“For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great.” -Psalm 25:11
It is for the Lord’s name’s sake that David petitions a pardon. That is, he asks on account of the Lord’s character which is simultaneously immensely just and immensely merciful.
In his humility (cf. vss. 8-10), he recognizes the greatness of his guilt and feels deeply his own personal inadequacy (cf. “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” -Psalm 130:3).
However, as the following verses will demonstrate, this is not a prescription for debilitating shame or chronic morbid introspection. It is an honest confession (i.e., to agree with God) of the greatness of one’s sins and a faithful acknowledgement of his merciful character by which he extends his unmerited favor by way of his Christ (Romans 3:21-26).
Or, as one pastor has repeatedly explained it, “We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”