Why Confession Is Good For The Soul

Why Confession is Good for the Soul

Psalm 32

March 6, 2016

Video’s message - Getting in agreement with God.

I love the point that video makes that Jesus is the Great Physician who can fix our heart; but we need to live in agreement with what he is telling us; instead of listening and following the voices of deception, bitterness and fear that influence us.

You know there is a great story out of the Old Testament about King David who spiritually speaking needed his heart repaired. David was known as a great warrior, king and even “a man after God’s own heart.” But the Bible is honest even about its heroes. David sinned against God. He used his power as king to commit adultery with a woman known as Bathsheba. He didn’t stop there. He attempted to cover up his wrongdoing with lies and ultimately murder. So David who once walked so closely with God, found himself faraway from God. Spiritually speaking his heart was sick and needed healing. The Bible tells us how David’s relationship to God was restored.

Traditionally we would call the steps David went through to restore his relationship to God the experience and process of confession. You have probably heard the old Irish maxim that “open confession is good for the soul?” Today we want to look into the heart of David which he shared in a writing called the Psalms from the Old Testament. Specifically, we’ll use Psalm 32. In Psalm 32 we see why confession is good for the soul. Because the word confession in the Bible often means this, it means to “come into agreement.” The only way David could overcome his spiritual heart disease of pride and defiance was through confession to get his life in agreement once again with God. The hope is today by a closer look at Psalm 32 we can see why confession is good for us so our hearts beat strong with love and trust for God.

Confession intersects with our reality – the here and now!

David said, “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.” (vs.1-3)

We can assume Psalm 32 comes at the time when David was just beginning to admit his failure and see where he stood with God. The first words that jump out at me is when David said, Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

David’s process of confession begins with acknowledging how great it is when there is nothing were covering up or hiding from God.

• How great it is when we’re not using mental gymnastics to justify what we know is wrong going on inside of us.

• We’re not using blaming other people to justify our feelings like resentment or discouragement because we are the only ones who can really control our feelings.

• We’re not rationalizing our actions that contradict scripture.

I hear David easing into the first step for why confession is good for the soul. David in a backwards way is saying man it is great when there is nothing a person is hiding from God – but he knew he could not make that claim.

Because then David said, When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.” (v.3) Here it comes, David begins to have truth intersect with how he had been living defiant and distant from God.

Confession is good for the soul because confession like David’s is the intersecting of truth with the reality of how were living.

• Confession is truth coming into the picture of how we’re currently existing that is different than God’s will for us.

• Confession is seeing there is the way we are living; and then there is the way or path God would have us to travel or live.

The Bible tells us God is not liar, the truth will set us free because the only way our relationship to God can be strong is when his truth is able to penetrate the conditions of our lives. Confession allows truth to penetrate into us. You might be sitting there right now squirming a bit because you know your relationship with God seems to be a bit or a lot out of sync or rhythm and could it be because you’re like David. You have had some truth which you have not wanted to come to terms with or to use David’s words, “you have kept silent?”

Confession dismantles the deception of sin.

If sin is often understood as missing the mark of what is true, then confession is not just where truth intersects with reality or how things really are in our lives; but confession also starts tearing down or dismantling the lies, the deception, and action that covers for our sin and or keeps us caught in our sin. In order for a life to be lived in stronger agreement with God, there is a need to tear down any falsehoods that come between us and God. We see this in David’s prayer of Psalm 32.