Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
The beginning of David's prayer after
he had an affair with a man's wife, got her pregnant,
had her husband murdered to cover it up and then, for months, acted as if
nothing happened.
+ + +
David, are you kidding me? What audacity! You want God to
forgive you for what you did? To forgive you, just like that? Don't you have any sense
of how despicable you are? Have you no shame? Can even God forgive such
wickedness?
And you think that He will do this just because you ask Him
to? What arrogance! Don't you think that He'll expect just a little more than
some words? Shouldn't you have to prove that you are worthy of this
forgiveness, that you deserve it?
David, where did you get such foolish ideas?