Guilt is silly ... just press in to God with prayer

Negative thoughts conspire against us to keep us from loving relationships, ESPECIALLY our relationship with God. There has been a time in each of our lives when we thought we had done something SO HIDEOUS that God would never forgive us, that God wouldn't want to hear from us, that God would never again listen to us or speak to us. Yet that is the silliest thing ever, as God is always here for us, always a continuous source of flowing love and concern and compassion and forgiveness which is why it is so important to always stay in a constant state of praise for every little thing.

David, one of the Bible's heros, was not always a model of a "perfect" and "religious" man ... this Psalm was written after his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. Notice, though, that all of his "suffering" and all of the accusations against himself are HIS, David's, on his own head. And notice how he, over and over again, gives God the credit for being there, for never separating God from David, right down to the line "Restore to me again the joy of your salvation". No matter how "guilty" we may feel, we MUST press through those feelings to bury our heads in the breast of God so that God can stroke our brow with forgiveness saying, "Rejoice in Me always, and again, I say Rejoice."
=-=-=
Psalm 51

Because of your unfailing love have mercy on me, Oh God. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.

For I recognize my shameful deeds--they haunt me day and night.

Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight.

But you desire honesty from the heart, so you can teach me to be wise in my inmost being.

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Oh, give me back my joy again; let me rejoice. Remove the stain of my guilt.

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

Then I will teach your ways to others, and they will return to you.

O God who saves, I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.

Unseal my lips, O Lord, that I may praise you.

You would not be pleased with sacrifices, or I would bring them. If I brought you a burnt offering, you would not accept it.

The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit…thoroughly and humbly broken down with sorrow for sin. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.