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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
A Psalm of David. You can see David all through this Psalm; here we have David’s sin, David’s confession of sin, David’s pardon. It is a Psalm of David. Oh, that we might each one make it our own! It is entitled- Maschil. This is an instructive Psalm. The experience of one man is instructive to another. We learn the way in which we should walk, and sometimes the way in which we should not walk, by observing the footsteps of the flock.
The Psalm begins with blessing.
Psa_32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
I think I hear a sort of sigh of relief, as if the man had been burdened with a load of guilt, and now at last his sin is put away; and his sigh has more solemn joy in it than if it had been a song: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Beloved, you must know the bitterness of sin before you can know the blessedness of forgiveness; and you must have such a sight of sin as shall break your heart before you can understand the blessedness of the divine covering, that sacred coverlet which hides sin effectually, blots it out, and even makes it cease to be. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Would you not think so, dear burdened heart, if it ever came to your lot? I hope that it will be so tonight. Do not we think so, who remember the day when almighty mercy forgave us our transgression, and covered our sin? Indeed we do. This is one of the greatest blessednesses out of heaven. Perhaps, for a sort of still soft melody with much of the minor in it, this is the sweetest music in the whole Book, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Now David must put the same truth in another form. He loves to reduplicate, to repeat again and again a truth which is very precious to him.
Psa_32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Here are two reasons for the man’s blessedness: sin is not laid to his charge, and he is no longer deceitful; he no longer tries to palliate and to excuse his sin; he makes a clean breast of it; and God, in a higher sense, gives him a clean breast. He acknowledges the justice of God, and God displays his infinite mercy to him. Now David tells us how he learned this sacred blessedness; what were the ways by which he went, which ended at last in this divine sweetness.
Psa_32:3-4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
I understand this to have been the feeling of David after his great sin, before he confessed it. He tried to excuse it to his conscience. It has been thought by some that David was, for at least nine months, in a very insensible state; but he does not appear to have been so. All the time until his sin was confessed and acknowledged, he was miserable. Because there was divine grace in his heart, sin could not dwell there with comfort. As he would not own his sin before the bar of God, pleading guilty, and waiting for judgment, as he kept silence, it preyed upon him so, that he seemed to grow prematurely old, and that, not only in his skin and his flesh, but his very bones were affected: “My bones waxed old.” Those solid pillars of the house of manhood trembled and were shaken under his awful sense of sin. You cannot be a child of God and sin, and then be happy. Other men may sin cheaply, but you cannot. If you are a man after God’s own heart, and you venture into uncleanness, it will sting you as does a viper it will burn within your bones like coals of juniper.
“When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.” David did pray, but he did not dare to call it prayer. It was like the moaning and groaning of a beast that is wounded, and faint, and near to die; and this terrible pain was upon him always: “For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me.” God has a heavy hand for his sinful children. Other fathers may spoil their children with indulgence; but the Lord will not spoil his children. If we sin, we shall feel the weight of God’s hand. We ought to thank him for this; for though it brings great sorrow, yet it brings great safety to us. The worst thing that can happen to a man is to be allowed to sin, and yet to be happy in it. One of the best things for an erring believer is a taste of his Father’s rod. “Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.” All David’s joy was squeezed out, pressed out, by the heavy hand of God. His flowers ceased to bloom; his fruit was withered; his experience was nothing but a hard drought, without a drop of moisture. When David had gone so far, and had played only on the bass strings so long, he said, “Selah,” that is, “Screw up the harp strings, let us put them in tune again. We are going up to something better now.”
Psa_32:5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
Oh, how swift is the divine compassion! Quick upon the heels of confession came that word from Nathan, “The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.” I can fancy David standing there, with the hot tears in his eyes, never so broken down as when his sin was all forgiven. Before he knew that he was pardoned, he stood tremblingly fearful, brokenhearted before God; but when Nathan had said (I will repeat those gracious words), “The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die,” oh, what gratitude he felt, and what tenderness, and what hatred of sin! Dear hearer, if you are burdened under a sense of sin, go and make confession to God straight away. If you feel very heavy tonight at the recollection of some great and grievous offense, if some scarlet spot is on your hand, and you cannot get rid of it, go and show it to God. With penitential honesty confess the sin, and it shall be forgiven you. “Selah.” Now David puts the harp strings right again. They still seem to suffer from the previous strain; and so he says “Selah” once more. “Sursum corda.” Lift up the heart; let the whole soul go up to God.
