A Psalm of David. You can see David all through this Psalm; here we have David's sin, David's confession of sin, David's pardon. It is a Psalm of David. Oh, that we might each one make it our own! It is entitled- Maschil. This is an instructive Psalm. The experience of one man is instructive to another. We learn the way in which we should walk, and sometimes the way in which we should not walk, by observing the footsteps of the flock.
The Psalm begins with blessing.
Psalms 32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
I think I hear a sort of sigh of relief, as if the man had been burdened with a load of guilt, and now at last his sin is put away; and his sigh has more solemn joy in it than if it had been a song: «Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.» Beloved, you must know the bitterness of sin before you can know the blessedness of forgiveness; and you must have such a sight of sin as shall break your heart before you can understand the blessedness of the divine covering, that sacred coverlet which hides sin effectually, blots it out, and even makes it cease to be. «Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.» Would you not think so, dear burdened heart, if it ever came to your lot? I hope that it will be so tonight. Do not we think so, who remember the day when almighty mercy forgave us our transgression, and covered our sin? Indeed we do. This is one of the greatest blessednesses out of heaven. Perhaps, for a sort of still soft melody with much of the minor in it, this is the sweetest music in the whole Book, «Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.» Now David must put the same truth in another form. He loves to reduplicate, to repeat again and again a truth which is very precious to him.
Psalms 32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Here are two reasons for the man's blessedness: sin is not laid to his charge, and he is no longer deceitful; he no longer tries to palliate and to excuse his sin; he makes a clean breast of it; and God, in a higher sense, gives him a clean breast. He acknowledges the justice of God, and God displays his infinite mercy to him. Now David tells us how he learned this sacred blessedness; what were the ways by which he went, which ended at last in this divine sweetness.
Psalms 32:3-4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
I understand this to have been the feeling of David after his great sin, before he confessed it. He tried to excuse it to his conscience. It has been thought by some that David was, for at least nine months, in a very insensible state; but he does not appear to have been so. All the time until his sin was confessed and acknowledged, he was miserable. Because there was divine grace in his heart, sin could not dwell there with comfort. As he would not own his sin before the bar of God, pleading guilty, and waiting for judgment, as he kept silence, it preyed upon him so, that he seemed to grow prematurely old, and that, not only in his skin and his flesh, but his very bones were affected: «My bones waxed old.» Those solid pillars of the house of manhood trembled and were shaken under his awful sense of sin. You cannot be a child of God and sin, and then be happy. Other men may sin cheaply, but you cannot. If you are a man after God's own heart, and you venture into uncleanness, it will sting you as does a viper it will burn within your bones like coals of juniper.
«When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.» David did pray, but he did not dare to call it prayer. It was like the moaning and groaning of a beast that is wounded, and faint, and near to die; and this terrible pain was upon him always: «For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me.» God has a heavy hand for his sinful children. Other fathers may spoil their children with indulgence; but the Lord will not spoil his children. If we sin, we shall feel the weight of God's hand. We ought to thank him for this; for though it brings great sorrow, yet it brings great safety to us. The worst thing that can happen to a man is to be allowed to sin, and yet to be happy in it. One of the best things for an erring believer is a taste of his Father's rod. «Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.» All David's joy was squeezed out, pressed out, by the heavy hand of God. His flowers ceased to bloom; his fruit was withered; his experience was nothing but a hard drought, without a drop of moisture. When David had gone so far, and had played only on the bass strings so long, he said, «Selah,» that is, «Screw up the harp strings, let us put them in tune again. We are going up to something better now.»
Psalms 32:5. 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.
Oh, how swift is the divine compassion! Quick upon the heels of confession came that word from Nathan, «The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.» I can fancy David standing there, with the hot tears in his eyes, never so broken down as when his sin was all forgiven. Before he knew that he was pardoned, he stood tremblingly fearful, brokenhearted before God; but when Nathan had said (I will repeat those gracious words), «The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die,» oh, what gratitude he felt, and what tenderness, and what hatred of sin! Dear hearer, if you are burdened under a sense of sin, go and make confession to God straight away. If you feel very heavy tonight at the recollection of some great and grievous offense, if some scarlet spot is on your hand, and you cannot get rid of it, go and show it to God. With penitential honesty confess the sin, and it shall be forgiven you. «Selah.» Now David puts the harp strings right again. They still seem to suffer from the previous strain; and so he says «Selah» once more. «Sursum corda.» Lift up the heart; let the whole soul go up to God.
Psalms 32:6-7. 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. Thou art my hiding place;
He had talked, in the first verse, of his sin being covered. Now he not only hides his sin beneath the divine covering, but he hides himself beneath the divine shelter: «Thou art my hiding place.» Thus does the believer sing Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.»
Psalms 32:7. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble;
Lord, if thou hast taken away the greatest of all troubles, that is, guilt on the conscience, if thou hast really forgiven me, what trouble have I to be afraid of? «Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.»
Psalms 32:7. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah,
If thou hast pardoned me, there is the making of all manner of music in the fact of my pardon. He that is washed by the precious blood of Jesus is the man to sing. Has not God made a chorister of him? John tells us, in the Revelation, that one of the elders said to him, concerning the white- robed throng, «These are they, which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.» «Selah.» David must tune the strings of his harp again, for now he wishes to exult in God, and to magnify his holy name, as he listens to his Lord's gracious words.
Psalms 32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way, which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Here is another blessing. The God who has forgiven the errings of the past, will preserve us from erring again. God's flowers always bloom double. He gives us justification; but he adds sanctification. He pardons our sins; but he also makes disciples and scholars of us, and teaches us the art of holiness, which is the noblest art that man can learn: «I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way, which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.» When we are willing to be guided, we hardly need a word from God; a look is enough, just a glance of his eye: «I will guide thee with mine eye.»
Psalms 32:9. 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.
Do you want bits and bridles? If you want them, you shall have them. If you will be a horse or a mule, you shall be treated as horses and mules are. There are some Christians that need to be driven with a very sharp snaffle; and they need to have their mouth made very tender, for now they are hard-mouthed; and, sometimes, they take the bit between their teeth, and try to run away instead of doing God's bidding. Usually, the rods with which God scourges us are made of reeds grown in our own gardens. When God hides his face from his people, it is almost always behind clouds of dust, which they have themselves made. You will have sorrow enough in the ordinary way to heaven; do not make an extra rod for your own back.
Psalms 32:10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
This refers to you who are outside the family of God, who do not come under his rod, you are not in his love and favor, for you have no faith in his dear Son. Do not think that you will escape punishment. If the Lord «scourgeth every son whom he receiveth», what will he do with his enemies? «Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.»
Psalms 32:10. But he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
He always wants mercy; for he is a sinner still. He shall always have mercy; for his Saviour lives still. «Mercy shall compass him about.»
Psalms 32:11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Be demonstrative; let men see that you are happy: Shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.» The Psalm is a joyful one, after all. David's experience has taken him through a deep sense of his own sin; but it has brought him out into an elevated sense of God's mercy; so he closes the Psalm with the jubilant exhortation, «Shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.» So let us do this night, and for ever. Amen.