Blessedness of Forgiveness and of Trust in God.
A Psalm of David. A [a]Maskil.
32 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
2 How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!3 When I kept silent about my sin, my [b]body wasted away
Through my [c]groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My [d]vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. [e]Selah.
5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the [f]guilt of my sin. Selah.
6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You [g]in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with [h]songs of deliverance. Selah.8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
As the psalmist found out, there’s only one thing to do with our sin. It can’t be hidden, it can’t be washed off. The stain is permanent, the consequences eternal. Except for that one thing, and that is to do what is contrary to our nature. Instead of hiding from God, in fear that he will destroy us for our wrongdoing, we need to take our sin to him, and confess it.
Only God can cleanse us from our sin, and forgive us of our sin, and put us back on the right path. The alternative is, as the psalmist says, to be like a horse or a mule without understanding. To run away from the One we need, to be filled with sorrows and waste away into nothing. That certainly doesn’t sound very appealing to me, and it’s most certainly not what God created us for.
Instead, God invites us to come into his very throne room, filthy rags and all. Only in His presence can we be made new, and become who we were meant to be. Then we can experience firsthand the incredible “lovingkindness” that surrounds those who choose life. We can “be glad in the Lord and rejoice” and “shout for joy” at the miracle that God has done in our lives. For it is indeed the most amazing miracle of all, freedom from the chains of sin, and restoration of our relationship with our Creator and King.