Confessing our Sins - Psalm 32

The Bible tells us that confession is good for the soul.

Psalm 38:18 – For I confess my iniquity;
I am full of anxiety because of my sin.

We learn that when we hold onto our sin, we become “full of anxiety.” We become filled with guilty fears – worried about what troubles sin might bring us. Confession then releases this anxiety from the heart as you uncover your sin before God.

Psalm 38 is like Psalm 32 in that they both describe what happens to a man who does not confess his sin, who hides it (v. 5), and tries to cover it up. He experiences great mental and physical under the heavy hand of God (32:3-4).

David knew he had sinned. It was flagrant and out in the open. And it was of a very grievous nature – adultery plus sending the loyal husband of the woman he cheated with to his death.

David’s stubborn neck was finally broken, and that broke open his heart’s floodgates to acknowledge his sin to God (v. 5). He sought God and found Him, and he found God to be “my hiding place” and deliverer (v. 7). That is, God forgave him, covered his sin, and did not impute his sin to his account (vv. 1-2a). God could see into David’s heart. And He saw a man whose spirit had no deceit (v. 2b)

So, what can learn about confessing our sin from David’s experience?

1st, we learn that in confession you verbalize your sin to God. He already knows it. But He wants to know that you know it. Because our verbal agreement with God about our sin helps us to be more honest and more sober about our sin.

2nd, we learn that confession has to be without guile. That means we offer no defense, no blame shifting, nothing but a pure agreement with God about the evil we’ve done against Him. We stop covering up our sin and uncover all of it. And we ask Him to do more uncovering of sin in our hearts as needed.

The result of confession is always, always forgiveness. Immediate and full and free. Paul reminds us of this when he quotes Psalm 32:1-2 in Romans 4:6-8 – a passage on justification apart from any works, justification by faith alone in Christ alone. That same gospel faith in Romans 4 and Psalm 32 is the faith we must exercise when we confess our sin to God.

We must believe that God is the only source of forgiveness and that He is always willing and eager to forgive us on the basis of the work of Christ. Believing that will motivate us to confess our sins and fight those same sins we have to confess all the more.

Confession is truly good for the soul.