I’m sure you, like me, are all too familiar with the guilt we feel when we sin. That sense of unworthiness and shame that comes when we do something wrong. King David knew this feeling well – and he wrote about it in Psalm 32.
We don’t know the circumstances behind this psalm, but some have paired it with David’s sin with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11 and Psalm 51). It seems there was probably a gap of up to a year between David’s sin and his actual acknowledgement of it and confession to God. I can fully imagine how the guilt gnawed away at his insides through that year. Here is how David describes it:
When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.
Psalm 32:3-4 (NKJV)
David could have confessed his sin at any point and been forgiven. But the very nature of sin is to deceive and cover things up. And that’s what David did – until finally confronted by Nathan the prophet (see 2 Samuel 12).
I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
Psalm 32:5 (NKJV)
You see, confession unleashes God’s forgiveness. For David, the forgiveness he experienced through confession of his sin was enormous. It enabled him to proclaim,
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Psalm 32:1-2 (NKJV)
While all sin is sin, it’s worth noting that sin is expressed in three different ways in these two verses. And this also demonstrates the amazing breadth and depth of God’s forgiveness, as we will see.
Transgression is forgiven
Firstly, “transgression” is essentially rebellion or revolt against God and His ways. It’s when we step over the mark. We allow anger, lust, fear, or some other emotion to take control – or perhaps it’s ego or pride – and we step off the right path. That’s what David did. And then, like David, we try to cover it up or ignore it, hoping it will be swept under the carpet and never see the light of day.
But God’s heart is for us to be healed and to be completely forgiven – and that requires us to lift the lid on what we’ve done and expose it to God’s forgiveness. And we know God will forgive, because forgiveness is part of His nature (eg. Daniel 9:9; Isaiah 43:25). As the Apostle John writes,
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (NKJV)
Psalm 32:1 tells us that transgressions are “forgiven,” which means they are lifted up and carried away. They are forgotten by God, because they are taken away. And it’s confession of sin that unleashes God’s amazing forgiveness.
This point can hold a lot of significance for us as believers – so you might like to take a moment to think about what this means for you. We are all prone to step over the mark in some way or another. Yet God is wholly forgiving! He just wants us to open it up to Him so that He can fully sweep it away, even as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).
Sin is completely covered
Secondly, “sin” is falling short of the mark. It’s a failure to live up to our calling as God’s child; failing do what we ought; missing the mark. Verse 1 says that falling short of the mark is completely “covered,” never to be seen again – and this parallels “forgiven” as above.
Iniquity is not counted against us
Thirdly, “iniquity” is the depravity or distortion that comes from the sin nature we have inherited as human beings. It destroys us and separates us from God. But God says that He will not “impute” it to us, or count it against us. The debt has been paid by Jesus Christ. The “wages of death” no longer applies to us, and we are forgiven and therefore free.
All three, are aspects of “sin” as a whole. But the promise of Psalm 32 is that confession unleashes God’s forgiveness for EVERY aspect of sin.
You are indeed forgiven!
We’ll look at the remaining verses of Psalm 32 in the next post.
