Have you ever had those moments or episodes in your life that you wish you could hit the rewind button, pause at that point in time, and then erase the whole thing?

Maybe it was something you said that caused someone great pain. Perhaps it was a choice that led to immorality and trapped you in a place you really didn’t want to be. Or maybe you did something that damaged a relationship, your career, or your reputation as a follower of Jesus.

You would give anything to undo what had already been done, but you cannot undo it yourself.

We discover in The Story that David had one of those moments. One day when the army was at war, David, who was the commander of the nation’s military, neglected his duties and stayed behind. He saw Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop, seduced her, got her pregnant, murdered her husband, and tried to cover up his actions by deceiving his general and soldiers.  Then he married Bathsheba and she bore their child.

It looked like David would get away with all of this. But he didn’t. God sent his prophet Nathan to confront David by telling him a story about a poor man with one lamb. David knew something about sheep and shepherds, so he listened. Nathan said that the poor man has a rich neighbor who needed to slaughter a lamb to feed a guest, but instead of taking one of his many sheep he stole the poor man’s one lamb.

David was incensed and said that man should be put to death. Nathan then declared, “You are the man!” At that moment David must have wished he could rewind everything and undo what he had done.

He may have wanted to make excuses. Explain things away. Blame it on Bathsheba for taking a bath where he could see. But instead of making excuses, David confessed. “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Sam. 12:13).

And while David could do nothing to undo the sin he had done, God could undo it by forgiving him and restoring him.  There were still consequences that David had to deal with, but he was given a fresh start, a new beginning – the slate was wiped clean.  God did with David’s sin what he will do with yours and mine. He put it away (Psalm 103:12-13).

What made David a “man after God’s own heart” is not the fact that he was perfect but the fact that when confronted with his sin, he humbled himself, turned away from his sin, and turned to God asking God, in his mercy, to renew and restore him.

How good it is to know that at the beginning of a new year, while we can’t rewind our lives, we can pause and ask God to wipe the slate clean and erase all of our regrets, disappointments and hurts, giving us a fresh start.