Psa_32:6-7. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place;
He had talked, in the first verse, of his sin being covered. Now he not only hides his sin beneath the divine covering, but he hides himself beneath the divine shelter: “Thou art my hiding place.” Thus does the believer sing Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee.”
Psa_32:7. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble;
Lord, if thou hast taken away the greatest of all troubles, that is, guilt on the conscience, if thou hast really forgiven me, what trouble have I to be afraid of? “Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.”
Psa_32:7. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah,
If thou hast pardoned me, there is the making of all manner of music in the fact of my pardon. He that is washed by the precious blood of Jesus is the man to sing. Has not God made a chorister of him? John tells us, in the Revelation, that one of the elders said to him, concerning the white- robed throng, “These are they, which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple.” “Selah.” David must tune the strings of his harp again, for now he wishes to exult in God, and to magnify his holy name, as he listens to his Lord’s gracious words.
Psa_32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way, which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Here is another blessing. The God who has forgiven the errings of the past, will preserve us from erring again. God’s flowers always bloom double. He gives us justification; but he adds sanctification. He pardons our sins; but he also makes disciples and scholars of us, and teaches us the art of holiness, which is the noblest art that man can learn: “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way, which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” When we are willing to be guided, we hardly need a word from God; a look is enough, just a glance of his eye: “I will guide thee with mine eye.”
Psa_32:9. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Do you want bits and bridles? If you want them, you shall have them. If you will be a horse or a mule, you shall be treated as horses and mules are. There are some Christians that need to be driven with a very sharp snaffle; and they need to have their mouth made very tender, for now they are hard-mouthed; and, sometimes, they take the bit between their teeth, and try to run away instead of doing God’s bidding. Usually, the rods with which God scourges us are made of reeds grown in our own gardens. When God hides his face from his people, it is almost always behind clouds of dust, which they have themselves made. You will have sorrow enough in the ordinary way to heaven; do not make an extra rod for your own back.
Psa_32:10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
This refers to you who are outside the family of God, who do not come under his rod, you are not in his love and favor, for you have no faith in his dear Son. Do not think that you will escape punishment. If the Lord “scourgeth every son whom he receiveth”, what will he do with his enemies? “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.”
Psa_32:10. But he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
He always wants mercy; for he is a sinner still. He shall always have mercy; for his Saviour lives still. “Mercy shall compass him about.”
Psa_32:11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Be demonstrative; let men see that you are happy: Shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” The Psalm is a joyful one, after all. David’s experience has taken him through a deep sense of his own sin; but it has brought him out into an elevated sense of God’s mercy; so he closes the Psalm with the jubilant exhortation, “Shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” So let us do this night, and for ever. Amen.
A Psalm of David, giving instruction. The thirty-second Psalm is a gospel benediction. It belongs not to the law; it is a word which can only come of sovereign grace to the guilty. The very first sentence tells us that, —
Psa_32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed would have been the man who never transgressed, who never sinned; but, be encouraged, O sinner, there is blessedness even for the likes of you! Blessed is he who, though he has transgressed, has had his transgression forgiven; — who, though he has sinned, and sinned often, and sinned foully, yet, nevertheless, has had his sin covered. There is such blessedness in this forgiveness that scarcely can the bliss of an unfallen spirit excel it. There is a tenderness, a delicacy, a fragrance, a love, about the dealings of God with pardoned sinners, that even angels can scarcely tell the excessive sweetness of it. They have never known the joy of redeeming grace and dying love; and although they are blessed, yet peculiarly and especially is he blessed “whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin, is covered.”
Psa_32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
He is blessed twice over; God multiplies the blessing, He blesses him effectually, he blesses him emphatically, he blesses him in body, he blesses him in soul. He is blessed; he has iniquities, but God does not impute them to him. They have been of old imputed to Another, who stood in the sinner’s place, and bore the sinner’s guilt, and put it all away by his own expiatory sufferings. Therefore, as these deeds were put to Christ’s account, they are not laid to the account of the Lord’s people: “Blessed is the man unto whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity.” But even pardon and deliverance from guilt would not be sufficient; to make a man blessed if they stood alone, for, as long as our heart is full of sin and deceit, and follows crooked ways, there can be no true rest to us. Renee the blessedness comes to the man “in whose spirit there is no guile,” — no falsehood. The guile and the guilt have gone together, and the gall is gone, to, Now the man is truthful, so he confesses his sin; he is also trustful, so he lays hold on the sinner’s Substitute, and thus he finds peace. Dear friends, do you all know this blessedness? If you do not, I pray that you may, for it is heaven begun below, — the heaven of a poor sinner whose sin is covered, and whose heart is purified from guile. Now see the way by which we come to this blessedness: —
Psa_32:3. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
Sin was in his heart but he would not confess it. He was silent before God in hardness of heart; and then his sorrow grew worse and worse, till not only his flesh began to fail, but his bones — the most solid part of his frame, began to grow old, too. He felt like a man prematurely aged, melting away into the grave.
