In this Psalm we have the gospel of the peace of God as David knew it for himself, and wrote it for the benefit of others.
Psalms 32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Hear this inspired declaration, you who have transgressed the law of your Cod, you who cannot plead a righteousness of your own, you who are conscious that you are sinners in the sight of God, here is a door of hope for you. Here is a possibility of blessing oven for those whose lives have been full of sin and transgression. This is not a blessing of the law, but a blessing of the gospel: «Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.»
Psalms 32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity,
Even God does not keep it recorded against him. The man has committed iniquity, but it is no longer laid to his charge, even by him whose all-seeing eye has witnessed it: «Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,»
Psalms 32:2. And in whose spirit there is no guile.
No shuffling, no deceit. He deals honestly with God, and with himself, and with his fellows; and God deals righteously with him, and yet covers his sin, forgives his transgression, and imputes not to him his iniquity.
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.
While under a sense of sin, David could not pray; or his prayer, if he did offer one at all, turned into a kind of roaring, like the cry of a wounded beast. He was so heavy in heart, his whole being was so scorched and parched by the fire of God's righteous anger because of his sin, that the very ducts of his tears refused to supply him with any further streams, and he had to cry, «My moisture is turned into the drought of summer.» Oh, what a burden sin always brings with it, and what a dreadful thing it is to be crushed under the almighty hand of God when he convinces us of our guilt by the effectual working of his Holy Spirit ‘. When David was in that condition, what did he do in order to get peace with God, and to find rest for his soul? Listen :
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.
He made to the Lord a full, childlike confession of his sin, iniquity, and transgressions, evidently putting his heart's trust in the mercy of God; and, soon, all the burden that oppressed him was removed, and the fierce burnings of divine vengeance within his spirit were quenched, and his storm-tossed heart was at rest in his God: «Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.»
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 ;
See where alone a sinner can find a safe shelter, in his God. Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is the appointed Judge of all mankind, yet it is to him that we fly for refuge, crying,
«Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee!»
It is strange that he, from whose lips the storm of wrath against sin comes, is the hiding place of his people. He draws the sword of infinite and infallible justice against all iniquity, and then he himself furnishes, in his own great heart of love, the sheath into which that sword of justice is plunged. So the believer today says to him in a fuller sense even than David understood the term, «Thou art my hiding place; «
Psalms 32:7. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble: thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
The once heavy heart shall dance for joy. The spirit that was so grievously burdened shall take up the note of glad thanksgiving when the Lord's free sovereign mercy brings forgiveness to his repenting children.
Psalms 32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
A good servant frequently does not need even a word from her mistress to guide her as to some duty to be performed, or some fault to be avoided; a look is all that is necessary, just a glance of the eye gives the needful guidance. So the Lord says to his watchful servant, «I will guide thee with mine eye ;» but, like the attentive servant, we must be keenly on the watch for this indication of our Lord's guiding 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.
If you will be like a horse or a mule, do not be surprised when you are made to feel the bit and bridle which are appropriate for such creatures, and if a whip and spur are added, remember that you brought such treatment upon yourself. Nay, do not be so foolish, but give heed to the divine injunction: «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.»
Psalms 32:10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
The backsliding child of God will smart under the strokes of his Father's chastising rod; but sterner treatment still will fall to the lot of «the wicked.» On another occasion, David wrote, «The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.»
Psalms 32:10. But he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
What a number of blessed ring fences there are around a believer! Just now, David wrote, «Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance;» and now he says of himself or his fellow-believer, «He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.» What more can he need ?
Psalms 32:11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
The Psalm began with blessedness, and it ends with holy gladness. It was needful to go down into the Valley of Humiliation for a while, but the Lord brought the psalmist up to the mountain top again, so that he felt that he must have others to join him in his gladsome song: «Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.» May all oВЈ us be fitted by God's grace to join that singing and shouting company, for Jesus' sake! Amen.