Psalm 38

David openly acknowledges his sin, and is clear about how angry God is regarding the sin. But he has the audacity (confidence) to ask God not to discipline / rebuke / chasten him in alignment with that anger.

The only way he could have the assurance that his prayer is heard is if he understood at some level that God's anger / wrath / indignation would be unleashed on someone else in his stead.

But isn't David saved on the same basis by which we are? Isn't his salvation and assurance of justification through propitiation accounted to him because of his forward-looking faith, whereas ours differs only in that it looks back to the cross instead of forward?

So if David is saved according to the same means by which we are saved, and he clearly acknowledges God's wrath, hot displeasure, and anger towards him because of his sin, how is it that we think God's attitude about us and our sin is any difference?

David compares God's attitude towards his sinful behavior to the kind of response and evil servant could expect from a king (see Haman in Esther 7:7-10).

We compare God's attitude towards our sinful behavior to that of a dad who helps his child back onto his feet after a fall while learning to walk.

David sees his sin as a crime.

We see our sins as unfortunate mistakes.

Why do we assume God sees our sin differently than David's?

"Because Christ has already paid the penalty," you might say.

But wasn't David saved also by that same payment?

Perhaps our assumptions are unduly cavalier and unwarranted, or does God no longer hate sin?

We cannot minimize God's anger and wrath toward sin, even today, even ours, without also minimizing His grace and mercy.

If we are to attribute maximal grace and mercy to Him, then we must concede His maximal hatred and anger towards our sin even after the cross; otherwise we rob grace and mercy of all content and meaning.

But just as David was able to make his request with assurance looking forward to his salvation, we are able to look back to the cross and see that Christ has indeed accomplished the very thing that allows us to boldly approach the throne of grace.