I am in a desperate situation!

"I am in a desperate situation!" That's what King David said when he sinned against God by taking a census of his fighting men and his conscience began to bother him (2 Samuel 24). He asked for God's forgiveness and God forgave him, however, David still had consequences for his actions. Not only would David suffer the consequences for what he did, so would his people. When faced with a choice of punishment, David said "But let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for His mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands." (verse 14) 70,000 people died as a result of David's sin! Yikes! Was that too severe?

Or how about Moses? Yes, he struck the rock instead of speaking to it as God had told him too (Numbers 20), but wasn't the punishment a bit severe? I mean not entering the Promised Land after 40 years in the desert with those grumbling Israelites would drive any sane person to hit the rock, right?

And what about us? We all sin and fall short of the glory of God and we all suffer consequences for our sins. Not only that, but other people sin against us too and we suffer consequences from their sin as well. Is any of it fair? We have a choice. Knowing that God is both loving and just, we can be angry at our situation or we can humble ourselves before our merciful God and let Him use what happened as a teaching time. That's what David and Moses did.

I love the song by Point of Grace, Heal the Wound. Here are some of the words:

"I used to wish that I could rewrite history / I used to dream that each mistake could be erased / Then I could just pretend I never knew me back then / I used to pray that You would take this shame away / Hide all the evidence of who I've been / But it's the memory of / The place You brought me from / That keeps me on my knees / And even though I'm free / Heal the wound but leave the scar / A reminder of how merciful You are /"

Yes, that's it...not only can God forgive...and heal...but in His mercy He can use our sin and the consequences to remind us how merciful He is!