The Power of Honest Confession: An Important Tool of RECONSTRUCTION

Who do you talk to?

Maybe friends at work, neighbors who walk in your neighborhood, like-minded people at church, or your family. Whoever and wherever it may be - your spouse, parents, kids,  close friends who have traveled through life with you, or even a stranger - those conversations matter! They help keep us healthy, honest, and connected to our relational world and to Jesus.

Here’s a harder question…

Who do you confess to?

You might say, “Are you crazy, no one! I don’t confess anything to anyone. That’s way too private! And why do it? It’s only going to give someone an opportunity to misquote what I was saying to someone else or maybe to the whole world!”

Part of the ongoing RECONSTRUCTION of our faith and life in Christ is the gift of CONFESSION.  When we sin, our outlook is weighed down, and our daily life becomes darkened over time.

A Way and a Means

King David, speaking of his own life, to God, gives us a WAY and MEANS to experience CONFESSION, that is, telling the truth to God about what we’ve done in our lives that we know is wrong.

You may know David’s real-life confession in Psalm 51. The nineteen verses recorded there show us what confession does, not just for David, but for each of us.

David has taken another man’s wife to himself with a child conceived from their union. In fear and shame David attempts to keep his sin silent by bringing the husband home from war, providing time and opportunity for him to be with his wife. The husband chooses to honor his comrades by staying at the door of his home, and David realizes his sin will be found out. He sends the husband, Uriah, to the front lines of battle, and, as David intended, he is killed there. 

All, seemingly, is covered over until God sends a messenger, Nathan, to speak on His behalf to David about his sin (see 2 Samuel 12). We are then privileged to read and ponder David’s response to God, his CONFESSION.

The Way Of Confession

David came to God! “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.” Psalm 51:1-4

When we read David’s words, we see how we may come to God as we are! 

           We ask God to wash away our injustice and cleanse us from our sin.

We admit knowing our transgressions and that our sin is (always) before us. That against God only have we sinned.

We acknowledge God is right when He speaks to us and justified when He judges.

We affirm God is right when He desires truth in our inner parts and when He teaches us wisdom in our inmost place within.

The Means of Confession

David asks God! “Cleanse me and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my deep sin. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”  Psalm 51:7-12

The Outcome of Confession

As we read this list David brings before God, it’s staggering to see what David asks for from God. Yet he did! As we finish this Psalm, it’s so important we see what David understands will result:

“Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you . . . my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a BROKEN SPIRIT; a BROKEN AND CONTRITE HEART, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:13-17 (emphasis mine).

I encourage you to sit with this Psalm, reflecting on the weight of David’s sin and yet seeing how David came to God with it. Take note of David boldly asking for healing and then how David sees new desires and a new way of life opening up for him!

We probably won’t commit the same sins David did, seemingly without much or any guilt. But David’s heart and desire to be in right relationship with God drove him back to God.

Here is how the Bible serves us all well in letting stories be a mirror to our own life. Allow yourself to talk with someone, when sin darkens your life. But I hope you ultimately go to Jesus, who was sent to be our Savior. Let Him listen, be present, and respond as you’re telling Him of your sin. Then allow Jesus to forgive you and give you a new heart like he did for David!

“But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense---Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and also for the sins of the whole world.”  (I John 2:1-2)

I invite you if you are desiring to grow deeper in your life in Christ, please go to: http://spiritualformationinstitute.com/. The website will invite you to consider participating in the program beginning in January 2024 which is a ministry of the Renewing Life Center.

Patricia Meye, M.Div., D.Min.