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Shabbat Shalom! Confession. It’s one of those words that when said conjures all sorts of mental images. Perhaps you think of a nervous person in a tiny room separated from a Priest? Or a criminal being interrogated by detectives? Or maybe I just watch way too many crime procedurals?
Confession is one of those topics that I think can get taken for granted that everyone is on the same page. That we all understand what confession is, why we do it, and how to confess rightly. But when you bring it up in a discussion it’s quickly revealed there is a whole lot of confusion and even misinformation on this crucial part of every Disciple’s life.
So, what are some ways people think about confession in God’s community? One viewpoint is to state that we need to confess our sins, read corporate prayers, and just sort of assumes everyone knows what they are doing. Another is to say that confession is not necessary or essential since Messiah Yeshua has forgiven our sins. This is usually caused by a bad understanding of the difference between being made right or justified before the Lord vs. growing in holiness or sanctification. Finally, we have the point of view that confession is a dirty word. That we need to just focus on the love of God, keep our sins to ourselves, and never admit we fall incredibly short of God’s standard for how we are to live.
Outside of God’s community we find the last approach is most popular. We live in a world that tells us to minimize our failures and loudly broadcast any successes. That we really aren’t “that bad” and that the idea of sin is an outdated way of thinking to just keep people controlled and scared. When you are “truly enlightened” you can see Beyond Good and Evil and understand that everything is subjective becoming the leader of your own glorious destiny! We can see how well that is working out today.
The truth is that confession, specifically, confessing our sins in prayer to Adonai, is a crucial part of every Believer’s life. Our sins have been atoned for by Messiah Yeshua on the cross, but that does not mean we will be sinless in this life. Our walk with God is a lifelong journey filled with mountain tops of successes and valleys of failure.
Those who have placed their faith in the Lord, through Messiah Yeshua, have been washed clean. However, we still in this life will sin and deal with the effects of our sins. Confession is the fundamental way we deal with these life entanglements. But there are wrong ways to confess our sins, one way is if we are hiding away parts of ourselves from the Lord.
This morning I would like us to examine Psalm 32. A psalm of King David that gives us instruction on how to confess our sins and what confession looks like in the life of someone who belongs to the Lord. The lesson of Psalm 32 is this: Hiding our sins will bring us pain and suffering, confessing our sins to Adonai will bring us blessing, protection, and real joy.
We begin with the title for this psalm.
Of David. A maskil.
King David is our author, through the Holy Spirit, for this psalm. But you may be asking yourself, “What is a Maskil?” Maskil is connected to the word שָׂכַל (Sa-Kal). This is a word which means “to be wise”. In the Greek translation the word used for Maskil means instruction. So, this is a psalm of David to teach us how to be wise. In this case to teach us how forgiveness is found in confession. He begins by declaring the joy found in forgiveness.
1 Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
These verses teach us a fundamental and objective truth on being human. The truth is wonderful blessings are found in having your sins and transgressions forgiven. It is fitting that this is the starting point for this psalm because we will see these truths in practice throughout the rest of the text.
From these two verses we can find several specific facts about our lives.
- Sins and transgressions exist and need to be forgiven
- Blessing comes from sins and transgressions being forgiven
- Blessing comes from the Lord not counting our sin against us
- We must not be deceitful in our words and actions
Now many faiths and philosophies will admit that sin of some kind exists and even needs to be dealt with. But the methods proposed for dealing with our sins varies wildly. Psalm 32 and all of God’s Word makes it clear that forgiveness is found only in the Lord. We do not cover or remove our own sins; it is something the Lord does Himself.
In King David’s day this forgiveness was demonstrated through the sacrificial system. A person would acknowledge their sin and receive a temporary covering through the death of an innocent animal. This was from the Lord’s command that only through the blood can there be forgiveness of sin. So, it makes sense that there is blessing in having a sin covered. This was a temporary covering pointing to someone greater because these sacrifices had to be performed repeatedly for every sin, day after day.
The blessing from forgiveness described in verse 2 is also more than having our spiritual records removed. We are also blessed when the Lord does not judge us for our sins, when we are counted as righteous and holy because of His atonement, His covering.
