Introduction: The Heaviest Burden
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, what is the heaviest thing you have ever carried? Some of us might think of a physical load-moving furniture, carrying heavy equipment. Others might think of an emotional burden-the weight of grief, the strain of a difficult decision, the anxiety of an uncertain future. These are heavy things, indeed.
But the testimony of Scripture, and the testimony of King David in this powerful psalm, is that there is no burden heavier, no weight more crushing, than the burden of unconfessed sin. It is a spiritual weight that presses down not just on the soul, but on the mind and even on the body. Psalm 32 is a Maschil-a psalm of instruction. It is David's personal testimony, written, many scholars believe, after his soul-crushing silence following his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. It was a year of secret agony, a year of pretending all was well while his soul was rotting from the inside. This morning, David invites us to learn from his pain and from his deliverance. He lays out for us a divine map that leads from the desolate wilderness of concealed sin to the glorious promised land of forgiveness and joy. We will walk this path with him in three stages:
1. The Agony of a Guilty Conscience (vv. 3-4)
2. The Action of a Grieving Heart (vv. 1-2, 5)
3. The Acclamation of a Grateful Soul (vv. 6-11)
I. The Agony of a Guilty Conscience (vv. 3-4)
David begins his instruction not with the joy of forgiveness, but with the horror that precedes it. He wants us to feel the full weight of the problem before we can truly appreciate the solution. Look at verses 3 and 4:
"When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah."
Notice the paradox: "When I kept silence..." He was silent about his sin. He put on the kingly robes, he judged the people, he went through the religious motions. He refused to confess to God, perhaps even to himself. But this external silence produced an internal "roaring all the day long." This is the groan of a soul in torment. It is the sound of a man at war with himself, the scream of a conscience that will not be silenced. This internal agony had devastating physical consequences. David says, "my bones waxed old." This is not the normal aging process. This is a spiritual osteoporosis, a deep, internal decay. He felt ancient and brittle, crushed from the inside out by the weight of his guilt. And what was the source of this pressure? He tells us: "For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me." This is the convicting hand of a loving God. It is not the blow of a judge, but the pressing hand of a Father, pleading with His child to come home. God loved David too much to let him be comfortable in his sin. He applied a relentless, loving pressure, day and night, reminding him that something was terribly wrong. The result of this divine pressure and internal roaring was a complete spiritual dehydration. "My moisture is turned into the drought of summer." All his vitality, his joy, his spiritual life-sap had evaporated. He was a barren wasteland, a cracked and parched desert. There is no joy in the Lord when you are hiding sin from the Lord. There is no peace. There is only a dry, weary, agonizing existence.
And then David writes that one powerful word: "Selah." Pause. Stop. Think about this. Meditate on this misery. Do you know this feeling? Do you know the heavy hand of God? Do you feel that spiritual drought? David says, "Pause and recognize this agony for what it is: the fruit of unconfessed sin."
II. The Action of a Grieving Heart (vv. 1-2, 5)
After showing us the depths of his misery, David shows us the way out. And the way out begins with a beautiful declaration of the destination. He starts with the blessing to motivate us to take the necessary step. Look at verses 1 and 2:
"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile."
The word "Blessed" here is the Hebrew word Ashre. It means "O, the happiness! O, the deep fortune!" This is the state every human soul longs for. And David describes this blessedness in three magnificent ways, showing us the totality of God's forgiveness.
* "Transgression is forgiven." The Hebrew word for forgiven, nasa, means to be lifted away, to be carried off. Think of the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement, carrying the sins of the people into the wilderness. When God forgives, He lifts the burden from our shoulders and carries it away.
* "Sin is covered." The word kasah means to be covered over. God, in His grace, covers our sin so that it is no longer visible to His holy eyes. For us, under the New Covenant, we know what covers it: the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
* "The LORD imputeth not iniquity." This is a divine accounting term. To impute is to credit something to someone's account. David is saying, "Blessed is the man whose debt of sin God does not write down on the ledger." Paul quotes this very verse in Romans 4 to explain the glorious doctrine of justification by faith! Our sin is not counted against us; instead, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us.
