2Ps 38 9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;

my sighing is not hidden from you.

10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me;

even the light has gone from my eyes.

Let me give you some fast rules taught in the Psalms about christian repentance. Ive been using Davids repentance language for hours in a day.... for 30 yrs. You will never repent if God makes it hard. You will never come to God with honesty if you are thinking there are steps that you must accomplish in order to get His attention. You will never get past your sin in your prayers and speak to God as Someone who daily communicates with you. You will never understand yourself if you do not know the difference between sinful complaining and repentance. Most people never learn to talk to God with an understanding that He is concerned for us as a Father and not as the judge. Most people have never learned the difference between saving repentance and christian repentance. And yet repentance is like needing water to live. If we do not understand repentance then we are never gonna understand scripture.

The penitent Psalms include a curse. The only Psalm where David repented without the curse is Psalm 51. But this Psalm had different circumstances. David carried out capital punishment on adulteries and murders in his position as king of Israel. Not only was his sins punishable by death but they were considered the most treacherous acts. Treachery in Israel was the same as desertion or the act of Treason in a military sense. But David wrote the Psalm for the purpose of assuring of not only confessing his sin but also for the people that he had the same desire to see Israel prosper.

The Penitent Psalms where more of a complaint than a confession. Some christians teach that if we complain it is not true repentance. Why would David teach that there is a good complaining in repentance? Because when we are saved we go from being guilty of our actions to being forgiven of all of our sins. We are forgiven of our past, present and future sins. The people who believe there is a practical reality and a spiritual reality contradict themselves.The bible teaches that once we are forgiven by God we can no longer act to receive forgiveness. We are never forgiven on the basis of our confession. The scriptures in the NT that encourage us to confess our sin is not for us to number our confessions but to teach that our confession is not a work.

Ive thought about this for many years as I confessed according to the Davids confession. I never confess anything or take part in repentance that is not supported by scripture. When I repent I go straight to the Penitent Psalms.

These Psalms are burned in my soul. Christian repentance is not something that adds to our acceptance with God. This is why in the penitent Psalms David complains about his physical injury that weighs him down so that he feels his sin. The reason that David complains is because he teaches that when we are saved we get new desires. These desires are frustrated by a foreign power. Sin is treated by David as an enemy because the opposition to our kingdom desires is guilt, fear, shame and sorrow. Most people walk around with guilt on their foreheads. David believes that his enemies try to control the world by guilt etc. David had a much bigger problem than his struggle with sin. He was always in danger of losing his life. So when he complains its not about poor David. Its from a king who must overcome his enemies in order for Israel to prosper. And so we believe that our desires are God total kingdom that prospers according to our thinking thoughts after God or pronouncing Gods gifts so that we can be high priest who establish kingdom confidence in our culture so that we will see more and more people being enabled to work to the highest level of their gifts in being successful in this life.