Get Back Up

Get back up! Repentance is a scary word, but it means humble yourself before God and he will set you on your feet. We all make mistakes: get up and back in the game. 

Arrogance and pride are not good character traits.

Arrogance and pride are not good character traits. Confidence is what I wanted my own children to learn. I wanted them to be confident in God’s willingness to restore us to his favor.

Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled Recessional in 1897, which includes the following admonition to the British Empire against pride:

The tumult and the shouting dies;

The captains and the kings depart.

Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,

An humble and a contrite heart.

Recessional by Rudyard Kipling

When Kipling wrote of a contrite heart as an “ancient sacrifice,” perhaps he had in mind the words of King David.

David sinned big! He committed adultery with Bathsheba, and had her husband killed, to cover his sin. David’s mistake was big, but he repented bigger. He is a model to us of what real heart-felt repentance looks like. This psalm is an agonized cry to God for forgiveness.

In Psalm 51:16, David said, “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.” David understood that one’s heart must be given to God, that sacrifice and offerings are not enough. A deferential attitude before God is the only way back. When we come with this attitude, God delights to lift us up. When we openly acknowledge our need for him, turn from our ways, and cry out for help, God promises to hear us.

Interesting, although he sinned against Bathsheba and her husband, David makes this statement to God: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). 

David’s words get to the heart of why God hates sin. Sin is against his very nature. God is holy. Man is created in God’s image, but our sin blurs the picture, like a smudge on a mirror. A broken spirit and a contrite heart invite God to remove that smudge.  

When you make a mistake, ask God to remove the smudge, to set you back on your feet. The ancient sacrifice that gets us back in the game is a humble attitude before God.

 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart.”

Psalm 51:17

Copyright © 2023 Chuck Locklear

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