Psa_32:4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
When a man gets God’s hand on him, I warrant, you that he will want no other burden. This hand of God goes with him wherever he goes, it is like his own shadow. Whenever you meet with persons who are self-righteous, you may pray God to lay his hand on them; that will drive the ride and unbelief out of them. David says that he was so pressed under God’s hand that the very essence of his soul was squeezed out of him.
Psa_32:5. I acknowledged my sin, unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sins. Selah.
“And thou forgavest” — blessed “and.” How very simple it was! The floods of divine wrath were swelling; he just pulled up the sluices of confession, the floods ran away, and all was quiet. Oh, what a simple plan this is! But; pride cannot brook it; to humble oneself, and confess before God that one is utterly undone and ruined and sinful, is what our proud spirit will not bring itself to do if it can help it. Yet, that is the way of peace. Down, down, down, flat on your face! “He that is down need fear no fall.” But we do not like that going down, that acknowledgment of transgression. Still, we must come to it: and the sooner, the better. The Lord bring; every proud soul here to a full acknowledgment and confession of sin, and then forgiveness will surely follow.
Psa_32:6. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
The fact that God hears us at the first and gives us a great deliverance when we, are; under a sense of sin, makes us pray to him as long as ever we live. We shall never forget how God heard us then; and something whispers into our heart, “its heard you then; he will hear you now.” One thing I know, if you do not. I never can come to God again in such a plight as I came to him at the first. Whatever happens to me, — if I am bereaved a thousand times, — if I am covered, from head to foot with sores, and sit like Job on a dunghill, — I can never be brought so low as I was when, in my despair, I was ready to lay violent hands on myself rather than live any longer under a sense of sin. I looked unto him, and I was lightened; and that first grand deliverance ensures that, in every other time of trial, in every other flood of great waters, when I cry unto God, he will deliver me.
Psa_32:7. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Here is a threefold declaration: “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.” “Yes,” says God, “I will;” and now he speaks to his servant. When we speak to God, we may expect that God will speak to us; and what a happy dialogue it is when a soul can pray, and praise, and magnify the Lord, and then the Lord condescends to speak to his poor servant after this fashion!
Psa_32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go
“I have led you so far; I have brought you up out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay; I will not let you perish now; I will not leave you to your own folly.”
Psa_32:8. I will guide thee with mine eye.
It is a very gentle way of guidance when a mistress just turns her eye towards her servant, who understands her without a word. So God is quite willing to guide his people with his eye, if they are willing to be so guided.
Psa_32:9. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Alas! there are some hard-mouthed Christians; they will not take a hint from God. They do not watch God’s eye, and so do not learn by that gentle means; and therefore they require to have a bit and a bridle, and such things are not at all nice in one’s mouth. Some Christians must always be in trouble, or else they would be in sin. It seems as if some could never be allowed a furlough from sorrow, or else they would spend it in the tents of wickedness: “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule.” Be tender-mouthed; be willing to be guided; yield to the gentle admonitions of the Divine Spirit that you may have a truly happy life.
Psa_32:10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.
It is all merriment with them now; they “count it one of the wisest things, to drive dull care away.” But hark to this knell of all their joys, “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.” If not today, or tomorrow, yet by-and-by, and in that day, it shall be so. All the future is dark to the wicked; the further they go, the worse they will grow.
Psa_32:10. But he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
“He that trusteth in the Lord,” — he is the very opposite of the wicked. Do you trust in the Lord, my friend? If not, you will have to be put among the wicked, for there are only two sorts of people in the world, — the wicked, and those that trust in the Lord. If you are not a believer in Christ, you must go with the other company. “He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” Mercy shall go all round him, before him, behind him, above him, beneath him, within him, and around him everywhere. As you see the moon sometimes with a halo around it, so shall you be; you shall have brightness within and round about you, mercy shall compass you about.
Psa_32:11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
If anybody has a right to be glad, you have; so indulge the gladness, and magnify the name of the Lord.
