The Blessing of Confession!

Psalm 32

Of David. A maskil.

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.

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.[b]

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.

This Psalm was one of several psalms regarding how to be properly penitent with God when one walks away from His way. Though David is a man after God's own heart, he had times of stubbornness and rebellion. Specifically there is the his well known sin of his adultery with Bathsheba, and the cover up and subsequent murder of her husband Uriah.  In an attempt to cover up his sin, he multiplied his iniquity and suffered greatly from withholding his confession.  

But this psalm also proclaims the blessedness of true confession.  And specifically the blessedness of God's forgiveness and relief of the burden of carrying it inside.  David uses three different terms for God's forgiveness.  He says "forgiven", "covered", and 'does not count against him."

At the end of the day, not confessing his sin had more consequences than confessing it. Not only did it sap his energy, and take away his sleep, he had to try and cover it, which resulted in more sin.  But when he was honest with God, it brought him great joy to have his relationship with God restored.  It literally restored him body, mind and soul.   

“This was Saint Augustine’s favorite psalm. Augustine had it inscribed on the wall next to his bed before he died in order to meditate on it better.” 

Paul says in Roman 3:23, "We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." The reality is that we will all have times, like David, when we fall short of God's standard, which is perfection.  But the only question is will we confess and repent of it soon, so we can have our joy restored and burden lifted!!