Confess merely means “to admit together” and basically entails you telling the ONE (who already knows) about what the YOU (the one who erred), admitting your limitation and what you learned from it and moving on.
In this study we look at (according to Matthew) Jesus’ great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-father, or something near to that description. King David was Jesus ancestor. While David was a great king and his son Solomon was an even greater king, David had his moments of “screw ups” just as all of us do. Today we look in Psalms 32 verses 1-7 to see David’s perspective on recovering from a fall into temptation.
Psalm 32 is attributed to David and is commonly speculated that this refers to David’s transgression over Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. Whatever it was referring to, David had “screwed up” and shares with us his perspective of God’s view.
The theme of the psalm is simple and straightforward: David sinned, experienced sorrow, confessed, received forgiveness, and then sought refuge in the ONE.
To emphasize the majesty and scope of the blessing of forgiveness in Psalm 32, David used a single idea repeated multiple times in different ways to emphasize the point. He placed four phrases together, all of which essentially say the same thing but in different ways in order to cover the scope of what the ONE offers.
David used three terms to describe his error. First, he used transgression, a term to describe acts of rebellion or disloyalty. Second, he chose the word sin, which means “to miss the mark.” This missing of the mark could be intentional or unintentional. Either way, we miss living up to the ONE’s standard. Third, he employed the term iniquity. This is a crooked or wrong act, and is usually coupled with the idea of a conscious or deliberate attempt to do wrong. Using three various words, David painted a fairly bleak picture of mankind and our falling short when it comes to following the ONE’s standard of absolute good.
The important lesson here is it can be forgiven. The emphasis is on forgiveness. Again, using the parallelism to make the point, David matched each of the three words used above with a corresponding word for forgiveness.
First, he said our transgression is forgiven. The Hebrew verb means to lift or carry away, and implies the removal of the error, its accompanying guilt, and even the remembrance of the error itself.
Second, he told us that our error is covered. This covering has a strong link with atonement. Through atonement, or covering, we are reconciled, and the sin is relegated to the past so that the ONE will never again bring it up as something that made Him angry.
Thirdly, David mentioned something that God does not do, namely He does not charge with iniquity. This is a bookkeeping term and brings the idea of charging something to someone’s account. God wipes the slate clean, and the sinner is forgiven. In God’s accounting, He removes the penalties and interest from His ledger sheet and replaces them with blessings, forgiveness, and justification. Those in whose spirit is no deceit. The word “deceit” here is often used to describe someone who is deliberately and maliciously lying to someone else in order to receive some gain. It refers to the lies we tell ourselves and ultimately the ONE.
David reminded the reader that the ONE knows and understands fully the spirit of a person. He knows when we are truly repentant and sincerely seeking forgiveness and when we are merely feigning repentance and going through some religious motions. Thus, David gave us two lines of thought: (1) what the blessedness of forgiveness actually means; and (2) what it means to walk in integrity and sincerity.
David recalled that when he kept silent and did not confess and learn from his errors he was weakened both physically and mentally, though he tried to live his life normally pretending that everything was alright. However, his conscience ate away at him, and the stress began to cause physical problems.
David provided a graphic illustration of psychological, emotional, and physical discomfort. David started his description of the agony he faced by saying that my bones became brittle. The bones of the human body are made up of living cells that need a blood supply providing nourishment and oxygen to stay healthy. When blood flow to part of a bone is disrupted this results in death of bone tissue, and the bone can eventually break down and the joint will collapse.
David notes that without the nourishing spiritual flow of confession and forgiveness the strongest parts of his human constitution began to bother him, sapping his strength and vitality as if he had suddenly aged rapidly. Psychologically, he felt the intensity of this situation (groaning all day long). As fervently as he may have tried, he could find no relief. It consumed his waking thoughts, and when he lay down at night, he could find no peace or rest.
Finally, in a spirit of true repentance, David confessed his sins. David was dealing with two problems. He was living a double life, outwardly appearing godly but inwardly having unresolved sin. It was only when he acknowledged and dealt with the second problem that the Lord graciously forgave the first. Forgiveness was readily available to David when he agreed with God about what he had done. God was ready to restore his relationship, but only after David came clean with himself.
The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden comes to mind. One may wonder why didn’t God forgive Adam and Eve instead of evicting them from the Garden. I believe that they had not repented of their sin. Note the Bible in Genesis 3:8-24 points out the following:
- Adam and Eve hear God in the Garden and answer “I was afraid because I was naked and hid.” (There was no “I did wrong and I’m sorry”).
- God asks “did you eat from the tree” and Adam answers, basically, “that woman that YOU gave to me gave me some.” (Ah…It’s woman’s fault AND God’s fault, but not your own fault, heh?)
- God asks Eve “What did you DOoo”. The woman, at least honestly, says “the serpent deceived me and I ate.” (Truthful, but not the WHOLE story. She “forgot” to mention that she enticed Adam to eat too)
For whatever the reason, no repentance is indicated on the part of Adam and Eve. Without repentance one cannot be one with God and, as David highlights.
David’s sage advice is that we should avoid the temptation that he succumbed to, that of staying silent. The temptation when we err is to remain silent and hope the problem goes away. Whether we are ashamed or angry or too prideful to admit we were wrong, the tendency is to run off and hide, as did Adam and Eve, whenever we hear God approaching.
David shared how dangerous and destructive this approach can be from his own personal story. Instead, he encouraged us to call on God and “own up” to what we have done so that we can avoid the unnecessary suffering. Unlike Adam and Eve who tried to hide FROM God, David realized that the BEST and most secure place is to hide IN GOD.