Psa_32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
The Lord can bless the man who is full of sin only when his sin is covered by the atonement — the propitiation — which hides his sin even from the sight of God; and he is a truly blessed man who, although he knows himself to be a sinner, also knows that his sin is forgiven and covered.
Psa_32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
He is an honest, truthful, guileless man A man cannot be a blessed man while he is double-minded, while he has graft, or what is here called guile, within him. A sincere and guileless heart is an evidence of grace, so “blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” But, David, how did you obtain this forgiveness? Let us hear the story of your experience.
Psa_32:3-4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
He tells us that he had such a sense of guilt that he could not rest; and until he made confession of his sin to God, he became sick in body as well as in soul. It seemed as if his very bones, the most solid part of his frame, were beginning to decay under the influence of his grief, and he was getting worse and worse in the brokeness of his spirit till he seemed like a dried-up country in which there is no dew. His moisture was turned into the drought of summer. Yes, David; but how did you get rid of your sin? We see how deeply you felt it; how did you get clear of it?
Psa_32:5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
You see, as long as he covered his sin, God did not cover it, but when he no longer tried to hide it, but made an open confession of it, then God blotted it out, and covered it up for ever. There but a believing confession of sin, and David’s heart was at rest at once. Shall we not try the same remedy? Will we not go to God and say, “Father, I have sinned”? Is there any better course than that? Is it not right to acknowledge a wrong? Is it not the simplest and safest way to go at once to him who blots out sin, and ask for mercy?
Psa_32:6-7. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place: thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
Surely, if God has given us the pardon of our sin, he will give us everything else that we need. If he has delivered us from hell, he will certainly deliver us from trouble.
Psa_32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
The forgiven man is afraid of going wrong again; he is as anxious about his future life as he was about his past sin. So the Lord meets him, and gives him the gracious promise contained in this verse.
Psa_32:9. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Do not be hard-mouthed, be obedient to God’s will, be tender of heart, and willing of spirit. The Lord will make his children go in the right way somehow or other, he will put a bit into their mouths if nothing else will do it, but it would be much better for them if they would be of tender and gentle spirit, and would yield at once to his gracious and holy will.
Psa_32:10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
Godly men also have many sorrows, but then they always have sweets with their bitters, but “many sorrows shall be to the wicked,” and there will be no sweets to go with them.
Psa_32:10. But he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
He shall have mercy all round him. He who trusts his God shall find that the golden compasses of divine mercy shall strike a circle of gracious protection all round him: “mercy shall compass him about.”
Psa_32:11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Godly men ought to be glad men. They have a right to be happy. They recommend the gospel when they are so, and they are the true sons of the King of kings when they do not go mourning all their days.
In this Psalm we have the gospel of the peace of God as David knew it for himself, and wrote it for the benefit of others.
Psa_32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Hear this inspired declaration, you who have transgressed the law of your Cod, you who cannot plead a righteousness of your own, you who are conscious that you are sinners in the sight of God, — here is a door of hope for you. Here is a possibility of blessing oven for those whose lives have been full of sin and transgression. This is not a blessing of the law, but a blessing of the gospel: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
Psa_32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, —
Even God does not keep it recorded against him. The man has committed iniquity, but it is no longer laid to his charge, even by him whose all-seeing eye has witnessed it: “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,” —
Psa_32:2. And in whose spirit there is no guile.
No shuffling, no deceit. He deals honestly with God, and with himself, and with his fellows; and God deals righteously with him, and yet covers his sin, forgives his transgression, and imputes not to him his iniquity.
Psa_32:3-4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
While under a sense of sin, David could not pray; or his prayer, if he did offer one at all, turned into a kind of roaring, like the cry of a wounded beast. He was so heavy in heart, his whole being was so scorched and parched by the fire of God’s righteous anger because of his sin, that the very ducts of his tears refused to supply him with any further streams, and he had to cry, “My moisture is turned into the drought of summer.” Oh, what a burden sin always brings with it, and what a dreadful thing it is to be crushed under the almighty hand of God when he convinces us of our guilt by the effectual working of his Holy Spirit ‘. When David was in that condition, what did he do in order to get peace with God, and to find rest for his soul? Listen : —
Psa_32:5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid, I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
He made to the Lord a full, childlike confession of his sin, iniquity, and transgressions, evidently putting his heart’s trust in the mercy of God; and, soon, all the burden that oppressed him was removed, and the fierce burnings of divine vengeance within his spirit were quenched, and his storm-tossed heart was at rest in his God: “Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”
Psa_32:6-7. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place ; —
See where alone a sinner can find a safe shelter, in his God. Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is the appointed Judge of all mankind, yet it is to him that we fly for refuge, crying, —
“
Let me hide myself in thee !”
