Psalm 32

We could call this psalm "The Psychology of Forgiveness." The Hebrew text uses the word mashkil. The NIV says in a footnote: "Title: Probably a literary or musical term." A Dutch version translates the word with "didactic poem."¹ In his Commentary on the Psalms, George Knight says that the meaning of the word is uncertain, but that the root word refers to instruction. So we may assume that the intent of this poem is to teach. The first question to ask is: "Who teaches whom?" Does God speak to David, or does David present his own experience as an example for others? The latter seems to be the more logical conclusion. Our viewpoint will make a difference in the interpretation of verses 8 and 9. The thrust of the psalm seems to be that David uses his own testimony for the benefit of others.

The word with which the psalm begins, "blessed" reminds us of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount.² The Septuagint uses here the same word makarios as in the New Testament. Some of the force of the words is lost in the translation: "Blessed is he…" The Hebrew is more emphatic: "O the blessedness of him…" It is a shout of joy. The Bible establishes a direct link between forgiveness and salvation. In his song of praise the priest Zechariah says: "to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins."³ And Jeremiah writes: " 'No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ' 'Know the LORD,' ' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the LORD. 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.' "⁴ So forgiveness is the key to man's redemption and salvation. Confession of sin occupies an important place in this process, but we are wrong if we think that confession brings about forgiveness. Forgiveness of sin is only possible on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ at the cross of Golgotha. Confession opens up the source of forgiveness for us. For David forgiveness took the form of an animal sacrifice, the blood of which was poured out at the foot of the altar. It was, obviously, possible for a person in the Old Testament to go through the routine of identification with the sacrificial animal, without actually confessing his sin. Often the link between the bringing of a sacrifice and certain sinful conditions in man was not clearly understood. We read in the story of Isaiah's call, that a live coal taken from the altar touched Isaiah's lips. This suggests the fact that there was a sacrificial animal that was being burned on the altar at that moment was not sufficient for Isaiah to experience purification of his sins.⁵ When he entered the presence of the Lord he still felt guilty.

It is interesting to see that David uses the words "forgiven" and "covered" as synonyms. The blood of a sacrificial animal did not wipe out sin; it only covered it. The Epistle to the Hebrews confirms this by saying: "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."⁶ The sins of the New Testament believer are washed away in the blood of Jesus. That is why John says concerning Jesus in the book of Revelation: "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. …"⁷ The newer version use the word "freed" instead of "washed." The result is the same; our sin is gone! This profound significance of forgiveness was not known in the Old Testament Hebrew word kafar. It is the same word that is used in the building of Noah's ark. In the instructions God gave to Noah we read: "So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out." Atonement in the Old Testament was a temporary measure. It was intended to be a pointer to the real sacrifice of the Lamb of God, of which all the animal sacrifices were a shadow. We may, therefore, say that this psalm is, in the first place, a prophecy of the blessedness that is revealed to us in Jesus Christ. It is a pointer to the true rehabilitation of man to which the Apostle Paul refers in his great argument about justification by faith in his epistle to the Romans, when he quotes from this psalm.⁸ God accepts man, not because man betters his life, or because he adheres to the rules, but solely because he accepts the payment Jesus Christ made for his sin. This same principle is present in this psalm. David puts the stress on God's forgiveness as the basis for his justification. His confession is never an account of his achievements; it is nothing more or less than an acknowledgment of God's reality.

It is in connection with the above that we have to interpret the word "deceit." Man does not have to be perfect in order to be saved. The first step on the road to rehabilitation is to admit one's guile before God. It is one of the most difficult things in life to admit before God that he is unreliable. In the words of Jeremiah: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"⁹ When we place these facts before God, without trying to hide anything, healing can begin. The only ones for whom there is no hope are hypocrites and deceivers. There seems to be a conflict between the thought of deception and a confession of fraud. If someone says: "I always lie!" he may be telling the truth, but then his pronouncement itself becomes a lie. The same contradiction is implied in a confession of fraud. Man is full of contradiction! No one is completely righteous and no one is one hundred percent guilty of lying. Confession of fraud breaks the vicious circle.

Sin is bad for every man's health, and even worse for a child of God. If we experience a certain measure of fellowship with God and then we sin without true conviction of sin, we will surely suffer with a tortured conscience. This must be the meaning of Peter's words about Lot. He says: "If he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)."¹⁰ The condition for experiencing forgiveness and justification is confession.