This is the blessed state. But how does one get there? Verse 5 is the key that unlocks the door. It is the turning point of the entire psalm:
"I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah."
The silence is broken! The hiding is over! David takes three decisive actions. "I acknowledged... mine iniquity have I not hid... I said, I will confess." He stopped making excuses. He stopped blaming Bathsheba. He stopped hiding behind his royal authority. He came clean before God with brutal honesty. The phrase "in whose spirit there is no guile" from verse 2 means having no deceit, no mask. David finally took off the mask.
And look at the immediate, breathtaking result: "...and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." There was no probation period. No list of penances to perform. The moment confession rose from David's heart, forgiveness descended from God's throne. Grace met repentance in a glorious, instantaneous collision. Selah. Pause again. But this time, don't pause on the misery. Pause on the mercy. Ponder the speed and the completeness of God's forgiveness. He is waiting, longing, ready to forgive the moment we are ready to be honest.
III. The Acclamation of a Grateful Soul (vv. 6-11)
A forgiven soul is not a silent soul. The one who roared in agony now rejoices in absolution. The rest of the psalm, from verse 6 to 11, shows us the beautiful fruit that grows in the soil of a forgiven heart. A forgiven life becomes:
1. A Life of Prayer and Testimony (v. 6):
"For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found..."
His first instinct is to tell everyone else! "Because God did this for me, you should pray too! Seek Him while He may be found!" Your testimony of forgiveness becomes a powerful encouragement for others to seek the same grace.
2. A Life of Divine Protection (v. 7):
"Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah."
This is so beautiful. The man who was hiding from God in his sin now finds his hiding place in God. God is no longer the source of the heavy hand, but the source of safety. And the "roaring" of agony is replaced by "songs of deliverance." Joy and music return to the soul!
3. A Life of Humble Instruction (vv. 8-9):
The voice shifts, and now God Himself speaks:
"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle..."
The forgiven soul is now teachable. The stubbornness is gone. God says, "Now that your heart is soft, I can guide you gently, with just a look-'with mine eye.' You don't need the harsh bit and bridle of painful circumstances anymore." Forgiveness leads to a sensitive, responsive walk with God.
4. A Life of Overwhelming Joy (vv. 10-11):
Finally, David brings it all home with a grand, concluding chorus. He contrasts the two paths:
"Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about."
The wicked, who conceal their sin, are surrounded by sorrows. But the one who trusts in the Lord for forgiveness finds himself surrounded, enveloped, and embraced by hesed-God's covenant love and mercy.
And so, what is the only logical response? Verse 11 gives the final command:
"Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart."
This is not a suggestion; it is a command born of grace. The forgiven are not called to be somber, but to be glad! We are not called to be quiet, but to shout for joy! The forgiven heart is a joyful heart, and a joyful heart is a loud heart, praising God for the miracle of His mercy.
Conclusion: Your Invitation
This morning, this psalm of instruction lays a choice before each one of us. It presents two paths.
There is the path of verses 3 and 4: the path of silence, of hiding, of pretense. It is a path that leads to spiritual decay, divine pressure, and a soul as dry as a summer drought. Perhaps you are walking that path this morning. You are smiling on the outside, but roaring on the inside. God's hand is heavy upon you, and you know it.
But there is another path. It is the path of verse 5: "I acknowledged... I will confess." It is the path of honesty, of humility, of casting yourself completely on the mercy of God, who has already provided the covering for our sin in His Son, Jesus Christ. The promise of this Psalm is that if you will take the step of verse 5, you will immediately enter the reality of verses 1 and 2. The burden will be lifted. The sin will be covered. The debt will be cancelled. And you will be surrounded not by sorrows, but by the mercy of God and songs of deliverance. So, I ask you today, where are you? Are you in the agony or the alleluia? Are you hiding or are you shouting for joy?
Let us not be like the stubborn mule, needing the hard bridle of adversity to turn us. Let us be a people whose hearts are soft, whose spirits have no guile. Come to the Lord today, confess what needs to be confessed, and let Him turn your roaring into rejoicing, your agony into alleluia. "Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart." Amen.
