Psalm 32 - Blessed is the Forgiven Man

Thank you so much for your prayers the last couple days during ourtravels to Colorado. God gave us traveling mercies. We did experience somedifficulty catching our flight from Dulles to Roanoke, yet the Lord provided abus for us, which was a long ride with the rain and terrible conditions onInterstate 81. But we made it back to Salem safely last night, and our dearfriends Johnny and Linda King picked us up and took care of us. On top of it,God gave us a wonderful divine appointment in His providence, and that’sanother story for another time. God is so good, and we thank you for yourprayers.  Today, I feel led,because it is the second day of August, to look at Psalm 32, which is the firstof the five Psalms readings for today. I encourage you to read the Psalms withus or read them yourself. Five Psalms a day will get you through the Book ofPsalms every month. Oh, how we need to be reminded of God's mercy, because inthe Old Testament especially, we read so much about the wrath of God, thepunishment of God, and the chastisement of God upon His people and the nations.Therefore, it’s great to have a book right in the middle of the Old Testament,so to speak, that reminds us of God's wonderful mercy. Yesterday, we discussedPsalm 1, and found blessed is the man who walks with God and meditates in HisWord. We find not only are we blessed that way, but we’re blessed when our sinsare forgiven. That’s how Psalm 32 starts. David is calling out to God toforgive him for his sin. His sin was significant, as he committed adultery andthen murder. He’s crying out to God for forgiveness, confessing not only hissin but the iniquity of his sin—the motive behind it, being selfish,self-centered, and letting pride creep into his life, thinking he could make iton his own without God. That’s what always leads us to drift away from God. Remember, we said blessed is the man who walks with the Lord, who is in God'sWord and becomes like a tree planted by the rivers of water in Psalm 1. But nowin Psalm 32, blessed is the person whose sin is forgiven. To have our sinsforgiven, there must be confession. Verses 2-4 go on to say, “Blessed is theman in whom the Lord counts no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit.For when I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all the daylong. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried upas by the heat of summer.” David tried to hide his sin, covering it up, andhe felt the oppression of God upon him, the hand of God pushing him down. Hefelt the heaviness, guilt, and burden of that sin. Then, in verse 5, Davidsays, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity. Isaid, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave theiniquity of my sin.” Not only the sin David committed, because that wasn’tthe real problem. The real problem was the motive, the iniquity, thereason—what took place in his heart that led to that sin. He confessed that.  David says in verse 6, “Therefore,let everyone who is godly offer prayer to You at a time when You may be found.Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.” In otherwords, when times of trouble come, they won’t overwhelm you if you haveconfessed your sins.  Yes, blessed is the manwho meditates in God's Word, who doesn’t walk or run around with the wrongpeople, as in Psalm 1. But now, blessed is the man whose sin is covered. Godhas taken care of it through the blood of Jesus Christ. There’s no greaterfeeling, no greater emotion, no greater thing that can happen to you and methan to know our sins are covered. That they are forgiven. God has removed themfrom us. Why? Because He placed them on Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago, and Hepaid the price for those sins so that when we confess our sins, we can be setfree.  Today, are you experiencingand enjoying the blessing of your sins being forgiven?