Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. – Psalm 51:4

Today's Scripture Reading (July 26, 2025): Psalm 51

The first Bible verse I memorized was John 3:16. I memorized the verse in the King James Version that was prevalent in my church when I was young; "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16 KJV). It is a familiar verse, but sometimes I wonder if we miss the point. We have often personalized this verse to say that "For God so loved (insert your name here) that he gave his only begotten Son." For God so loved Garry that he gave his begotten (I actually prefer the NIV's "one and only") Son. I have said, "My God is not 'begotten,' he has always been and always will be; there was never a time when Jesus wasn't, and there never will be a time when Jesus is not there.

However, even my discussion on the word "begotten" sometimes gets in the way of the intended message of the passage. The main thrust of John 3:16 has nothing to do with the eternal nature of Jesus; it is that God loves the world. Not just the believers in a particular theology or doctrine, and not even just the Christians. Regardless of the signs I sometimes see, God does not hate the LGBTQ community. Yes, he is disappointed by our sin, but there is no hate. God so loved the world, all of it, and all of us. There is nothing that God has created that he hates. In the beginning, God looked at all that He had made and declared it to be good.

After a time, God gave us our laws. All of God's rules were given to us to guide us into the love of all that God created. Not only did God love the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, but He also hoped that His people would love the world as well. Sometimes, that is where we struggle. God loves the world, and if we are filled with His Spirit, we will love the world as well.

In the wake of David's sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite, the King writes this Psalm. Here, David makes this statement, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight." But the statement should be read as "poetic" language. Poetic language often exaggerates its message to convey it effectively to the reader. And that is true here. David's sin was not just against God; it was also against humanity. By taking advantage of his position, he sinned against Bathsheba. By taking Uriah's life, he sinned against Uriah and the family that loved him. In this whole situation, he sinned against his own family, his wives, and children would all pay a price for David's sin.

However, he also sinned against God because, while God loved David, he also loved Bathsheba and Uriah, and God loved all those who loved them. He loved the world, but David had casually treated God's love for the people around him as if it were unimportant. It was a message that David was just beginning to understand as he wrote these words in Psalm 51. His sin was a sin against God's love, and God had every right to be angry that his love had been treated so unconcernedly.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 13