He is pleased with you

Perhaps the Lord will look upon my affliction. (2 Samuel 16:12)

 

How easy it is to think that when someone sins, it means he or she doesn’t love God! How easy to assume that this person has a permanently hardened heart or has completely turned against the Lord! But King David is the perfect example that this is far from the truth. David pleased God, warts and all, because he continued to pursue a relationship with him, despite his sins. So pleasing was David’s desire for holiness that God chose to have Jesus born through his line. 

David remained faithful to God—not through never sinning but through repentance and humility. Shimei cursed David and threw stones at him, and when David’s nephew, Abishai, offered to “lop off” Shimei’s head, David rebuked him. “Suppose the Lord has told him to curse David,” he said

(2 Samuel 16:10). David knew he was a sinner, so Shimei’s curses came as no surprise. But at the same time, he surrendered himself to God, trusting that the Lord would be gracious to him. Such humility and faithfulness must have pleased God very deeply. 

Guess what? You please God! We have all sinned. Maybe our faults are not as grave as murder, and maybe they are. Whatever our sins may be, we all have our own list of offenses against God that deserve strong judgment. Like David, we know these offenses, just as God does. But what God wants, rather than to curse us, is to see us face our sins in the same way that David did. He wants us to acknowledge them, turn from them, and earnestly seek his forgiveness and healing.

Even when David was suffering the consequences of his faults, he trusted that God is good and that he can do nothing but good. No matter what we do, God is ready to sweep away our sin and strengthen us against temptation. Fix this truth firmly in your mind. And when your feelings tell you that God doesn’t love you, remember David. Remember God’s mercy. Remember: he is pleased with you! 

“Father, remind me today of your unshakable love. Help me find joy in your mercy and redemption.”

-taken from wau.org.