Psa_32:7. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble: thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
The once heavy heart shall dance for joy. The spirit that was so grievously burdened shall take up the note of glad thanksgiving when the Lord’s free sovereign mercy brings forgiveness to his repenting children.
Psa_32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
A good servant frequently does not need even a word from her mistress to guide her as to some duty to be performed, or some fault to be avoided; a look is all that is necessary, just a glance of the eye gives the needful guidance. So the Lord says to his watchful servant, “I will guide thee with mine eye ;” but, like the attentive servant, we must be keenly on the watch for this indication of our Lord’s guiding eye.
Psa_32:9. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding : whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
If you will be like a horse or a mule, do not be surprised when you are made to feel the bit and bridle which are appropriate for such creatures, and if a whip and spur are added, remember that you brought such treatment upon yourself. Nay, do not be so foolish, but give heed to the divine injunction: “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.”
Psa_32:10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
The backsliding child of God will smart under the strokes of his Father’s chastising rod; but sterner treatment still will fall to the lot of “the wicked.” On another occasion, David wrote, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
Psa_32:10. But he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
What a number of blessed ring fences there are around a believer ! Just now, David wrote, “Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance;” and now he says of himself or his fellow-believer, “He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” What more can he need ?
Psa_32:11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
The Psalm began with blessedness, and it ends with holy gladness. It was needful to go down into the Valley of Humiliation for a while, but the Lord brought the psalmist up to the mountain top again, so that he felt that he must have others to join him in his gladsome song: “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” May all o£ us be fitted by God’s grace to join that singing and shouting company, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.
A Psalm of David, Maschil,” that is to say, an instructive Psalm. I suppose that David wrote it after he had been forgiven and restored to divine favour. I think we may read it as a part of our own experience either of conversion or when restored after backsliding.
Psa_32:1-2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Twice he says “blessed.” He had felt the weight of sin; he had been sore troubled, and now that Nathan is sent to him with the word of pardon, “The Lord hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die,” he counts himself doubly blessed,-blessed not the man who has never sinned, blessed is he who having sinned is forgiven, not the man who has no sin, but whose sin is covered. Wonderful word! Both in English and Hebrew it sounds very much alike, the sacred kopher, the cover which covers sin so that it is hidden even from the eye of God himself! A wondrous deed! Blessed is the man who knows that divine covering! “Blessed,” says he, “is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile.” All along after David’s sin he became very crafty and very cunning, full of guile.- You know the dodges that he had to cover up his sin; he tried to play some of his tricks on God himself, but he felt it was a mischievous thing to do: he was uneasy, he was unhappy. We have sometimes heard it said that after David sinned he remained insensible for nine months until he received the divine rebuke, but it was not so. He remained very sensitive, very depressed, very unhappy, and he was trying this way and that to cover up his sin and guile. He could not do it; he sought to make a clean break of it and confess it before God and give up his crooked ways and his ideas of excusing himself, and when he had done that, when he had given up his guile and his guilt too, then he got the double blessing: “blessed, blessed!” If there are any of you who are treading crooked ways with God and man give them up. I know of nothing that will make you give them up like knowing free, full, perfect pardon through the precious blood of Christ and the free grace of God. The two things go together, guilt and guile; the two things go out of us together; when guilt is pardoned guile is killed. Now hear how David felt while he was conscious of his sin and yet was not right with God.
Psa_32:3. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
A wanton glance, the sin with Bathsheba, where was the pleasure of it when it cost him all this? Such groaning that his very bones got old as if they were rotten, and his heart was heavy as if he wished to die.
Psa_32:4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me.
God was with his hand pressing him heavily, forging his sin home upon him, making him say, My sin is ever before me.” Oh! the misery of sinning to a child of God. Do not dream that we can ever have any pleasure in sin; the worldling may, but the believer never can. ‘To him it is a deadly viper that will fill his veins with burning poison.
Psa_32:4. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
When he tried to pray, it was a dried-up prayer; he tried to make a Psalm but it was a dried-up song, he tried to do some good, for he was still a good man, but it was all withered without the Spirit of God. His moisture was gone out of him, turned into the drought of summer, and summer in David’s country was a very droughty thing indeed. Every human thing despaired, the grass seemed to turn to dust, it was so with him. If you go into sin, this is what will happen to you. If you are a true child of God, you will have all the joy of God taken from you, all the moisture of your heart dried up, and you will be like a parched, withered thing. “ Selah.” It was time to have a pause in the music, he was on so base a key; he had need now to screw up the harp strings and rise to something a little sweeter.
