You’ve made a mess of things. Now what?

Have you ever purchased a pencil that didn’t have an eraser attached to it?

Not many people use pencils today. Once you start moving up class levels in school, teachers allow you to use ink pens. Once you reach that level, it feels a little childish to continue using pencils. Although you may be maturing as a student, one thing doesn’t change: you’ll still make mistakes, even if you’re allowed to write in ink.

Attaching an eraser to a pencil isn’t the act of expecting failure; it’s an understanding that no one who may possibly use that pencil is perfect. Errors will be made by any user. The eraser is provided to remove the error and offer a fresh start.

It’s one thing to make an error on a math equation, or misspell a word on an English assignment, but what about when we botch something in our lives? What about when we make a bad decision from a bad attitude that leads to some bad consequences? What about when we should be pursuing holiness and instead yield to sin?

That was the problem King David faced. He had messed things up — badly. He had given in to lust and committed adultery with Bathsheba, who became pregnant from the affair. David tried to hide his sin by having Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed and then marrying the woman even though he was already married. The more David tried to “write over” his errors, the messier his life became.

It was as if his sins were etched in bright red ink. He needed an eraser!

King David couldn’t undo the sins he had committed, but God had a means of reconciling David from his quagmire.

“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone,” Psalm 32:1-5.

In our own way, all of us can relate to David’s situation. We’ve all made a mess of our lives by succumbing to sin. What can we do?

“If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness,” 1 John 1:8-9.

Are you still living in the mess you’ve made of life? Or have you confessed your sin to God so that you can know His forgiveness and be cleansed from all your transgressions?

Scotty