Scripture Psalm 32:3-5

When I kept silent about my sins, my bones began to weaken because of my groaning all day long.

Day and night your hand laid heavily on me. My strength shrivelled in the summer heat.

I made my sins known to you, and I did not cover up my guilt. I decided to confess them to you, O Lord. Then you forgave all my sins.

Observation

David thought he got away with it. It started with an unexpected glance. Bathsheba was pregnant from their affair. Uriah, her husband, was killed in battle. The cover-up was complete.

Perhaps this psalm was written during this period of David’s life, giving us insight into how overwhelming guilt had become. It ate away at him physically, shrivelling his strength as in the heat of summer. Emotionally, there was heaviness, as his sin estranged from the God with whom David walked.

Finally, when David confessed his sin, God forgave. David still had to live with the consequence, but the burden was gone, fellowship was restored. David finds joyous salvation in the Lord. If only he had confessed earlier, rather than digging himself into a deeper hole by compounding sin upon sin, the consequences of which impacted his whole family.

Application

We all make mistakes. Paul writes in Romans that all have sinned. And the temptation is to cover up sin, even if it takes another sin to do so. But the spiral of sin and its devastating consequences can be cut short by making our sins known to God. After all, He knows about them, and paid the price for them.

Keeping short accounts, confessing our mistakes, poor choices or angry responses before they escalate, helps maintain close relationship with people in our lives, and with God. Our steps can be light and free. We can make eye contact without fear of being found out!

Prayer

Lord, thank you for your grace, for the forgiveness I find in You when I come clean with my sin.

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