Psalms 32-part 2/3

Psalm 32 5-7KJV

A Psalm of David, Maschil.

⁵ I acknowledge 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.

⁶ For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.

⁷ Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.

I believe that verse 5 is a summary and restatement of verses 1-4. Verse 5 is a standalone verse. It is a complete thought in and of itself, though it has been worked through by what proceeded it. David came to a place where he acknowledged his sin, he was no longer lying to himself about what he did and who he was. He is honest with himself. His iniquity has he not hid – perhaps discovering what was once hidden. Hidden from whom? It was never hidden from God. God can see all things whether hidden or not. Not hidden from self, this would be a moot point. It must be hidden from the sight of others. He said he “Will not hide his iniquity.” Not that he will display it for all to see, but he will no longer pretend to others to be something he is not. He is no longer playing the hypocrite. Oh, that Christian men and women will cast off the robes of the hypocrite. We can fool others only for so long before our sins find us out, and it is a great mercy that they will find us out.

Selah – Stop, consider the forgiveness we have in Christ, and praise God for it.

After David had acknowledged his sin to himself and decided not to hide his iniquities before others, he then confessed his transgression to God. It is not enough to know we are sinners. It is not enough that we do not hide our sins from others. I have known many people who know drinking, cussing, smoking, fornication, adultery and the like is wrong. They know they were sinners for it and they did not bother hiding their sin from the world to see. These people found no forgiveness from their sins for two reasons: they would not confess their sins to God, and they were unwilling to forsake their sins – even with God’s help. No, we must come to God with true brokenness for sin and ask Him to forgive us of our transgressions. We cannot do this until we are ready to make it right. One who robs a bank and then a few days later is sorry that he did this because he realizes the people he has hurt, decides to turn himself in. He asks that he be given mercy from the court because he has turned himself in of his own will. The court might answer and say, “We are willing to consider a lighter sentence, but only if you tell us where you hid the goods.” The robber refused to give up the loot, hoping to enjoy the pleasures of his sin and receive light punishment. No, it cannot work this way. I am not saying that we can achieve sinless perfection, or that we can fight sin in our own strength. I am simply saying that we cannot go to God for mercy while still holding on to that which we want Him to forgive. It may take many trips to the foot of the cross to gain true victory over sin, but every time we should approach it with open hands, and leave being truly forgiven. See Romans 6.

The next two verses can only be true if you have, as David in verse 5, confessed and been forgiven. He says “for” (or for this cause) “shall everyone that is godly” this is only he that is made right with God through forgiveness. Notice what the godly do, they pray. They pray in a time that he may be found, implying there is a time when it is too late to pray – a time when God has already set the verdict. The decree has already been spoken and it is unchangeable. Let this be a warning that we should keep a close account with God always looking to him for help and forgiveness. The reason the mentioned that the godly pray, is because the storms and great floods of water are threatening them. David says that the flood will not go nigh or near them. He does not mean that God will always protect those from harm. The Hymn by George A. Young talks about how God leads his dear children along. He wrote:

Some through the waters, some through the flood,

Some through the fire, but all through the blood;

Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song,

In the night season and all the day long.

This illustrates that there are trials for every believer but even in these trials God brings salvation, whether it is God’s will to save us from the fires or through the floods, he will save us. I think David is alluding to that great time of deliverance when the children of Israel were crossing the Red Sea and God parted the waters. They went straight to heaven’s doors and petitioned God so that the floods did not come nigh the people that He had called to himself. God can deliver his people from this world.

The great declaration of David, “Thou art my hiding place;” God has become David’s place of refuge, a place to hide. What does David have to hide from? If David is using God as his hiding place there must be something seeking his ill. This life has no shortage of arrows flying to do us harm. God allows things in part to prove that He is a safe haven for us and also to draw us near to him. God wants to be proven strong on our behalf.

This is like when David was a young man taking on Goliath. Some say that David took on Goliath without armor, but this perception is false. David refused Saul’s armor because he had not proven – or tried and tested – them. He was dressed in the armor that he had tested – the armor of God’s promises. God wants us to prove Him. He desires for us to use Him as a hiding place, sheltering us from this world and our sins and many other things.

He then explains “…thou shalt preserve me from trouble;” Not that troubles will not come, but he, and we (if we have been forgiven) will be preserved. Troubles shall come, but God is our preserver. It is also true that God tasted those troubles before us and we are not given the bitter cup at full strength. God has diluted the strength of that cup by giving the cup of salvation. He does not promise that troubles will not come, the opposite is true. He says that when troubles do come, I am preserved from them. They – the troubles – will have no lasting effect. Even death has no staying power, God has saved us from it.

“Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.” David ends this thought with songs of deliverance. The Bible is full of such songs, a rejoicing of the heart of the provision of God. To be surrounded on all sides, not just with trials and enemies, but with the praiseful notes of God’s hand of deliverance. In context, this is deliverance from one’s own sin. What a feeling of joy and gratitude should fill our soul when we have tasted the forgiveness of our sins and been delivered from the power and eternal punishment of our sins.

Selah. Again we are called to pause. We must see that when we revealed our sins – being first revealed to us by God – and then forsook (not keeping) them we were made vulnerable. But God did not leave us there. He was quick to hide us and deliver us from our sins. It is our job to confess what God has revealed and then to run under His shelter to cover us and hide us. He promises that He will deliver us and bring us joy and songs. What a great God is the God that David has.

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