We see forgiveness of sins framed as a positive blessing, so logically the opposite must also be true. If we refuse to fully confess our sins and seek forgiveness, then there can be no blessing. We also cannot deceptively say that we have no sin or try to verbally justify our dark natures. We must be honest about ourselves before Adonai, who knows all.
This is something we all struggle with as fallen human beings. We are reluctant to admit our sins or if we do there is always a “but”, a justification, an excuse. There is an old saying that I think is true for most of humanity, “We judge ourselves by our motives, and others by their actions.” For others we are quick to judge and identify their sin, but when it comes to turning that same laser focus inward suddenly everything is different! We may intellectually and verbally play games with our sinful and rebellious natures, but they do not go away. Our sinfulness slowly consumes our lives. It poisons our thinking, ruins our relationships, and can cause us deep physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. King David experienced this as well when he refused to acknowledge his own sins.
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah
When David was silent about his sin, he did not experience blessing but instead experienced suffering. Deceptive and clever philosophies would try and tell us that this is not true. They say you can live life on your own terms, how you want, when you want, and it will all be fine. In fact, this is the secret to blessing, radical “self-love”. You would think though with all the billions of dollars, millions of hours, and thousands of programs dedicated to this thinking there would be more to show for it. I have yet to see the cultural shift towards blessing and peace that all these schemes promise. I’m sure whatever new fad comes out next month will be when we get it right! Really though the mental health crisis we are having in our so-called enlightened western societies exposes the truth of this lie.
King David describes his suffering from sin as all-encompassing. Every day and every night were terrible. His issues followed him around relentlessly without escape. Many of us try to escape our sins and problems with entertainment and other people. We have an endless number of distractions to keep us from confronting the real issues of our lives. But eventually it always comes back to us, and it relentlessly steals our joy and strength just like King David experienced.
For many of us it is at night when we are lying in bed alone with our hearts and minds. King David also felt the presence of the Lord in his life, but not in a positive way. The hand of the Lord was not one of comfort for him but of conviction. There are many reasons why we suffer, and we should not link every type of suffering to unrepentant sin. However, one of the reasons is why King David was suffering. This suffering and conviction are to cause us to turn away from our distractions and instead to turn towards the Lord. Which is what King David eventually decided to do.
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
Finally, King David was finished running and denying his sin. Enough was enough! He acknowledged his sin through confessing it to the Lord and was relieved of his guilt and suffering. Notice that this verse says King David stopped covering up his sin. The Hebrew word here is כָּסָה (Ka-sah) which usually means to cover, conceal, or hide away. Yet in verse 1 this is the same word to describe how the Lord covers our sins by forgiving them.
There is a clear contrast between how we try to cover our sins and how the Lord accomplishes this. We all are trying to deal with our issues, rebellion, and sins in different ways. Our human desire to heal our brokenness is to either deny, deflect, or diffuse. To deceive ourselves and those around us that our sins are not that severe. Or that we can handle it on our own with other broken human beings. There is a concept in modern Judaism I mention a lot called Tikkun Olam, that human beings can repair this world. When it comes to sin, our society seems to practice Tikkun Adam, the belief we can heal humanity. We only need to glance at the world around us to see how well it is going.
So, we try to cover our own sins in various ways and then fail to reach real blessing and joy. But God’s Word through Psalm 32 shows us a better way to be covered. If we are willing to uncover our sins, even our secret sins, to the light of God’s presence then we receive a real covering for them. We receive the forgiveness that is only found in the Lord. It is beautiful truth that only through exposing our sins to the Lord, who already knows them, that we receive bless, peace, and a clean conscious.
6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
The picture painted here in these verses is imagining mighty waters, a large flood, like the one in Noah, coming for us. As the waters begin to move towards us what can we do? Like an Ark, the Lord hides and protects us from the sinfulness of this life. Only Adonai can deliver us from the trauma and troubles of this life. When we have experienced the peace of God, real Shalom, beyond our present circumstances we can endure with song our life in this world.
The conclusion then is straightforward, we must change our rebellious hearts and turn towards the Lord in prayer. We like to imagine we have an unlimited amount of time to do so, but life is short and moves faster every day. For all of us there will be a day that our lives come to an end.
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.
