“I’m sorry and regret that you were offended by my actions and words. Please accept my apology.”

Not very convincing, huh? I call this the “politician’s apology.” You have likely witnessed it from a politician caught in a scandal, and it is usually short on meaning, and long on hot air.

It is really an apology, I ask? Is the person saying the words truly seeking forgiveness from those they have wronged?

Have you ever given an apology like this to God? Is this the type of brokenness, and repentance that the Lord seeks of us? I would argue that we must act like a king — not a politician — when we are seeking forgiveness from the Lord.

King David is a great study in repentance. He is right there with us in sinning greatly before God. Perhaps his most infamous sin was his adultery with Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 11 tells us the story of David’s sin. He saw and coveted Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and decided he would have her as his own. This was despite the fact that Uriah was off at war, fighting valiantly for his king. David slept with Bathsheba, and then, in an embarrassing string of events, sought to cover up his sin, each time failing. Finally, in a final act of cover-up, he had Uriah killed in battle. In one catastrophic string of events, David had coveted, lusted, committed adultery, deceived, and committed murder. When David sinned, he sinned BIG! And it is not until Nathan strongly calls the king out on his sin that David finally realizes the horrible thing he has done.

David gets repentance right, finally. He acknowledges, first, that he has sinned against the Lord. As his child died, David went into a deep time of mourning. And then he did something very strange — he worshipped! That’s right — in the midst of his repentance and mourning, David worshipped the One he had offended, the One from whom he needed to be forgiven. Sometime after being confronted with his sin, David wrote two of his “penitent” Psalms, Psalm 51 and 32. These Psalms reveal David’s heart, one not just sad he got caught, but truly broken over his sin. He begs for God’s mercy and cleansing, he acknowledges that it is against God first that he sinned, and that only after God gives him a new heart will he have the joy that he once had. David, at the depths of his sin, “gets it.”

So what is the key to “getting it”? How can you and I not give God a “politician’s apology,” but offer Him true repentance? The key, I think, is found in Psalm 51:17. King David writes:

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.