HEALING FOR THE SOUL
​PSALM 32

            Noel Coward, the famous English writer, once decided to play a trick. He wrote a note to 20 famous men in London that said: “Everyone has found out what you are doing. If I were you, I would leave town!”. Legend has it that all 20 men fled London!

            Now imagine you have received the same message. What would your reaction be?

            This short story exemplifies what we are – All of us, without exception – are sinners!

            All it takes is a barbecue with church officials and you'll discover several hidden sins – kidding aside...

            It is important to emphasize that the church is the place of sinners, even for our children. Juliana was once teaching the children in the church about sins and she declared that everyone in the church was sinner, including the pastor. A startled child asked: Even the pastor? Juliana replied: Yes. The child exclaimed: Crosses!

            Even though we are regenerated and children of God, we all remain sinners. Even experienced believers often find themselves lying, cheating, cursing, rebelling and mistreating. It is quite true that, once converted by Christ, we become different sinners, we are repentant sinners. That is, we no longer sin for joy or take pleasure in continuing to sin, but we are deeply saddened by our sins, confess them and try to leave them. Already unrepentant or unconverted sinners will continue to sin purposefully, day after day, without any repentance and still boast about their sins!

            The fact is, sin is one of the main causes of the soul's infirmities. The sense of guilt caused by sin sickens, hurts, disturbs and kills. In the Holy Scriptures, sin is synonymous with death. Ephesians 2.1 declares that Jesus gave us life while we were dead in our trespasses and sins!

            Psalm 32 is a song of David's penance, which has a lot to do with Psalm 51, as it concerns the time that David sinned against the Lord by committing murder and adultery with Baththeba.

            Psalm 32 reveals the healing of the soul resulting from God's forgiveness received by David.

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THE BLESSINGS, 3 DEFINITIONS OF SIN and 3 ACTIONS OF THE LORD – vv.1-2

            In verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 32 we will find the term “BLESSED”, which means blessed or happy. In other words, he is HAPPY OR BLESSED who has his sin forgiven. Interestingly, this Psalm echoes Psalm 1 in revealing how to live a blessed life. However, there is a fundamental difference: In Psalm 1 the beatitude occurs as a result of human acts, such as not stopping in the path of sinners and not sitting in the wheel of mockers.

In Psalm 32, the emphasis is on divine forgiveness. In this Psalm, God is the agent of a full life.

            Verses 1 and 2 will also bring three definitions of sin in Hebrew: Transgression and sin (verse 1) and iniquity (verse 2).

            Although the Revised and Updated version we use does not use the word “transgression” in verse 1, it is this word that appears in the original. Transgression means REBELLION AGAINST GOD. That is, the individual sins when he rebels against the Lord.

            Also in verse 1 appears the word SIN, which means TO MISS THE TARGET. The idea of sin in the bible is interesting because it illustrates the archer who tries to aim his bow and arrow at the target and misses it completely. In this sense, whoever sins misses the target, which is to obey God.

            The third synonym for sin is in verse 2 and it is the word INIQUITY. INIQUITY means distortion. The idea is that when we sin, we distort the meaning of sin, trying to justify it as being just, human and normal. It is because of this, that many sinful practices condemned by Scripture are no longer considered sin by postmodern society.

            There are also in verses 1 and 2, three forgiving actions of God:

            FORGIVENESS, which means taking the weight of sin.

            COVERED SIN, which means the erasure of a breach of law.

            INIQUITY NOT ATTRIBUTED TO THE SINNER.

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THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN – vv. 3 and 4

            The consequences of sin described by David are:

• Somatization: Bone aging

• Affliction of the soul, expressed by constant moans

• The hand of the Lord weighing him down, as opposed to the forgiveness that takes the burden of sin upon it.

• Dryness of the soul by the heat of the Sun of Justice

 

 

THE CONFESSION (Verse 5)

            Even though we know that David only confessed his sin after being denounced by the Prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12), which also often happens to us, since we are constantly denounced by the Word of God, David decides to confess his sin and then proceeds to feel God's forgiveness in your life.

            David confessed all his sin and received all of God's forgiveness!

            If we confess all our sin with an open heart, we will receive full forgiveness from God!

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THE EXAMPLE OF DAVID'S ACT IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Verse 6-11)

• Confession of others (v.6)

David's example of confession will serve for others to also reach forgiveness.

When other brothers and sinners see that we have acknowledged and confessed our sins, they will also do the same. We need to understand that the world doesn't expect perfection from us, it expects genuine repentance.

• Joy (vv.7 and 11)

When we receive God's forgiveness, our hearts return to the joy of salvation. This is David's request to the Lord in Psalm 51:12.

The joy we feel when we have our sins forgiven will be felt by other sinners, who will want the same joy.

 

• Teaching to others (vv.8-9)

Confession of sin is pedagogical. She will teach children to the oldest in the church to confess their sin.

The idea in verse 9 is not to be stubborn like the equines, who need to be reined in, but to acknowledge our sin by teaching God's Word.

 

• Mercy (v.10)

The mercy of the Lord manifested in our lives will be perceived by others, who will experience it too, through confession.

 

 

CONCLUSION

            In this first reflection, we learn that the healing of the soul is related to the confession of sins to God. When this happens, the peace of the Lord invades our being and we receive again the joy of salvation. Our minds and bodies are strengthened and the Spirit of God freely works through us.

            Is there any sin you would like to confess to the Lord today, even after the moment of contrition in this service? If there is, now is the right time to do it!