Blessed is he
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the man
whose sin the LORD does not count against him
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, "I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD"--
and you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
Selah Psalms32:1-5
Guilt is a heavy burden.
It eats away at us and erodes our joy. David describes physical symptoms: pain in the bones, groaning all day long, and day-night weariness.
Is this physical illness or psychological?
In the context of the psalms it has probably reached the point of physical illness - either because David has let the sin fester and fester to the point that it has manifested physically, or that God has used physical illness to draw David's attention to a spiritual problem.
We don't know what David did, but it seems pretty clear from the Psalm that he'd been in denial about it and had been trying to hide it. When he finally _acknowledged_ it and _UNcovered_ it, he was able to receive forgiveness from God.
Penitence is about coming to the realisation that there is guilt and evil that we hold onto and hide. It's better for us to "come clean" or, more accurately, "come and be cleaned" than to hold it in and hide it.
There is blessed relief for those who stop trying to deal with sin and the guilt it brings by themselves. Holding on to guilt and sin is very bad for us. It can cause us great psychological and even physical pain. Sometimes God will even allow illness or other setbacks to come our way to wake us up to acknowledging the problem.
When last have you come to be cleaned by God?
Forgiveness is FREELY available because of Jesus' death on the cross. We just have to ask.
David says it's worth it...
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
