Regardless of any effort, our mind and heart has a tendency to remember chief events that happened in our life. And so layer by layer, we build memories of every horrible, disgusting thing we have done or said, almost like piles of dirt on our conscience. It’s a sad time in our lives when we lose innocence and the once clean, pure parts of our lives are inhabited by destructive guilt. What chains this places on your life! It’s truly unbelievable how much depression and grief comes from foolish decisions. The Bible is no stranger to recording such stories, and none is more painful than that of David and Bathsheba as recorded in 2 Samuel.

After having sex with another man’s wife and getting her pregnant, the king of Israel tries to cover this affair up with Bathsheba by having her husband murdered. Wow. What a mess he has gotten himself into. And because of his choices, their child dies and war never departs from his household. We find out later in Psalm 51 that King David was plagued with feelings of disgust and guilt at the sin he had committed. How do we combat these cancerous feelings of guilt, remorse, and disgust after we have stuffed up again? Some people try to cover the mess with alcohol, drugs, online games or porn, but the stain remains.

Now David was cut to the heart concerning this, and in his tearful cry, he asked God to wash him so that he would be pure and clean. As King David knew, one could only become clean through a 180-degree turn of repentance to God. When you come up from the water and receive the Holy Spirit, you are made pure in the eyes of God, and all guilt and shame doesn’t need to trouble you any longer. Being as white as snow, you can now combat all sin, guilt, and shame through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, through a close prayer and study life, and most importantly, through keeping God’s perfect law.