“Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.” -Psalm 25:22
The prayer for deliverance is strongly connected to the psalmist’s confession of the Lord’s righteousness and of his own sinfulness. And as the covenant head of the nation, David’s sins and troubles directly affect the people of Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1-14) as much as he is also responsible for the sins of the nation. Ultimately, David’s prayer is not for himself alone but also for Israel from whom the True Israel would be born (Galatians 3:16).
This reminds us that the consequences of our sins don’t stop with us, especially if we possess any measure of authority over others (e.g., fathers). The consequences of our sins are unfathomable, uncontrollable, and completely up to God. There’s an old idiom that says our sin will always take us further than we wanted to go, leave us longer than we wanted to stay, and cost us more than we wanted to pay.
Thankfully, we have a Savior in Jesus Christ, and a God who hears our prayers and forgives our sins for Jesus’s sake (1 John 2:1-2).