How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!

Psalm 32 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Blessedness of Forgiveness and of Trust in God.

A Psalm of David. A Maskil.

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
² How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

³ When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long.
⁴ For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
⁵ I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.
⁶ Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.
⁷ You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
⁹ Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.
¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.
¹¹ Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

David was not a man without failure or sin. But throughout his life regardless of how he had sinned or failed David knew that restoration came from running to God not away from him. In Psalm 51 which was written after his fall with Bathsheba, another man’s wife, David wrote:

For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

Other people may be hurt and suffer consequences of our sin, but the truth is, as David says, that our sin is against God. We can try to make up to others for the way we have hurt or failed them, but there is nothing we can do to make up for the sin we have committed against God. All we can do is to follow the model David gives us. He says:      ⁵ I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin.     We foolishly think that somehow we can hide our sins from God. We justify our behavior, saying it not really sin. At times we walk in that deception only briefly, other times we continue in it moving farther and farther from God. In 1 John 1, John agrees with David saying:

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.   

If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Here is where we have an advantage over David who lived under the Old Covenant.  David said: How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!   Under the Old Covenant, the sin was covered through confession, repentance and sacrifice. For us, Jesus was/is the sacrifice.    For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; ( 1 Peter 3:18)        Through Christ, our sins are not just covered, we are cleansed of our sins, they are washed away.  Isaiah speaks of the New Covenant not the old when he says in 1:18

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.

Under the Old Covenant new sacrifices needed to be offered to cover each sin. Through Christ, we no longer offer a sacrifice. We need only to acknowledge, confess and repent of our sin.

There is no sin to great for the blood of Jesus. Christ died once for all. Jesus Himself says:   "Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin " (Mark 3:28-29)   It is the Holy Spirit who: will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; ¹¹ and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

If the Holy Spirit, who is God, convicts us of sin, yet we choose to deny or reject what we know to be true and continue in our sin, there is no forgiveness for that sin. The only sin that the blood of Christ cannot cleanse us from, is the sin we choose to continue in despite the Holy Spirit’s conviction.   

David says: How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven…, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found…¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him. ¹¹ Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ, my redeemer, precious Holy Spirit, thank You. You convict me of my sin, revealing it to me. You paid the price for my sin, once for all. You forgive my sin. I am cleansed, washed in the blood of Christ. I am glad and I rejoice. I shout for joy. My prayer is like the psalmist:   Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. (Psalm 51:10-15)     Thank You. Amen