Psalm 32

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Good evening. I am glad that we are here together. I had planned tonight with the start of moving toward the easter season that we were going to transition away from the Psalms and look at some of Romans.

Than I read this psalm and I couldn’t help but want to talk about it because of the connection to this morning. IT was too perfect. Let’s read it together.

Psalm 32 NIV

Of David. A maskil. 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. 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. 6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. 7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. 11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

The Blessing of a Clear Conscience

The First two verses present to us the idea of the importance of a clear conscience. The idea that when we do things that are wrong we confess and share that with other people. That is always a hard thing for many people to do because it is not easy to confess our sins.

I started thinking about what I shared this morning and how difficult it is to stand in front of all of you and share that I am guilty in many ways of sins of gluttony and not taking care of my body. It was very difficult to do. Many people like to think that oh its not that big of a deal because we all struggle with fat or eating too much or not taking care of our bodies. While this is true and we aren’t perfect the challenge for me is that I can in a few weeks be easily asked by someone, anyone how things are going and I will have to be honest. That is the fear that I have in confessing my issues.

However, the relief of being honest with everyone about the truth of my health and the needs that I have makes it easier. Does it mean that I may have to have some hard conversations in my future. Sure. It doesn’t mean though that I have to be limited by it though.

When we confess it does free us not only from the human relationships side of things but on the spiritual level as well. I can tell you the best and most freeing moments in my life have come from times when i have confessed sins and asked God for forgiveness.

These moments are important for us to move beyond the things that hold us back from being what God wants us to be.

What happens when we don’t confess

One of the challenges that i loved from this passage is also the truth of verse 3 and 4.

Psalm 32:3–4 NIV

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.

Have you ever experienced that moment when you know you have done something wrong and it weighs on you. It eats away at you internally.

I was thinking about that a lot. This idea when we hold in the things that we know are wrong or that we need to confess but we won’t. That internal struggle can have an effect on us.

It is well known that when we hide things or push them down they have a funny way of creeping back out. Many people when they try to hide or suppress their feelings or their emotions will find that they become sick or that it has a habit of coming out in other places.

Think of it this way. Have you ever tried to pack a suitcase with too much stuff. What happens every time. You push in that one extra pair of socks or underwear and all of the sudden your shirt is sticking out the side of the suitcase. You get that pushed back in while you try to hold down the top of the suitcase and its this constant struggle to get that zipper closed up. You finally get it closed and you throw it in the trunk of your car and…the zipper gives way and the suitcase explodes and your clothes are everywhere. Not only do you no longer have a packed suitcase but you have a broken suitcase and a mess of clothes to deal with.

When we try to hide our sin it is going to find its way out and we will have to deal with the consequences.

Sin and Suffering

This morning we touched on it a little bit with Jesus second temptation. We can’t seek out deliberately situations where we expect God to deliver us when we are doing something that is contrary to the will of God.

If we are honest we can talk a variety of issues that this becomes clear that that our sin causes suffering in our lives. I remember having this conversation with the teenagers i was ministering to a few years back.

I taught them a lesson on how to get your parents to let you do whatever you want.

I mean what better lesson could there be for a teenager. Getting my parents to let me do what I want. It was in that session that they realized that they had to build a relationship of trust with their parents. They had to be honest, keep their word, respect their parents. It was a challenging message.

What happened though is we talked about the consequences of not following what God wants for us. We talked about the dangers of sex outside of marriage. We talked about the dangers of drinking a the parties they might be attending. We talked about the dangers of being out after curfew and what could happen.

It was in this discussion that we realized that there are a lot of problems that happen in our lives because of committing sin. It is in sin that many people find hardship.

Now, it would be easy for us to say that sin is the only cause of suffering. The truth is that not all suffering is a result of sin. The truth is that we are in a broken world. Suffering happens. People get sick. Hardship happens for reasons that none of us can explain or understand. Need proof look at Job.

In all of this we see verses like v. 10 and we focus on the first part and don’t see the second.

Psalm 32:10 NIV

10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.

Woe is the way of the wicked. So when hardship comes we think we are the wicked. However, the truth of this passage is that the Righteous aren’t promised to be free of hardship. We are promised to find out selves in the loving arms God. That we can find comfort when things are their hardest. That we can be free of the pain and we can be encouraged that even in hardship we have the hope of heaven and the love of God.

There is no promise that it will be easy. This life is hard. However, God promises to be in it with us. Jesus was in it with us. That was what I loved so much about thinking on his temptation. He faced the challenge of doing what is right or wrong. and he chose what was right. He did not give in to his human desires he instead held back Satan and we saw his great victory.

That is why we must

Psalm 32:11 NIV

11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Praise God for his help. Praise God for his love. Praise God for his guidance.

Let’s Pray.

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