When You Need to Come Clean With God

Good morning. This is Morning Prayer from Bearing Fruit.

David thought he'd got away with it. Months had passed since he'd taken Bathsheba and had her husband killed to cover it up. Then the prophet Nathan came with a story about a stolen lamb. What David prayed next is Psalm fifty-one, a prayer for anyone who needs to come clean with God. Let's bring this to God together.

In Psalm fifty-one, verses ten to twelve, David prays this.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.

Psalm 51:10-12

The psalm's heading ties it to that visit, told in Second Samuel chapter twelve. Nathan's story was of a rich man with huge flocks who took a poor man's only lamb. David was furious, and said the man deserved to die. Then Nathan told him he was that man.

David had covered one wrong with a lie, and the lie with a death. All that time he'd gone on ruling as if nothing had happened. When Nathan finally named it, David didn't argue. He said he'd sinned against the Lord.

Psalm fifty-one starts there. Before David names what he's done, he leans on who God is.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.

Psalm 51:1

He doesn't bring God a list of good deeds to balance things out. He throws himself on God's mercy alone. Then he asks for more than a clean record. He asks for a clean heart, something only God can create. He asks to stay near God, and for the joy he'd lost to come back. He even asks God not to take His Spirit away. Centuries later, Jesus promised His followers that the Spirit would be with them forever.

Coming clean is hard. Picture someone lying awake at four, thinking about the money they moved at work and haven't put back. Or the sharp words someone chose last night for the person they love most. Or the thing on a screen they'd promised themselves they'd stop looking at. It's tempting to keep it quiet and just try harder today. The other pull is to spend the morning hating yourself.

Neither of those is confession. Confession is telling God the truth, and then trusting what He's promised about forgiveness. In his first letter, John wrote this to believers.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

Faithful and just. God isn't bending His justice when He forgives. Jesus took the penalty for sin when He died on the cross. He was raised on the third day, and now He speaks for us before the Father. So forgiveness rests on what Jesus has done. It doesn't depend on how sorry you feel, or how well you word your confession.

That's why confession doesn't have to become a spiral. You aren't asked to keep paying for what's already been paid. In Psalm one hundred and three, David sings this.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Psalm 103:12

Confession may still mean putting something right with a person. An apology, money paid back, the truth told at last. God's forgiveness doesn't replace that. But you can do it as someone already forgiven, and that changes how you walk through the door.

Let's pray. You can pray these words with me, out loud or in your heart.

Father, I'm coming to You through Jesus, and I'm not going to pretend this morning. He carried my sin to the cross and died for it. You raised Him from the dead, and He lives to plead for me. Your Spirit helps me tell You the truth.

You're holy, and You see everything. Nothing I've hidden has ever been hidden from You. And You're rich in mercy. You sent Nathan to David because You hadn't given up on him. You don't leave Your people hiding in the dark, because You love them too much for that. David leaned on Your loving devotion and Your great compassion. I'm leaning on them too.

I've sinned, Father. You already know what it is, and I'm naming it to You now. I've hidden it. I told myself it wasn't that bad, and blamed other people and the week I'd had. Through all of it, I smiled and kept this tucked away. I tried to make up for it by being extra good, as if I could pay You back. And I let shame keep me away from You, when You were the One I needed most. “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” Have mercy on me, Father, and forgive me, for Jesus' sake.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” I can't clean up my own heart. Change what I want, as well as what I do. Where I've wronged someone, show me how to put it right. If I owe an apology, help me say it plainly, without excuses. If I can't stop on my own, lead me to someone I can trust and tell. Break the habit that keeps pulling me back. And when I'm tempted to reach for the same thing again, turn me toward You instead.

You've promised to be faithful and just to forgive. I'm taking You at Your word. I may not feel clean yet, and that's all right. Your forgiveness stands on Jesus and what He's done. He said, “the one who comes to Me I will never drive away.” I've come, so I won't keep punishing myself for what You've already forgiven. Thank You that Your Spirit lives in me, and hasn't left me even now. Give me back the joy of being saved. Let me sing again, and pray again, and lift my head.

I pray for anyone else who woke up carrying a secret. Give them courage to bring it to You, and let them find mercy when they do. If I've hurt someone, I pray for them. Heal what I damaged, Father, whether or not they forgive me. And if someone comes clean to me this week, help me answer with the same mercy You've shown me.

Father, the day's starting now. Go with me into the first room I enter. If I need to make that call or send that message, give me the words, and help me do it before I talk myself out of it. When I see the people I've let down, let me look them in the eye. If the old excuses come back, remind me I've already told You the truth. And when shame says I'm still dirty, tell me again that I've been washed. Keep me honest in small things today, in what I say, and what I spend, and what I look at. Keep my spirit willing, so I'm not running on willpower alone. And tonight, let me lie down with nothing left to hide from You.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Take a moment of quiet now, and bring Him whatever's in front of you today.

Hear this blessing from the opening of Revelation, words of praise to Jesus.

To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood, who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.

Revelation 1:5-6