As we communicate with God in the language of complaint, as we honestly bare our souls before the Father, something surprising happens. We discover that, in many cases, the fault is not with God; it is with us. The problem is not that God has turned His back on us but that we have turned our backs on Him.
This "turning our backs on God" is called sin. Sin is an equal opportunity employer. When each of us digs around in our lives, we will soon come face to face with the reality of sin. At that point, we can respond in one of three ways: we can deny our sin; we can rationalize our sin; or, we can confess our sin.
The rich young ruler in Jesus’ extraordinary story in Luke’s Gospel is an example of the first alternative. When the young man asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus pointed to the commandments and suggested that he keep them. The young man replied, "All these I have kept since I was a boy" (Luke 18:21).
That’s one way to deal with our sin, to deny its presence in our lives, to claim to have followed all the commandments of God.
I’ve told this story before with a little variation. A young lady who had gone away to college wrote a letter to her parents that demonstrates this second alternative. This letter, which came at the end of the semester, said: "Dear Mom and Dad,
Please forgive me for not writing sooner but all of my writing paper was destroyed when the dormitory was burned down by the demonstrators. I’m out of the hospital now, and the doctors said I should regain my sight soon. The young man who rescued me from the fire offered to share his apartment with me until the dormitory is rebuilt. He comes from a good family, so you won’t be surprised when I tell you we’re getting married next month. You’ve always been so anxious to have a grandchild, so I want to share with you the good news that you will have one soon."
Then she added this PS: "Please disregard the above practice in English composition. There was no fire. I haven’t been in the hospital. I’m not pregnant. I don’t even have a steady boyfriend. But I did get a ’D’ in French and an ’F’ in chemistry, and I wanted you to understand how much worse it could have been."
That’s another way to deal with our sin, to recognize its presence in our lives
but then to try to rationalize away its seriousness.
A third way is the biblical way, to acknowledge our sin, to lay our sin before God, and to allow Him to take it away.
The word for this way of dealing with our sin is CONFESSION which literally means to agree with God about our sin. This is another important word in the language of faith. Where can we go to learn more about this word? We go to the book of Psalms. Psalm 32 is one of the psalms of confession. Traditionally they are referred to as the penitential psalms. Other penitential psalms are 6, 38, 51, 102, 103 and 143. The most famous is probably Psalm 51. Psalm 32 is a twin to Psalm 51, for both are responses of the same person to the same reality.
In both cases, it is David who was struggling with his sin. And in both cases, it is the double sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah that David is dealing with. Psalm 51 seems to be the immediate response of David to his sin. Psalm 32 is the fruit of longer reflection. As David articulated the language of confession in this later reflection, he provides some important insights into the language of faith.
The Possibility-Psalm 32:1-2
We see first of all the possibility of forgiveness.
In three powerful phrases of promise, the Psalmist declared this possibility.
"Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered ... whose sin the Lord does not count against him."
The word translated "forgiven" means to lift up or to carry away.
Picture yourself with a heavy load on your shoulder, struggling to take the next step,
and then someone with a caring heart and a strong back,
takes the load off your shoulder so you can walk upright again,
and you will have a picture of what God will do with our sin.
He will lift it off of our shoulders and take it away.
The word "covered" means to conceal it so it will no longer come into view.
Picture a scratch you have made across a wall,
and then someone with the proper skills paints over the scratch so it is no longer visible,
and you will have a picture of what God will do with your sin.
He will conceal it so it no longer comes into view.
The word translated "count against" or "impute" means to hold a note against someone.
My dad’s great aunt and uncle had no children.
Aunt Valtie had a niece whom she loved and who loved her.
When they bought their house, Aunt Valtie paid for it and carried the note at no interest with the understanding that when she died, the note was paid in full.
About 4-5 years after the note was made,
Aunt Valtie died and their note was paid.
That is a picture of what God will do with our sin.
He will not count it against us.
