Do we have the right to ask God for help when we are suffering from our own mistakes? The answer is a resounding “YES”. There is no circumstance in which it is inappropriate to call on God for help. In fact, God is grieved when we fail to do so. This is what we learned in relation to Asa king of Judah. Even if you are sitting in a mess that is entirely of your own making, you can, and indeed you should, cry out to God to help you clean up the mess you made. God is not one to stand back and gloat over us when we suffer the consequences of our actions. He is compassionate and gracious. This means that he wants to help us. But the first help God offers is the help to see how things ended up the way they did. He wants to help you to see your mistakes clearly so that you won’t repeat them. God doesn’t stand back and say, “I told you so”. He leans in and he tells you again. And then he gives you another chance to get things right. There is always another chance. In Psalm 69 the psalmist prays out of a mess that appears to be at least partially his own making. Many believe that this psalm was written by David when he was fleeing Absalom (2 Samuel 15). If so, this was the “sword in the house” that the prophet Nathan predicted as the consequences of David’s adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:10-12). In this situation David prayed with full confidence in God’s grace to help him even though the mess was his own making. God is more gracious than you think.
Ask God to help you clean up a mess that you have made.
Read Psalm 69
