Psalm 32-part 1/3

“I didn’t lie to you.” My sweet two-year-old girl said in the most precious voice possible. She knew that if she lied to me, she would get in trouble. She also knew that she did something wrong, and felt the desire to lie about it so that she wouldn’t get in trouble. “What did you not lie about sweetheart?” I asked her, because all she told me is that she didn’t lie. She repeated that she didn’t lie and hesitantly told me that she had an accident. I could see the relief on her face when the matter was all taken care of – she was clean and so was her conscience. David starts off this Maschil – a type of Psalm that perhaps means ‘to instruct’ – with an experience much like my daughter had.

Psalm 32KJV

A Psalm of David, Maschil.

1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

² Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

³ When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

⁴ For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

Verses 1 and 2 tell of how blessed it is to have a clean conscience. Nothing is wrong, and all is right. If you borrowed money from someone and have yet to pay it back, you might feel your relationship with that person drift. All that you can think of when you are around them is that you owe them money. Maybe they remind you of it, or maybe it is your own conscience that constantly flags it in your mind, but it is not pleasant to be around them. Maybe it isn’t that you owe them money, maybe it is that you hurt them, or maybe they hurt you. Regardless, there is a drift in your relationship.

We are all at odds with God. He created us and has put His law within our hearts. When we broke, or transgressed, this law – and all have (Romans 3:23) – we became the enemy of God. We were to be separated from God forever and tormented in Hell, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). God made a way for our relationship to be restored, and that way was by Him forgiving us and taking the punishment upon Himself. If you have never experienced a clean conscience toward God, you cannot know the blessedness of these verses. You are still in your sins – you are adrift from your Creator.

David is not just talking about breaking God’s law in general. We see from verse 3 and 4 that he did experience some anguish of spirit over his sins. His “bones are waxing old” and decaying because he had not yet confessed his sins to God. He also uses language to show that he was not at peace. The word “roaring” here makes me think that David was constantly lashing out against those around him and his situation. Not understanding that it was his own glaring sin that caused him great frustration with others.

Before we break these four verses down, I want to get the big picture of what David is referring to. To say it simply, David says, “How great it is to be clean before God, and no longer being chastised by God’s hands.” It is only in this forgiveness that true happiness and joy can be found.

“Blessed” or we can say “happy,” “full of joy,” or “experiencing the favor and benefit of God.” The verb, “is,” is a constant state of being. “He whose transgression is forgiven” This is talking about being forgiven of a specific violation of the law, one in which was being brought to mind by God. We do not know which transgression inspired David to write this, but it may be tied to a time when he did not let God direct him as we shall see later in this psalm. “Whose sin is covered,” that sin is hidden from view, not covered by Davids own works but hidden, or maybe ‘put away’ is a better picture, by the One who was sinned against – God. Jesus covered our sins on the cross, and we are told that charity covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Blessed is the man who is loved by God, so that He provides a covering for that man.

“Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,” Again, we have a state of being in true happiness, the conscience being at ease and not troubling us anymore. “To impute” is a term to mean something like “charge”. If you swipe a credit card at the store, the bill is charged or imputed to that account. Wouldn’t it be great if you went to the store and bought everything you need, but the bill was so high; you swiped your card and left the store only to find out later the charge never showed up on your account – that someone else paid for it? How much greater it is to know that our sins that we committed were not put on our account! Someone had to pay them, but it was not us. It is as if we had gone before the judge knowing we are guilty, and just before sentence was passed, Jesus looked to the Father – the just and holy Judge of all the earth – and said, “I am responsible. Impute the transgression to me; lay it on my account. I will pay the price.” Oh, how blessed we should feel because this is what Christ has done.

“And in whose spirit there is no guile.” The word “guile” means “deceit or lie.” This is talking about a spirit that is honest with itself and with God. One that has acknowledged its sin. Forgiveness requires an honest spirit before God. We must confess and forsake our sins like Proverbs 28:13 states: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” If we hide our sins, we cannot find forgiveness. It is an impossibility. It is like an infection that has scabbed over and puss and dirt and all manner of filth is inside trying to get out. If it stays in it will cause pain and eventually death. The scab must be opened up and everything cleared out so that the healing process can begin.

“When I kept silence…” David is saying that initially he was silent about his sin. This is one of the greatest ways that sin and Satan can take hold of a life. People are convinced that they must cover up their sin. This is not a new idea; Adam and Eve decided that they needed to be covered – the problem was, they tried to cover themselves. God agrees that our sin needs to be covered but his answer is a lamb’s skins, not the works of our own hands. His answer is an innocent life. If we try to keep silent about our sin it will begin to rot and stink and manifest itself in different areas of our life and cause corruption. David illustrates this by stating “my bones waxed old” – they have lost life and corrupted faster than they should have. It should also be noted that sin does affect our bodies in a way that only God can know completely. It will cause our bones to wax – or grow – old.

Certainly this – once shepherd boy – understood the beasts that roar as he writes “through my roaring all the day long”. It is likely that David is talking about how he dealt with people around him. It is certain he was not at peace with himself, and he probably took out his inner turmoil on others. Always flying off the handle at people’s faults and mistakes, unwilling to deal with his own. When seeing a just an upright man, he cannot help but to roar because his conscience has been pricked; like a lion that has splinter in its foot, and every time he steps, he remembers the injury. We see this type of action in David’s life when Nathan the prophet confronts him in a parable about a rich man who has many sheep stealing a beloved lamb from a poor man with only the one. David goes to an extreme and wants to punish the man far beyond the law allows – taking the life of the rich unmerciful man. In my mind, I can see David roaring out a decree. David cannot escape this inner turmoil for it lasts “all the day long.”

“For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me:” He is a fool that believes God will not punish him for his sins. God is not trying to hurt David, he is trying to heal him. It is as a wife nagging her husband to go to the doctor for something that is bothering him. He doesn’t want to go, even though it is best. God desires his people to be holy and righteous. He desires us to be covered and whole. Is this not why He came and bore our sins upon Himself? He desires us to be whole – often more than we desire it for our selves. It is not that He needs us to be whole, no He is a God that needs nothing. It is as a parent that sees his child captured by drugs or alcohol. The parent desires the child to be free from sin more than the one trapped desires it, most often. This is why God’s hand is heavy upon David, to cause him to desire to be made right with God again.

David ends this section stating, “my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.” David is referring to God’s judgment upon his life. God often judges indirectly. David once had a great power in prayer; he had a sweet fellowship with God. But David has come away from the well empty. The well of God’s goodness seems to have gone dry. Even the soil has lost its moisture. Where no water is there is no life. If we are experiencing a dry season in our life, is it because of unforsaken and un-dealt with sin? Is it because God has removed his life-giving presence? Let us turn our hearts to God and confess and forsake our sins. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Selah. Much debate is over this word, I will give my understanding here. It is a term to indicate a pause – perhaps in a musical connotation- and to induce a moment of worship and praise. It means to stop, consider and give God the praise that He rightly deserves because of the truth that was just taught.

Let us do just that, and end as we have begun – to praise God for such a great forgiveness that He has granted us.

S.T. 
Acts 20:24
"None of these things move me..."