Psa 32:3-5 | KingComments | STEP | What is said in can and will only be said by one who has confessed his sins. Until the moment of confession of sins, silence is maintained, that is, the sin is concealed ( ). It is not a silence in general, but the choice to deliberately not confess the sin. David experienced that the deliberate keeping silent about his sin of adultery with Bathsheba paralyzed him; his body, better: his bones, wasted away (cf. ). There is no power to walk. He has kept silent with his mouth, but inwardly there is no silence, but there have been “groaning all day long”. A person who is conscious of his sins has no rest. The symptoms may be different with us. We recognize David’s stubbornness to persist and keep silent about sin within ourselves. There may also be physical symptoms in us that are an indication of a spiritual defect ( ). During the silence, that is the keeping silent about his sin, God’s hand presses heavily on such a person “day and night”, i.e. continuously ( ). It speaks of God’s meddling with him to bring him to confession and thereby to Himself, in fellowship with Him. His “vitality was drained away [as] with the fever heat of summer”, which means that no more fruit has come forth out of his life for God.

‏ Psalms 32:3-5

The Heavy Hand of God

What is said in Psa 32:1-2 can and will only be said by one who has confessed his sins. Until the moment of confession of sins, silence is maintained, that is, the sin is concealed (Psa 32:3). It is not a silence in general, but the choice to deliberately not confess the sin.

David experienced that the deliberate keeping silent about his sin of adultery with Bathsheba paralyzed him; his body, better: his bones, wasted away (cf. Pro 17:22). There is no power to walk. He has kept silent with his mouth, but inwardly there is no silence, but there have been “groaning all day long”. A person who is conscious of his sins has no rest.

The symptoms may be different with us. We recognize David’s stubbornness to persist and keep silent about sin within ourselves. There may also be physical symptoms in us that are an indication of a spiritual defect (1Cor 11:30).

During the silence, that is the keeping silent about his sin, God’s hand presses heavily on such a person “day and night”, i.e. continuously (Psa 32:4). It speaks of God’s meddling with him to bring him to confession and thereby to Himself, in fellowship with Him. His “vitality was drained away [as] with the fever heat of summer”, which means that no more fruit has come forth out of his life for God.

Confession and Forgiveness

Then comes the moment of surrender. It is the moment of stepping down from the throne of pride followed by humiliation before God with acknowledgment of sin. Surrender here means full confession, without belittling or excuses. The meaning of the Greek word for confession is ‘to say the same thing’, that is, to see and name sin in the same way as God does.

The silence is broken and the sin is made known to God. Of course, even before David makes his sin known, God knows of its existence. But God wants the sinner to see his iniquity in the full light of the truth and no longer to keep silent and cover it up. When the sinner no longer covers his sin, God covers his sin, as it says in Psa 32:1b.

That the sinner confesses his sin is seen here from the side of the confessor, who says “I said”. David has made a decision of will. He decided to confess his “transgressions to the LORD” and did it. We see the same thing with the prodigal son. He says he will get up and go to his father to confess his sins. He does so and is received with open arms by his father (Lk 15:17-20).

David sinned against Uriah, but above all he sinned against God. We need forgiveness from God, not just from men. If the sinner acts as God says, God also acts: He forgives the guilt of the sin (cf. 1Jn 1:9). By the way David puts it here, we see that forgiveness immediately follows confession. Hardly has the sin been confessed and forgiveness is there. There is great gratitude resounding in what the sinner emphatically says: “And You forgave the guilt of my sin.” What a relief, what a burden drops from him.

It is like the father of the prodigal son who longs for the return of his son (Lk 15:20). This is how God longs for the confession of our sins, so that we can once again return into the arms of our God and Father.