Psa_32:5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
He must come to confession, full, spontaneous, unreserved: there must be a resolution. “ I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, “ a firm determination to hide nothing, to see the sin yourself, and to tell the Lord that you do see it, and to confess it with great grief and sorrow. What a wonderful word that is: “ I said I will confess and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” God took away the sin; ay, the very pith and marrow of it,-“ the iniquity of my sin,” taking the bone away and the marrow of the bone too: “ thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin,”-it has all gone, wholly gone; by one stroke of God’s divine grace the sinner was pardoned. “ Selah “ again.
Psa_32:6. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the flood; of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
For this (because of this), and for this blessing, “ shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found.” The pardoning God must be sought. There is an attraction in the greatness of his mercy. They that are godly, even though they have offended and gone astray, must come back and seek for pardon in a time when thou mayest be found. “ Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” The godly man is safe when the floods are out. There are times when great waters prevailed in David’s country, the brooks sometimes turned to rivers, and came down with a rush when they were least expected; and here he says that when such a thing as that shall happen yet God’s people shall be saved. They shall come, but they shall not come nigh unto them. Let me read those words again. If you have gone to God in the day of your sin, and have found pardon, he that took away the sin will take away the sorrow. ‘ Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.”
Psa_32:7. Thou art my hiding place;
Precious words! “Thou art my hiding place,” not “ thou art a hiding place,” but “ Thou art my hiding place.” A man who is beset by foes does not stand still and say, “Yes, I can see there is a hiding place there,” but he runs to it. Beloved, run to your hiding place this evening, each one of you who can have a claim and interest in Christ, run to him now, and say,-
Psa_32:7. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
He has come up to us out of the roaring to the singing; all the day long he roars, and now all the day long he sings; he sees songs everywhere; he lives in a circle of music: his heart is so glad. Well may he put another “ Selah,” for he has smitten the strings very joyfully, and they need tuning again.
Psa_32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Here the Speaker is changed.
“ I will instruct thee,” I have forgiven thee. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.” I have prayed thee back to the way, now I will “teach thee in the way thou shalt go.” “ I will guide thee with mine eye,” thine own might lead thee astray. “ I will guide thee with mine eye;” I will be on the path, I will fix mine eye upon thee. “ I will guide thee with mine eye.”
Psa_32:9. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
“Be ye not as the horse,” not only David, but all of you. If God will guide you, be guided; if he will teach you, be teachable; if he will be gracious to you, be gracious towards him.
Psa_32:10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
“ Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.” David had found that out, his sin had brought him a transient pleasure, but a lasting misery. He shall have a bodyguard of mercy, God will be gracious to him, tender to him, and will not leave him if he is trusting in the Lord.
Psa_32:11. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous.” Be glad. Well, but you cannot always be glad, says one. “ Be glad in the Lord: you may always be glad in him. Here is an unchanging source of joy. “Rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy.” Here, the man that was silent has gone as far as shouting now. Is it not enough to make him? Twice he was blessed, in the first and second verses: and now, he has been pardoned, he has been delivered, he has been compassed about with mercy. Why, he must be glad! “ Shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart.” God bless you in the reading of his Word.
This is a great psalm of grace, a psalm in which a sinner, cleansed by sovereign grace, adores and blesses the mercy of God.
Psa_32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
This is not a blessing for the man who says he has no sin; this is not a benediction for the innocent, who talk about their own good works; but blessed is the man who, having sinned, is pardoned, whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered: in a word, it is a gospel blessing, it is the blessing of free grace.
Psa_32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
He had a thousand iniquities; he transgressed in all sorts of ways. The Lord does not impute these things to him. He has set them down to the account of another, who has ventured to stand in the sinner’s stead, and be made sin in the sinner’s place, but to this man, this blessed man, God doth not impute iniquity, and in his spirit there is no guile — he confesses his sin with honesty, he is pardoned with certainty, and in his spirit there is no cunning concealment.
Psa_32:3-4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
This is the experience of those men whom God saves. Till they confess sin, that sin rankles in them like venom; it boils their blood, it eats into their bones, it makes life worse than death, it makes them dread the wrath to come; their days are nights, and their nights are hells; they cannot bear themselves. This was David’s experience, and it has been the way by which God has led thousands of his redeemed ones that he might bring them to himself. As long as we cloak our sin and conceal it, and pretend that we are innocent, the fire burns within us; but when we just confess the sin, then it is that we are dealing with God aright, and God deals with us in grace.
