Psalms 32:1-5
Of David. A maskil.a]
1 Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.2 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.b]
5 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.
Footnotes:
- Psalm 32:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
- Psalm 32:4 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 5 and 7.
Focus Verse: “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him. And in whose spirit is no deceit.”
In chapter 32 is the one of the greatest chapters dealing with confession. The man who has deceit in his heart cannot confess to God because he will not recognize the truth. If he cannot confess then there is no forgiveness of sins.
Romans 10 says we must believe and confess before the power of the cross is activated on our behalf.
Following in verse 3, David said he kept silent and his bones wasted away. What a picture of agony of holding that weight in his heart. I think we have a hard time confessing because we don’t want to recognize the sin and hear it come out of our mouth. To hear it is to accept and own it and recognize just how ugly we are inside. Because we would rather deny our sin, we keep silent.
But in verse 5, David opens up and says he could no longer cover it up. I tend to think we have degrees of heart attitude, that which I will label the “silent” and the “deceitful”.
The silent heart hides the sin but then eventually confesses.
The deceitful heart pushes down the conviction and justifies wrong doing and perhaps even shifts the blame.
Both refuse to recognize the sin, but one eventually accepts confession as truth. The other continues to remain silent out of pride to the point of becoming sin itself and allowing the burden of condemnation to eat away from within.
There is power when you verbally confess your sin. Not just “Lord forgive me for my sin,” or “Forgive me for the lie,” or “Forgive me for lust.” – but what was the sin, the lie , the lust? Give details to God.
Of course he knows, and you know, but when we fully confess sin, you own it and present it. Then, God takes it away from you and throws it away never to be seen. You finally feel a freedom from true reconciliation that God meant from the process of sanctification.
Spoiler! There is a secret I want to tell you about forgiveness. When you go to God to ask for forgiveness, He has already forgiven you. He did that on the cross. So why go to God and ask for forgiveness for our sins? Because you must give away your sin and accept God’s grace. This is the process of justification of faith laid out in Romans 4. A continual action that daily transforms you until your death and glory. This is called sanctification.
When Jesus died, he bore our sin not just in an abstract way but the actual sin. Not only the punishment but all the guilt and the shame. So why do we walk around with it? why should Satan have the victory of a double punishment? Let the power of confession transform you! Amen.
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