The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 340

Vers. S-13.-The human and the DiviM in the hour of penitence. We have illus- trated here- I. THE HUMAN A.PPROAOB TO Goo in the hour of penitence. "David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant," etc. (ver. 8). Here is, what there ever should be, (1) a deep sense of sin in the soul; (2) a frank admission of guilt, in word; (3) a prayer that it may be put away, or forgiven; (4) an intention to put it away from our own heart and life. II. THE DIVINE OVERTURE TO MAN. God met the attitude of his penitent servant with forgiveness and a penalty. Thus he met David's penitence before. "David said ... I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, 'l'he Lord hath put away thy sin; thou shalt !lot die. Howbeit ... the child shall surely die" (2 Sam. xii. 13, 14). On the present occasion God offered David his mercy (not, indeed, expressed, but clearly understood), accompanied by a penalty in respect of which he might exercise his own judgment. In the choice which Jehovah thus offered David there was something exceptional. In his dealing with mankind God does, indeed, give us the one alternative of going on in sin with utter ruin at the end of it, or repentance and forgiveness with some penalty to be paid for past offences; but this is the only option he gives us. If we come to him, like David, penitently and trustfully, owning transgression, and pleading for mercy throngh Jesus Uhrist, he will reinstate us in our forfeited position, he will pardon and accept ns as his reconciled children, and he will require of us that we suffer the necessary and inevitable consequences of our past misdeeds. If we have wasted our youth in folly, he gives us a regenerated and holy manhood and age, but he condemns us to go forward with a sense that we have lost for ever a large portion of the opportunity of life. If we have injured our health, enfeebled our intellect, and impaired our moral and spiritual force by guilty indul- gences, he grants us his mercy and a cleansed and purified future, but he sends us on our way with a lessened manhood and talents reduced that should have been multiplied and enlarged. If we have thrown away the esteem and affection of the wise and holy, he receives us, when penitent, into the embrace of his Divine affec- tion, but he makes us pay the penalty of our folly by climbing slowly up the steeps of regained reputation and of renewed confidenr,e and love. Forgiveness, not unattended with inevitable penalty,-that is the overture of God to the repentant sinner. In the penalty we pay there is no choice allowed us. '!'he moral laws of the universe are simply not inverted or annulled; they do their work upon and within us: only with his pardoning love comes his Divine grace to enable us to endure, and to give us the victory in the strife. III. THE HUMAN BECEPTION OF THE DIVINE OFFER. The spirit of David was one of holy submission; he said, "Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies " (ver. 13). In the acceptance of the overture and in the choice which he made, David expressed a devout and obedient disposition. 'l'his is to be our ~pirit also. We are (1) gratefully to accept the mercy of the Lord; (2) cheerfully to bear whatever penalty the guilty past may carry on into the near future; (3) gladly to believe that the further future will free us frum all consequences of sin, and hold nothing in its hand but Divine grace and goodness.-C. Ver. 13.-Tolerable and intolerable troubles. These are not only- I. THE LESSER AND THE LARGER TRIALS OF oun LIFE. Those, on the one hand, which cause temporary inconvenience, or slight annoyance, or _little rc~et; an~ those, on the other band, which upset all our plans, or remove tnat wluch nothmg can restore, or cut to the quick our lacerated and bleeding hearts. Not only these, as thus regarded, but also- I I. 'l'IIOBE WHICH ARE UNATTENDED AND THOSE WHICH ARE ACCOMPANIED WITH ui:;MoRsr.. 1. When our troubles come upon us as the consequence of our fidelity and mt. xxr. 1-30.] 'fHE FIRST BOOK OF TRE CHRONICLES. 341