BLESSED FORGIVENESS
Psalm 32

Psalm 32:1 A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2  Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 3  When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4  For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. 7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. 9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.       10  Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. 11  Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

This is a Psalm of David. Most often we think of David as that “Man after God’s own heart”. (I Sam. 13:14, Acts 13:22). These words were spoken of him in contrast to King Saul, who also began well, but ended up rejected. But we must keep in mind that David had his nasty side also. The redeeming virtue in David’s walk was that when he was in trouble, he knew enough to go to the Lord for forgiveness. So it appears that Psalm 32 is connected with Psalm 51 (See Endnote), and both refer to the tragic affair between David and Bathsheba and the consequences of that illicit relationship. In order to understand the depth of David’s feeling in these Psalms you must first understand the magnitude of his transgression. II Sam. 11 & 12 tells the story of deception and intrigue that was hidden in David’s heart until Nathan the Prophet finally exposed him before God. It culminates in II Sam. 12:13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned agaist the LORD. And Nathan said to David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme; the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. And so Psalm 51 records the circumstances surrounding David’s repentance, while Psalm 32 expresses his bliss upon the realization that God had forgiven him.

The title of Psalm 32 tells us that it is MASCHIL, a Hebrew word meaning “Instruction”. Once again, we find the seed for this instruction also in Psalm 51:12, 13 where the Psalmist makes a promise: Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.  And so he does teach us, beginning with the very first verse of Psalm 32.  Blessed is the transgressor who is forgiven! The connotation of this “blessing” is captured accurately in the Amplified Bible when it further describes that person who is forgiven as “happy and to be envied”. If you go back to the very first word of the first Psalm in the Bible, you will find that both the Hebrew and the English Bibles begin with the word “blessed”. We could say that the tone for the entire book of Psalms is set by this first Psalm. The multiple blessings that are reserved for God’s people. Those who are willing to “walk not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful”, but who find their “delight in the law of the LORD; and who meditate day and night in His law.” Psalm 1:1-2

David uses three different words for sin in the first two verses. He speaks of transgressions, sins and iniquity. There are some eleven Hebrew words and a similar number of Greek words for “sin”. We do not need to go into the technical meaning for each of them to know that all of them are summed up in the expression “Missing the Mark!” Failure to hit the mark set by God for mankind is sin. And, according to Romans 3:23, every one of us have missed it; For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Oh! How blessed is he who is forgiven!

The transgression is said to be forgiven the sin is covered and the iniquity is not imputed. This is the full scope of restoration by the Grace and Mercy of God! To forgive our sin is for God to send them away. To cover them is to hide them under the blood of Jesus. To not impute them is to prevent them from showing up on the ledger of our conduct when the books of judgment are opened. This last idea may be understood by the word picture that sees an open accounting ledger upon which red and black ink indicate debts or assets. On the one hand God will not allow the red ink of sin debt to be recorded for His forgiven people, and on the other hand He will require an entry of unearned asset where righteousness is concerned. II Cor 5:19 illustrates the former; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. And the latter is seen in Rom 4:22-24 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

Consistent with the teaching aspect of the Psalm, verse two ends with a qualifying characteristic of those who are blessed with this forgiveness, their spirit is free of guile.  Guile is defined as “treacherous cunning” or “skillful deceit”. And in our Psalm it may well apply to David’s attitude towards men as well as towards God. Remember how deceitfully David dealt with Bathsheba’s husband Uriah the Hittite. When I think of guile, I immediately think of John 1:47  where Jesus sees  Nathanael coming to him, and says, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!  What a tribute to Nathanael. He is free of guile in his spirit. The original Greek word in John is interesting. It refers to the kind of deception that is perpetrated when we fool a fish with bait. In fact, the Modern Greek word for fishing bait is still very similar. We can imagine what the fish thinks when he sees this little worm setting on the hook. All he can think of is E.A.T.! But when he closes his mouth around that morsel, the barb runs through the roof of his mouth and BAM! He appears in a frying pan on Emeril Live! David knows that while he should have been without guile where Bathsheba and Uriah were concerned, he was deceitful instead. 

Psalm 32:3 speaks about the turmoil that accompanies hidden sin. When we keep silence, we suffer emotional distress. Who will find out about what I did? Especially when the Bible says we may be sure our sins will find us out.  Then in verse 4, the hand of God is heavily upon David day and night trying to bring about repentance. That conflict within the sinner is awful in its operation, but gracious in its result. The Spirit of God is constantly working within us to apply I John 1:9 to our lives. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The amazing thing is that it takes us so long to respond to this grace because of our deceitfulness and pride. We act as if we think God does not know all about it! David says this emotional stress is like extreme drought of summer. He follows this verse with the first of three selah’s. SELAH is of uncertain derivation. Two of the many possible definitions are first, that it means some kind of musical instruction such as change of pitch or a pause. The second is that it indicates that one should stop here and think seriously about what was just said. Since the second is something that I can readily do, I prefer it over the first.

In verse 5 we finally get to the confession of sin. We are aware that this confession was not exactly voluntary, but forced by Nathan the Prophet in the confrontation of  II Sam. 12:1-5. Remember those famous words … thou art the man!  He did not mean “Yo’ da man!” as it is used today. At any rate, David does indeed confess and finds forgiveness. Here comes the second selah. 

Verse 6 encourages everyone that reads the Psalm and is godly to pray for this same forgiveness, and in a timely manner. We take God for granted at times, and fail to realize the danger of postponing our approach to Him for both original salvation and for midstream forgiveness’s. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:  Isa. 55:6 and beware that you do not become one of those having their conscience seared with a hot iron; I Tim. 4:2.

The latter part of verse 6 and verse 7 tell us about the wonderful protection that can only be found in God. The reference to songs of deliverance no doubt bring the song of Moses in Ex. 15:1ff. to mind. The final selah is given after verse 7. Stop and think about all this business!

Verses 8 and 9 could be a continuation of David’s instruction, or they could be what the LORD says in response to David’s confession. Because of the phrase “I will guide thee with mine eye”, I believe it is best to take it as God speaking.  

Verse 10 is a re-occurring theme throughout the Psalms, namely that the Wicked really do get theirs! If you want to see a clear demonstration of the contrast between the wicked and the righteous, read Psalm 37 carefully.  You may also want to go back and read my article of April 1997 entitled “The Wicked Get Theirs”, which is also available online at http://www.svbc.org/trumpeter/archive/9704.htm.

Our final verse of this Psalm is thought to be better associated with Psalm 33, and I would not argue with that. But the joyous outburst that accompanies the relief of forgiveness that follows the humble confession of sin cannot be denied. The Apostle Paul in Romans 4:6-8 quotes Psalm 32 as one of his proof texts for the doctrine of Justification by Faith when he says  Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,  Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Please notice that Paul applies both the positive and the negative aspect of imputation in this portion. Paul wants to prove that Abraham had righteousness positively imputed and sin negatively not imputed.  I do not know what kind of bookkeeper you are, but God is extremely accurate, and abounding in Grace on top of it all. (You will want to read all of Romans 4)

Have you experienced the blessedness of forgiveness? Have you experienced the joy of God’s salvation? Let us put the horse and the cart in the right order. And if you have been saved for a long time and you have lost some of the blessedness you once felt, then make David’s prayer in Psalm 51:12 (NIV) your own: Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Amen!

Oh the blessedness of sins forgiven.

Pastor Hayden

Endnote, Psalm 51 for your convenience: