A Lesson on Confession

Psalm 51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
    build up the walls of Jerusalem;
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
    in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Psalm 51 is one of those "must-read" psalms. (Read it from the beginning if you have not.) David is responding to the rebuke and confrontation from Nathan the prophet after the snowballing sin of David with Bathsheba.  In the beginning verses we hear his repentance and plea for mercy and forgiveness, but not David steps up as King. His sin affects not only him, but the whole nation. He must bear public testimony, confessing sin, proclaiming God's justice and mercy, and setting an example of contrite humility before God. It is not only he who cannot "pay God off"; the principle goes for all of us.