SCRIPTURE: Psalm 32
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long… 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 32:3,5]
God sees into my heart, He knows what is really going on.
That He still loves me, and sent Jesus to die for me, shows that He is merciful, and wants to help me find forgiveness and freedom.
So there is no sense in hiding my sin, my weakness, my folly.
When we deny or ignore it, it burdens us.
But when we admit it, we find forgiveness and freedom.
As hard as it sounds, the best thing to do is to be totally honest with God; He knows it all anyway.
Jesus compared a pharisee and a tax collector in one of His stories.
The point of the story is that God prefers honest, sincere repentance than presumed piety and goodness.
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. [Luke 18:13-14]
Why do we pretend to be better than we are?
One reason is the shame associated with failure, no one likes to look bad in front of others.
But remember, everyone has this problem; we are all acting as if we are better than we are – including ministers, priests, atheists, teachers, politicians, movie stars and other ordinary people.
We may fool others for a time, but we can’t fool God – and we can’t fool ourselves for long either.
Eventually the truth of who we are on the inside will start to come out.
Keeping silent does not help.
Start with being honest with God.
But go beyond that, be quick to admit that you don’t know, or that you struggle, or that temptation is real for you as well.
You don’t have to expose all the details (often inappropriate and unhelpful), but you do need to deal with it.
Better this way than trying to hide it, then having it come out anyway (caught in an affair, losing everything to gambling, etc.)
God will deal with our stuff one way or another; its better to deal with it honestly, with Him, than to try and hide it from Him and others… it just won’t work.
PRAYER:
Lord, I know I can’t fool You, and I haven’t been fooling myself; help me to take my inner struggles and sins more seriously, to deal with them openly and honestly with You. I want to experience Your forgiveness and freedom!
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.
Oh the freedom what these verses express. All too often I keep guilty silence. All too often I lay it down before the cross only to pick it up again, And when I do that, the Psalmist tells us, my strength is zapped from me. I fear. I feel guilty. I cover up. I try to hide. But all this doesn’t work.
I need to talk with God and tell Him of all my troubles and in Him I need to take Refuge for He is my Hiding Place. He will tell me the way to travel for He is the Way. Oh the freedom when I do that! He is the wind beneath my wings so that each day anew there is a new song in my heart and I will praise Him all the days of my life.
And so this day I continue my journey in the joy of the Lord who is my strength and song.
How blest is he whose trespass
Hath freely been forgiv’n,
Whose sin is wholly covered
Before the sight of Heav’n.
But he to whom Jehovah
Will not impute his sin,
Who has a guileless spirit,
Whose heart is true within.
While I kept guilty silence
My strength was spent with grief;
Thy hand was heavy on me,
My soul found no relief;
But when I owned my trespass,
My sin hid not from Thee,
When I confessed transgression,
Then Thou forgavest me.
So let the godly seek Thee
In times when Thou art near;
No whelming floods shall reach them,
Nor cause their hearts to fear.
In Thee, O Lord, I hide me,
Thou savest me from ill,
And songs of Thy salvation
My heart with rapture thrill.
I graciously will teach thee
The way that thou shalt go,
And with Mine eye upon thee
My counsel make thee know.
But be ye not unruly,
Or slow to understand,
Be not perverse, but willing
To heed My wise command.
The sorrows of the wicked
In number shall abound,
But those that trust Jehovah,
His mercy shall surround.
Then in the Lord be joyful,
In song lift up your voice;
Be glad in God, ye righteous,
Rejoice, ye saints, rejoice.