Here is an example of contrition for sins, showing that the psalmist’s trust in the Lord was by no means a careless confidence that every offense would go unpunished without difficulty. The psalmist does not ask to be spared wrath and punishment; he is prepared to accept them as the rightful recompense for what he has done. It is precisely for this reason that he feels morally entitled to appeal to God’s mercy, which surpasses everything we could imagine about it.

Yes, His mercy is boundless. But will we be able to receive it if we ask for it not for the healing and correction of our sinful nature, but merely to escape once again the consequences of what we have done?...

In David's penitential prayer, which makes up the sixth psalm, the psalmist's attitude toward sin as death is very important. Sin is the cause of all human infirmities; it brings spiritual lifelessness and physical destruction. David confesses all this before God, asking Him for mercy. He weeps over what has happened and over his spiritual weakness, and asks not to be destroyed completely. Aware of his guilt and of the justice of the punishment, he nevertheless takes refuge in the mercy of the Almighty. In death there is no remembrance of God, and therefore in death there is no possibility for the sinner to change. The Lord does not seek the death of the sinner, but precisely his conversion and life. This is His great mercy, in which David places his hope. The king's faith that God will hear and accept his repentance, and that his tears will not be rejected, is founded on this same will of God for the sinner's conversion.