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• King David seduced Bathsheba, she became pregnant, he had her husband killed, and their son died. God was not pleased with what David had done.
• David made things right with God, got his life back on track, and wrote Psalm 51 at some point during this time.

• David couldn’t deny his wrongdoing any longer. He could only confess to God and ask forgiveness.
• We often try to justify our sin and pretend that it’s not so bad.

-Illustration: Dennis Rodman kicked a photographer during a basketball game but escaped criminal charges, and later insisted that what he had done wasn’t all that bad and that he himself was the victim.
• A change of heart means that we’re sorry we did it, regardless of who knows or doesn’t know about our sin.

• Our natural tendency is to blame someone or something else whenever we fail, but we have to stop blaming others and accept responsibility for our actions.
• Illustration: In the middle of New York City’s financial crisis, Mayor Ed Koch had spent $300,000 to put up bike lanes in Manhattan, and they turned out to be a disaster. During this time he appeared on a local news program and admitted that the program was a bad idea, which stunned the journalists and helped him get re-elected.
• David could have placed blame in several different areas, but he realized that it was time to take responsibility for his actions and take back control of his life.

• We can mess things up on our own without anyone’s help, but it takes an act of God to get us back on track.
• Getting back on track requires a change of direction: we stop going our way and start going God’s way.

• When we blow it, we need to repent.
• Repentance removes guilt and results in joy.