonishing, and it was inspired by God.