Psa_32:5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
All gone, gone for ever, gone at a stroke. Oh! what a mercy this is, that, when once we will take the place of sinners and plead guilty, then it is that we are absolved at once. We have but to own that we deserve the punishment, and straightway that punishment is remitted. This is the way of grace, the plan of infinite condescending love.
Psa_32:6. For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
The man that has so prayed as to find complete forgiveness, he is the man that will never leave off praying as long as he lives. The one gain which covers everything, the gain of conscious forgiveness, inspires a man to pray about anything, and about everything, as long as ever he lives. “For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee.” “Thou art my hiding-place.” You see God was his hiding-place when he was in a storm of sin, and now he takes God to be his hiding-place in every time of trouble, from all the afflictions of his life, all the sorrows of the way. “Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble.” Shall he not, since he has blotted out our sins? Oh! if God has preserved us from the wrath to come, what is there to be afraid of? “Thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.” I shall live in a ring of music. I shall march onward to heaven as in the center of song. Why, it may well be so, when once God has freely blotted out our sins — “Thou shalt compass me about with sings of deliverance.” Ay, saith God, that I will, and I will do more.
Psa_32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
I have not blotted out thy sins to leave thee to wander back into them again — I will be thy teacher, thy folly shalt not be thy ruin, thine ignorance shall not be thy destruction. I will guide thee — look at me! — “I will guide thee with mine eye.” A glance, a look, shall be enough for thee. I will give thee such a heart that thou shalt understand the least motion of my finger.
Nay, I will guide thee with mine eye.
Psa_32:9. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
A pardoning God may well ask this of us, that we would be tender. Oh! let us be very willing to do the Lord’s will, plastic in his hands like clay in the hand of the potter. It is a great pity, brothers and sisters, when we won’t be guided by the gentle leadings of God, and must be whipped and spurred, and tugged at. For God will govern us if we are his people. If one bit will not do it, he will get a tougher bit that shall cut us and hurt us, but he will rule us, and so he ought to do, blessed be his name.
Psa_32:10-11. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Psa_32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
That is a wonderful word, — almost the same in Hebrew as in English, —covered, hidden, concealed, put away, removed, dismissed for ever.
Psa_32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
For, when sin is gone, men become honest before God. The fear of punishment makes them endeavor to evade the truth concerning sin; but, when they see sin pardoned, then are they honest before the Lord.
Psa_32:3. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
I have heard that certain diseases, when they are suppressed, are all the more terrible and deadly; and, certainly, suppressed sin, or suppressed sorrow for sin, which has no vent by way of confession before God, is a dreadful thing. It seems to eat into the very bones: “My bones waxed old,” like a strong acid eating into the very pillars of our manhood.
Psa_32:4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me:
The mere touch of God’s finger would be enough to crush us, but when he comes to deal with us in conviction, and lays his heavy hand upon us, it is indeed terrible. We are then like Gideon’s fleece when he squeezed all the moisture out of it.
Psa_32:4-5. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
Being confessed, it was forgiven; being acknowledged, it was blotted out.
Psa_32:6. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found:
If thou, O Lord, dost hear a sinner cry unto thee, then surely thou wilt hear thy saints when they cry unto thee yet more and more! If seekers become finders, then others will become seekers, too.
Psa_32:6-7. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
What a blessed experience that is, — to be surrounded with songs, to hear music on the right and music on the left, singing behind me for mercy received, singing before me for hopes yet to be fulfilled, — singing above me, the angels welcoming me when my time comes to go home to my Father’s house! “Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.” Now the Lord speaks to his servant: —
Psa_32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
“Therefore, keep your eye on me; notice every movement of my eye, and be ready and obedient, at the slightest sign, to do my will.”
Psa_32:9. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Be not hard in the mouth; be not stubborn, willful, obstinate, rebellious.
Psa_32:10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:
They pursue pleasure as if it belonged to them alone. They talk about “a short life and a merry one.” Poor things, how sadly mistaken they are! “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked.” They have a terrible inheritance, a dreadful entail of suffering.
Psa_32:10-11. But he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy,
Be demonstrative about it, make other people hear of it. Do not be ashamed to let your holy joy be known. Be not so very proper and orderly as to mumble out your praises as some do: “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy,”
Psa_32:11. All ye that are right in heart.
This exposition consisted of readings from Exo_25:10-22; and Psalms 32.
