Scripture Daily

Context No. 4300 of 4322 · Psalms

Context · Reflection

Psalms 32:1-11: in context

1Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2Blessed is the man to whom the LORD doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. Selah. 5I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 6For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him. 7You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. 8I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you. 9Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you. 10Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in the LORD. 11Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, you righteous! Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

David describes two states of soul, and the contrast is vivid. First, the misery of unconfessed sin: when I kept silent, he says, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long; God's hand was heavy on me, my strength dried up. And then the relief of confession: I acknowledged my sin to you and did not hide my iniquity; I confessed my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

What stands out is the felt difference between hiding sin and confessing it. As long as David kept silent, concealing his sin, he was inwardly wasting, groaning, weighed down. But when he stopped hiding and brought his sin into the open before God, forgiveness came, and with it relief. The blessed state, he says, belongs to the one whose sin is forgiven, and God becomes for such a person a hiding place, surrounding them with songs of deliverance.

We may imagine that hiding our sin protects us, but concealment only leaves us groaning under a heavy weight, our inner life wasting. The way to blessedness is to stop hiding and confess, to bring our sin honestly to God, who forgives and becomes our hiding place. Blessed is the one whose sin is forgiven; the burden lifts, the guilt is gone, and God surrounds the forgiven with songs of deliverance. The relief is on the far side of confession.

Am I hiding some sin, imagining concealment protects me while it only leaves me groaning under a heavy weight, and will I find the blessedness David describes by confessing it honestly to God, who forgives and becomes a hiding place surrounding the forgiven with songs of deliverance?

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