In his commentary The Psalms, George Knight indicates that there are four words to describe sin: 1. transgression, which actually means a revolt against God; rebellion, 2. sin, which means missing the mark; 3. iniquity, which is evidence of a perverted nature, a sinful character, and 4. deceit, which is laziness or corruption of the spirit. There are three words that describe what God does: 1. forgive; 2. cover, and 3. not impute. Forgiving refers to pronouncing "not guilty"; covering is atonement through substitution, and not imputing suggests eradication of proof of guilt. Forgiveness is related to our fellowship with God. Covering is a reminder of the cross of Christ, and of the love of God, which brought Him down to earth; not imputing speaks of judgment which passed us by. It is required of us that we admit what we are: deceivers, people who, if possible would mislead God.

David then describes his inner struggle when he tried to continue life without confessing his sins. We do not know if this psalm was actually written after David's sin with Bathsheba, which is the opinion of Adam Clarke. It is quite possible that there were other periods in his life when David was shortsighted enough to think that everything would be all right, and that it was not necessary to clean up his act. This attitude, however, brought on psychosomatic symptoms. His body became ill because his spirit and soul lacked the intimacy with God, which they needed. He complained specifically about his bones. It is quite possible that he suffered from back pain or arthritis, and he believed the hand of God, which weighed heavily upon his body, caused this.

It is the image of God in man, which causes these problems. The tension is caused by the presence of certain sins in his life and, at the same time, the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our soul and our body have trouble digesting this kind of tension. We should not exclude the possibility, though, that David used poetical physical images to describe a spiritual condition. Even if this is the case, it does not diminish the fact that some sicknesses are caused by hindrances in our fellowship with God. For the same reason can a healthy relationship with the Lord can give us a feeling of physical well-being.

David's physical problems bring him to realization that he must confess his sins. There are four words in David's confession in vs. 5 that describe his sins: "my sin," "my iniquity," "my transgressions," and "the guilt." David confesses that he missed God's purpose for his life. He also admits that this is the result of his own sinful nature. He does not blame all kinds of demons for his behavior, as some Christians do. This does not excuse the demons, of course, but man must acknowledge his own responsibility in his sinful behavior, if he wants to receive cleansing and experience sanctification.

David calls his sins by name. Transgression is rebellion against God's authority. The original sin is disobedience and insubordination. David adds a new word to the list: guilt. This means that he took responsibility for his deeds, and, therefore, God freed him of his guilt in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. He could no longer be called to give account. The topic here is not the objective guilt, which had already been atoned for in the killing of the sacrificial animal, but it is the reality of being forgiven. Objective forgiveness is not dependent upon our confession of sin, but consciousness of forgiveness and the subjective experience of being freed from the burden of guilt are related to confession of sin. Here begins, what we called earlier, the psychology of forgiveness. A person who tries to cover up his sins will never be redeemed, but if God forgives our transgressions and covers our sins, we are blessed. The book of Proverbs says: "He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy."¹¹

We find some remarkable paradoxes in vs. 6 that are worthy of our perusal. David calls people who have sinned and who ought to confess their sins, "godly." The second one is that he speaks about a time when God may be found. The call of the godly is, obviously, within the context of this psalm, the prayer of people confessing their sins to God. The fact that they are called "godly" indicates that they have already entered into some kind of relationship with God; their lives had already been based upon the atonement. The sins they confess had crept into their lives after they were converted. If there are certain times when God may be found, this does not mean that at some moments God would not "be at home." Isaiah uses the same expression: "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near."¹² A person becomes aware of God's presence when he becomes honest. The psalmist says: "The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."¹³ The presence of the Lord in this context is the experience of God's presence by man. In God's omnipresence there are no moments in which His presence would be less intense, but in our changing moods, we do not always sense the presence of the Lord in the same way. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we would never become true and make a full confession of ourselves before God. This same principle is found behind Jesus' words: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him."¹⁴ What influences the working of the Holy Spirit, and why He draws some people and not others, we do not know.

The reference to the rising of the mighty waters may be to Noah's flood, and the ark of salvation that kept mankind alive. Just as Noah and his family were safe in the ark when all hell broke loose on earth, so are those who confess their sins safe in Christ. The physical dangers that were brought about by Noah's flood are, undoubtedly, a picture of the emotional and spiritual threats that want to snuff out our lives. In the midst of all sorts of storms of life, we can be at rest under the protection of God's forgiveness. David assures us that God is our hiding place and our protection. The enemy is not a product of our imagination, nor is our protection illusory. We may, therefore, draw the conclusion that the prayers of the godly should not only be confession of sin, but also prayer for protection against the Evil One; the two go together. Our confession of sin deprives the devil of any ground to stand on in our lives, and it gives us the right for intimacy with God, who protects us. "Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe on the His gentile breast…" as Fanny Crosby expressed that security. This is our real freedom, which will make us burst out in songs of deliverance. God loves music, and He will make sure that songs of praise will surround us. When David says: "You …surround me with songs of deliverance," he intimates that we will not be singing alone. Others will produce music as well; there are angels and redeemed humans, who share in our joy, both on earth as well as in heaven.

