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Today's Devotion
From Dr. David Jeremiah
Confession and Consequences
May 20, 2026
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51:17
Recommended Reading:
2 Samuel 12:11-1711 Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’”13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” 15 Then Nathan departed to his house.And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill. 16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them.
2 Samuel 12:11-17
The darkest blot on the life of David was his double sin of adultery and accomplice to murder (2 Samuel 11). David took another man’s wife and then tried to hide his sin by having the woman’s husband killed in battle. And he remained quiet about his actions for almost a year. After the baby that was conceived was born, a prophet confronted David, and he confessed his sin. Psalm 51 contains the record of his sorrowful confession to God.
David’s words in his psalm reflect “a broken spirit ... and a contrite heart.” So we know that God heard his confession and forgave him for his horrendous sins. But what about the consequences of his sins? Confession does not remove consequences. The child that was born died, and several other tragic events happened in the lives of David’s adult children. God promises to forgive our sins, but He does not promise to erase the consequences of our sins.
It takes contrition and humility to confess our sins, but it takes the same attitudes to live with the consequences. Thankfully, God gives restoring grace to heal and repair.
Sin would have few takers if its consequences occurred immediately.
W. T. Purkiser
