Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-08-19
SABBATH SCHOOL
LESSON
For August 22-Psa, 51:l-17
By DE. MARION M'H. HULL

| One year of David's life was a
| veritable hell. 1t was not when Saul
was prosecuting him, nor when Abb
salam rebelled against him; but the
year when he was trying to cover his
| sin. We learned last week that it
| was the lust of the eye, the lust of
the flesh, and the pride of life that
was the background Of the long train
Of sins of which David was guilty;
the first two were quickly over; but
| it was when David was trying to
save his face-when the pride of life
was controlling his actions-that Da-
vid suffered the tortures of the con-
demned. He tells us about it him
self in Psalms 80. when 1 kept 81
lence, my bones waxed old through
my roaring; for day and night thy
hand was heavy upon me; my mois-
ture is turned as with the drought
of summer"
But God loved David too much to
let him continue to suffer thus; so
He sent Nathan, the prophet, to him
with his Thou art-the-man" mes
sage, a message which David could
not escape, and which brought con-
viction, and confession. Some have
supposed that Psams 81 was spoken
first the night Bathsheba's baby died.
1t could not have been long before Or
after that. 1t seems an appropriate
time; for David was guilty of MUIR
der and according to the law should
have. died for it; but God accepted
the innocent baby's life in David S
stead.
1t is a wonderful prayer he ut
tered.-Confession Tvs. 1-6); CONVEX
sion Tvs. 7-10); conservation Tvs. IL
10
Confession
Confession was the first step and
the necessary step; nothing else was
possible until this had been done.
David had been trying to save his
face, as the Chinese say, for a year;
now he lays : bare his innermost
heart, keeps back nothing, owns up
to the fullest and throws himself on
the mercy of God.
How many heart is kept back
from blessing because of unconfessed
sin? God can do nothing for such
one until confession is made. And
yet that is music in His ears. He
waits to be gracious, but cannot be
until you confess; and yet He has
to us about this q Jno. 1879; was
not written to unbeileves, but to
Christians. 1t is a wonderful gra-
cious promise: IF we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to for
give us and cleanse us from all I'm
righteousness" David made his
complete.
Notice the verbs he uses, 'Have
mercy" means in the Hebrew, to
bend over in kindness as a superior
to an inferior. blot out" is to OBJ
literate everything, as one would
wipe away all the writing on a slate,
SO there would be no semblance Of
VT h i9oor of oc1,' ic Of FUR
Hebrew words that are SO translat-
ed: this one here used comes from
root meaning to trample upon, and
conveys the idea of getting thing
clean if necessary by trampling upon
it, beating it, scrubbing it hard. Do
SO wash me now, without, within;
Or purge with fire if that must be;
No matter how, if only sin
Die out in me; die out in me.
That is what David asked God to
do-use any means just so this hor-
r1ble stain be gotten out Of his life.
Cleanse" conveys the idea of WHIP
ing it off as you would dirt from a
dish. Think this over:
David recognized Gods superiority
and could cast himself on His mercy
and ask Him to bend over him in
kindness because of the multitude of
times He had shown His willingness
to do just this. He could ask Him
to blot out and wash, and cleanse be-
cause he realized that no one else
could do it. 1t was against God only
that he had sinned, for all sin in its
essence is nothing more than rebel
lion against God, and David con-
fesses that it is SO wholly his fault
that God is per faulty free to judge
him and especially considering the
fact that he had been shapen in in
tquity and conceived in sin, it was