Repentance: An Invitation to RestMfano

### Can I Have a Do-Over? How does this passage from David make you feel? > Depart from me, you evildoers, > For I will keep the commandments of my God! (Psalm 119:115 NKJV) Do you feel accused? challenged? shamed? justified? condemned? pity? remorse? gladness? sadness? Do you find yourself in the first part—an evildoer —or the second—a commandment-keeper ? Or somewhere outside of both? We don't all come to Scripture (or even individual passages) from the same vantage point—even on multiple encounters with the same verse. But God knows that… > For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV) ### Falling Short Today, I find myself wanting to be in the second part but falling short. Today, I see this as an internal dialog David is telling himself in the moment, to remind himself to be a covenant-keeper. King David was—at once—a man after God's own heart; and a murderer and adulterer. Much we read about David's life gives us pause… apart from His psalms and God's proclamations about him, he's often hard to distinguish from Saul, his predecessor; or Solomon, his successor; or Samson, a proud and rash judge before him; …or me, a flesh-born son of the First Adam. It would be laughable at best to read this as David pleading his self-righteousness before God. We only have to remember his treatment of Uriah the Hittite to see him squarely in the "evildoer" crowd—and a hypocrite. Just like me. So today—right now—I will choose to keep God's commandments. And rejoice that He is the God of "do overs." Even if EVERY DAY is a do over. ### Reflection Do you come to God only on your bad days? What if “His mercies are new every morning” is God’s way of inviting you to a “do over” every single day? When you find yourself in the evildoer crowd, do you “turn yourself in” to your loving Father, who longs for you to walk as a commandment-keeper?