God's forgiveness

“Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’ – and You forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 32:5
Forgiveness is something that’s hard to pin down just how it works. We need it, because we are inherently sinful, and nothing sinful or impure can enter God’s presence. But God cannot simply forgive us and wipe the slate of our sin clean, much as He loves us, because then He would violate His own just character. There must be a payment made – which Jesus has done on our behalf. But even though the payment has been made, we still need to accept it and appropriate it to our lives, and the most important thing of all – ask God to forgive us.
David writes in this psalm, it was as he decided to confess his sin to God, that God forgave him. God doesn’t forgive us reluctantly. He doesn’t weigh up our propensity to sin, versus the cost of His Son, and say, ‘You know what, you’re not really worth it.’ No, He loves us so much that He promises to forgive all our sin, if we will confess it to Him. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:19).
God wants us to be restored to fellowship. He has made the way easy for that to happen. It’s up to us to humble ourselves and seek His forgiveness by confessing our sin to Him.