Which of our sins will God take off our shoulders,
cover up and refuse to count against us?
Look again at the text.
The psalmist used three different Hebrew words to describe his sin.
The first word is translated "transgressions" in verse 1.
This word, which means to rebel against God,
describes a deliberate disobedience.
The second word in verse 2 is translated "sin."
This word, which means to miss the mark, describes an inadvertent movement down the wrong pathway.
The third word is translated "iniquity" in verse 2,
is sometimes translated "sin."
Yet, this word is a different word than sin.
This word means a crookedness, in attitude and in action.
Why do you think the psalmist used three different words to describe his conduct?
Do you think this was simply an exercise in the use of his Hebrews Thesaurus?
I think the psalmist used three different words to describe three different manifestations of sin to intentionally declare to sinners of all generations that no matter what our sin is,
the forgiveness of God is available.
We don’t have to carry the load of guilt for our sin.
God will lift it off our shoulders and take it away.
We don’t have to look at that sin for the rest of our lives.
God will conceal it so it will no longer come into view.
We won’t have that sin count against us in our eventual reckoning before God.
He will take it off the books.
Everyone of us can be forgiven!
The Problem-Psalm 32:3-4
Why is that important?
Because of what unforgiven sin does to us.
The psalmist elaborated on the problem in verses 3-4.
At least a year passed between David’s double sin of adultery and murder and the eventual confrontation with the prophet Nathan which led to David’s acknowledgment and confession.
For a year David carried that burden of guilt.,
had it ever before him, and realized that it was a mark against him in his accountability to God.
According to David’s testimony in verses 3-4,
this unconfessed sin literally ate him alive.
His "bones wasted away."
He was "groaning all day long."
"Day and night" the guilt plagued him.
His "strength was sapped" as he suffered a drought of the soul.
For 365 days and nights David suffered the physical and emotional and mental and spiritual consequences of his unconfessed and thus unforgiven sin.
Some today deny the reality of sin and some also deny the reality of disease.
Although they are labeled "new age" there is really nothing new about what they are saying.
In one form or another, their ideas have been taught in every generation.
Yet, after all of their books have been read and all of their formulas have been tried, people will still have to deal with the physical sickness called disease and with the spiritual sickness called sin.
David tried to deny his sin.
Then he tried to rationalize away his sin.
But this tumor of the soul literally ate him alive.
The Program-Psalm 32:5
Then something happened that turned his life around, which brought refreshing rain to the desert of his soul.
The prophet Nathan uncovered the cancer that was eating at David’s soul.
And then David did the one thing that would bring relief: he confessed his sin to God.
David said,
"Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and you forgave the guilt of my sin."
David followed a three-step program as he moved from barrenness to blessing.
1. He accepted responsibility for his sin.
Notice that he referred to "my sin."
He didn’t blame his sin on someone else.
He didn’t deny it.
He didn’t rationalize away its seriousness.
He acknowledged it, and then he accepted responsibility for it.
2. He laid his sin before God.
No longer did he play his games of hide-and-seek with God.
He not only admitted his sin to himself.
He also admitted it to God.
As the lament psalms teach us to be honest with God about our feelings, the penitential psalms teach us to be honest with God about our failings.
3. He confessed his sin.
The word confess means "to agree with."
To confess our sin to God is not just to mouth the words "I’m sorry."
To confess our sin to God is to say to God,
"I feel about my sin like you do.
I recognize that this sin is not good for me, that it is not appropriate to my life."
The problem of guilt can only be overcome by the program of confession.
The Product-Psalm 32:6-11
What will happen when we confess our sins to God and receive His forgiveness?
The psalmist spelled out the product of forgiveness in the closing verses of the psalm. There are any number of words that capture what the psalmist expressed ... words like confidence and guidance and joy. Perhaps the most accurate description of the psalmist’s experience is simply to say that forgiveness brought R-E-L-I-E-F.
