“Against you and you only have I sinned.” (Psalm 51)

This verse used to always confuse me. I understood the general message that our sin is an offense to God, but I couldn’t seem to understand how this sin was not against Bathsheeba or Uriah. It can be easily argued that they were sinned against in the events that transpired.
But then I read it again. I had been missing a key factor; I was not reading the Scripture with the full weight of God’s glory and holiness in mind. Our God is perfect and beyond comparison. But we are sinners, each and every last one of us. So yes, we can sin against each other, but the offense committed is not the same as the sin committed against God. There is one key difference that cannot be overlooked- God is perfect. Holy. With out blemish. We are not. We fail to grasp the depth of our own sin. Without Christ, we are slaves to sin. We are constantly battling it, fighting it at all times. So when we are sinned against, it is nothing short of what we deserve. Yes, it hurts. Yes, sometimes it is unjustified and horrendous. However, we are sinners. We deserve the full affect of sin and all of its nasty consequences.
God does not. He has never wronged any one, never committed even the smallest offense. Yet we sin against Him. Our continuing sin shows that we don’t realize how offensive our sin is to God. It is what put Christ on a cross. It is what led us to be removed from the Garden. When we truly realize how holy and right God is, and how deep our sin goes, we can begin to cry out to God with David in the Psalms, “Against You and You alone have I sinned.” Only then can we realize how deep our sin is, and how offensive it is to the Lord.