Our Selah moves us from King David’s perspective to the Lord’s. A message He has for each one of us. The Lord offers us real wisdom for how we are to live our lives. We have already seen this wisdom displayed in this wisdom psalm so far. When we experience the Lord’s forgiveness His presence also changes in our lives. The presence of the Lord that was so heavy in verse 4 when our sins were still being hidden, is now a loving presence.
We are encouraged to not be stubborn like a mule or horse. Animals are not made in God’s image and do not have wisdom to understand their lives like we can. Our cute dogs, cats, and other animals can seem human at times but are not. Animals sometimes must be controlled in a very forceful and heavy way. Think of having to take them to the doctors or maybe giving them a bath when they do not want it. God’s will will be accomplished whether we are willing or not. No power in heaven or on Earth can stop the Lord. When we refuse to acknowledge our sins and receive the blessings that come with it, we are instead guided by suffering.
Our psalm concludes with a final declaration of truth and encouragement.
10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.
11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!
This is really the summation. If you want to live a life with less suffering, not suffering free, but unnecessary suffering, then you must place your trust in the Lord. Adonai’s unfailing love, his lovingkindness, surrounds and protects all those who have placed their trust in Him. It is suffering, confusion, and death that surrounds those who refuse Him.
For those of us who have placed our trust in the Lord we can rejoice. We can shout for joy because we have been washed clean and can stand upright, properly without guilt, before the Lord.
I need to acknowledge the fact we do not live in the days of King David. We are blessed to be on the other side of Messiah Yeshua’s life, death, and resurrection. But human nature is the same as it was during the days of King David. Each of us deals with sin and suffering in this dark world and the conviction that comes from it. The lesson from the wisdom of Psalm 32 is different depending on where we are at right now in our lives.
If you are someone who has yet to put their faith in the Lord through Messiah Yeshua. If you have yet to experience all the blessings that come from His covering. Then today is the day to make a change and turn towards the Lord. As we read this morning we need to pray to the Lord while He may still be found. The invitation to experience the peace of the Lord is available to all but the time is not endless.
If you have reached the end of trying to heal yourself, trying to apply New Age, post-modern, fad based spiritual schemes to your life with nothing worthwhile to show for it, then make it this day to experience the end of this psalm. Make it this day to experience the unfailing love that leads to rejoicing found only in Messiah Yeshua.
For those who are part of Messiah’s community, part of the faithful like King David, those who resonate with his struggle to confess sin. Then I also encourage you to bring the sins and issues in your life before our heavenly father in prayer. It is good and often appropriate to confess our sins to one another, but you don’t need a priest or Rabbi to find forgiveness. Forgiveness is found only in the Lord who has freely given us access through Messiah Yeshua.
We have this promise in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The Lord already knows our sins and failings, even our secret sins are shown to the light of his presence (Psalm 90). But we also read in 1 John 1:8: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” One of the works of Satan is to accuse us. To encourage us to hide our sins in shame and to deceive ourselves and one another. If you are in a season where the groaning of King David resonates with you, then I encourage you to follow in His footsteps and confess whatever is burdening your heart to the Lord. To unburden yourself and not be lead by the bit and bridle in this life.
Finally, if you are in a season where you are actively and freely bringing all things before the Lord, then let me encourage you as this psalm does to rejoice. There are many reasons why we suffer and there is plenty around us to make us discouraged. However, we have a king who grants us peace, true Shalom, beyond our circumstances. We need to remember that there is unfailing love surrounding us. That we serve a God who loves us enough to not leave us where we are. A heavenly father that wants each of us to grow in holiness and in our walk with Him.
We also need to be willing to share this message of hope in a lost and dying world. That the solution to the “woes” of this life, is found in ending our rebellion and confessing our sins by faith through Messiah Yeshua. We need to share with others the real wisdom found in God’s Word. More than intellectual answers people need to know that there is a solution to the human condition. It is not found in crystals or convoluted schemes. Our brokenness is only healed by our perfect Creator who is available right now to protect, keep, and redeem us. I am thankful each day that the Lord is adding more to His kingdom that are turning their woes into rejoicing.
May each of us have the willingness to bring all our sins before the Lord and find complete forgiveness and release. May we experience the blessings that come with redemption and avoid needless suffering from trying to cover our own failings. May each one of us rejoice in the unfailing love of the Lord that sets up free from sin that so easily entangles us.