With the following verses arises the question who is speaking: God or David? Especially vs. 8: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you," is often interpreted as one of God's promises for guidance. The psalm is called a mashkil, which can be translated as a instructive poem. It would, therefore, be logical to assume that David presents his own experience as an example for others. As a person who has received forgiveness, he looks at other people and says: "You will have to follow the same way I went." To take the verse as if God is speaking to man seems to violate the logic of the context, however tempting such an interpretation may be. Especially the rendering of the KJV: "I will guide thee with mine eye," sounds like a picture of divine guidance. The NIV says more prosaically: "I will counsel you and watch over you." The phrase could, however, simply be interpreted as David saying to his readers: "I am looking at you!"

Whatever the interpretation, the psalm demands a personal application; it was written for us. Our conclusion cannot be that someone else ought to confess his sins; David looks at us. David uses four words in connection with this application: "instruct," "teach," "counsel," and "watch." The following comparison with an animal is not very flattering. A horse or a mule is trained by man to render service. Such training would be dehumanizing for us. David's intention is to emphasize voluntary surrender. A man who serves out of love augments his human dignity. A man who rebels against God lowers himself to the level of an animal. The question is not if we can stand against God or not. Such a supposition is ridiculous. A Dutch poet, writing a eulogy about another Dutchman, wrote that he was like a flame that seared the face of God, which is utter nonsense.¹⁵ Our sins make us less human, and unconfessed sin lowers us to the level of an animal. Confession enhances our human dignity, and fellowship with God makes us partakers of the divine nature and of His glory.

It is a strange phenomenon that man wants to turn away from God in order to enjoy life, and to be free to do what he want, but the result, invariably, turns out to be the opposite of what was anticipated. The word that is descriptive of life without God is "woes." In the context of this psalm the word "wicked" should be taken as more than an immoral being, or an atheist. Someone who does not want to confess his sin is wicked for all practical purposes, regardless of his religious confession. It makes little difference what we say we are, if there is not some difference in our actions. The woes of the wicked are the symptoms David describes when he speaks about himself in the verses 3 and 4.

This psalm puts a heavy stress upon protection. Without confession of sin we are susceptible to the attacks of the Evil One, but in confessing we place ourselves under the immediate protection of the Almighty.

Vs. 10 establishes a direct link between confession and trust; the two go together and are inseparable. Without trust in God there would not be any occasion for confession. Our understanding of God's love may, initially, be rather primitive and elementary, but if we would suspect that God was vicious and revengeful, we would never open our hearts to Him. Our unwillingness to clean up our actions comes from the influence of the enemy in our lives, who subjects us to his relentless propaganda. Trust in God's goodness will make the balance tip for us. Even if we only open the door of our hearts only one tiny little crack, we will immediately be overwhelmed by God's "unfailing love," His chesed, the affectionate offer to enter into a covenant relationship with Him. This chesed is one of the essential attributes of God's character. It contains His goodness, His patience, His compassion, His grace.

When David says in the last verse: "Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!" he implies that confession of sin and forgiveness make a person righteous and upright in heart. A structural change takes place in the heart of the man who confesses his sin to the Lord. This is the reason Luther called this psalm "A Pauline Psalm." The righteous should rejoice and be glad and sing. Unfortunately, we find such demonstrations too little in this world, yet they point the way to our heavenly glory. Even in the life of Jesus there were not very many spontaneous expressions of heavenly ecstasy. Luke reports at one point: "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.' "¹⁶ We should, therefore, not conclude that, as Christian, we ought to go through life shouting and glorying uninterruptedly, but if there are no occasional moments of glory, something is wrong.

² See Matt. 5:1-12

³ Luke 1:77

⁴ Jer. 31:34

⁵ See Isa. 6:6,7

⁶ Heb. 10:4

⁷ Rev. 1:5 (KJV)

⁸ See Rom. 4:7,8

⁹ Jer. 17:9

¹⁰ II Pet. 2:6-8

¹¹ Prov. 28:13

¹² Isa. 55:6

¹³ Ps. 145:18

¹⁴ John 6:44

¹⁵ Herman Marsman, in his poem "Willem Kloos."

¹⁶ Luke 10:21

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