The Blessings of Confession and Forgiveness

Day 74: Psalms 32:1-6

            Psalm 32:1 A Psalm of David. A Contemplation. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. 2Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. 

            Lord, what a blessing it is to know that our sins, which are so many, are forgiven. Jesus, You forgive sin. If You did not forgive sin, we would be destroyed. There would be no hope for anyone. You forgive sins by making a payment for those sins, by covering those sins with the righteous sacrifice of the Christ on the cross for all the sins of all God’s people for all people. Sin is so bad that only God the Son could fully and finally pay for our sin.

            It is a blessing that You have not imputed, have not accounted, our sin to our accounts as we have deserved, but You have accounted our sin to Christ’s account.

My sin, O, the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin not in part, but the whole,

Has been nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul.

(It is Well With My Soul, Horatio G. Spafford, 1873)

            Lord, help my heart and my motives be pure. Help me come to You without trickery or deception in my heart. Help me not deceive myself or in any way seek to deceive You or others.  Help me honestly and openly confess my sin.

            Psalm 32:3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. 4For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

            Lord, guilt is such a heavy burden to carry. It wears on us and destroys us if we do not find a solution. By Your grace, our evil afflicts us so that we must seek a solution, a remedy for this terrible force that comes against us like an ever-increasing gravity. We have forged a chain that is longer than the chain of Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol. Like Macbeth, we cannot escape our guilt. Our guilt plagues us and haunts us.  As You convict us of sin, convince us of sin, we weep and are worn out like a used rag. Our life is weak, and we have no strength as long as we do not deal with our sin in a godly manner. The way of the transgressor is hard.

            Psalm 32:5 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. Selah.

            Lord, when I finally was willing to deal with my sin, to admit my wrongdoing and to stop hiding it from myself and pretending I was something that I was not. Even then You helped me. I knew I had to admit my sin, so I confessed it to You. What a relief! You forgave me. You came into this world to forgive sinners, as Paul said, among whom I am chief.

            Psalm 32:6 For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters They shall not come near him.

            Lord, because there is forgiveness with You we are willing to come. Though we are at times afraid of what we deserve from Your righteous hand, You have reassured us with Your mercy. Because we know we can find help from You, we come to You.