Psa_32:1-5. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
Boon over. Once poured into Jehovah’s ear out of a contrite heart, and the transgression was gone for ever. May it be so with you, dear hearer. If your sin has never .been forgiven you till to-
night, may you this night obtain pardon through confession of sin.
Psa_32:6-7. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 51, 32.
Psa_32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
No man knows the blessedness of pardoned sin but the man who has felt the weight of guilt upon his conscience. If you have ever been burdened and crushed under a load of sin, it will be a joy worth more than ten thousand worlds for you to get the burden lifted from your shoulders: “Blessed” — blessed beyond description — “is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”
Psa_32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile
He has no need to dissemble now, for his sin is forgiven. David had tried to tamper with his conscience after his great sin. He invented all sorts of excuses and schemes, to try to hide his guilt, but when, at last, he was fully convinced of the awful sinfulness of his sin, and when God had put it away for ever, then, when the guilt was gone, the guile went, too.
Psa_32:3-4. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
As if he was parched and scorched with inward grief. The agony of his soul kept him from sleeping, prevented him from taking his necessary food, and made him seem like a prematurely old man.
Psa_32:5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
O blessed termination of a terrible condition of heart! Confession pulled up the flood-gates of his soul, and God caused the black stream to flow away and disappear. Friend, are you trying to conceal any sin, or to excuse yourself in any wrong course? Then, your soul will fret and worry more and more. But make a clean breast of it before God, in the humblest and most honest language you can use, and then you shall receive the Lord’s full and free forgiveness.
Psa_32:6. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
A man, who can pray, shall see even the ocean driven back, as Moses did. If you get nigh to God, and keep nigh to him, the floods of great waters shall never get nigh to you.
Psa_32:7. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
The world is full of music to the man to whom God has said, “I forgive thee.” Do not rest, dear friend, till you really know that you are forgiven; for if you do, you will rest short of all true happiness. But if you have sought God’s mercy, and had your sin forgiven, you are already at the gates of heaven.
Psa_32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
When God forgives, he also sanctifies. When he has brought back the sheep that wandered off into the wrong road, he afterwards leads it in the right track. Notice how the Lord says, “I will guide thee with mine eye.” A look from the Lord ought to be enough to guide us; we should not need a blow, nor even a word, but be ready to be directed by the very gentlest monition of God’s gracious Spirit.
Psa_32:9. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Do not be difficult to manage. Be not hard-mouthed. Be ready to be guided by the eye of God. Be not like stubborn beasts, that must be held in with bit and bridle, and that often need the whip, too.
Psa_32:10. Many sorrows, shall be to the wicked: —
Wicked man, that is the portion that is to come to you; and it will surely come to you if you continue in your present evil course. This is the title deed of your future inheritance; do you like the prospect of such a possession as that? “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked:” —
Psa_32:10-11. But he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about. Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Let your joy be demonstrative. Do not be ashamed to let others see how happy you are. The Lord hath done great things for you - therefore, “be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” Be so jubilant that others shall be compelled to glorify God with you, and to ask, “May not we also share this great blessing with you?”
This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 32, 130.
A Psalm of David, Maschil”: that is to say, an instructive psalm:
“Maschil.” I suppose that David wrote it after he had been forgiven and restored to divine favor. I think we may read it as a part of our own experience, either of conversion or when restored after backsliding.
Psa_32:1-2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Twice he says “blessed.” He had felt the weight of sin; he had been sore troubled, and now that Nathan is sent to him with the word of pardon, “The Lord hath put away thy sin, though shalt not die,” he counts himself doubly blessed — blessed, not the man who has never sinned; blessed is he who, having sinned, is forgiven; not the man who has no sin, but whose sin is covered. Wonderful word! Both in English and Hebrew, it sounds very much alike. The sacred “Kophah.” the cover which covers sin so that sin is hidden, even from the eye of God himself! A wondrous deed! Blessed is the man who knows that divine covering! “Blessed,” says he “is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” All along, after David’s sin, he became very crafty and very cunning, full of guile. You know the dodges that he had resorted to, to cover up his sin; he tried to play some of his tricks on God himself, but he felt it was a mischievous and foolish thing to do: he was uneasy, he was unhappy. We have sometimes heard it said that after David sinned, he remained insensible for nine months, until he received the divine rebuke; but it was not so. He remained very sensitive, very depressed, very unhappy, and he was trying this way and that to cover up his sin and guile. He could not do it; he ought to make a clean breast of it, and confess it before God, and give up his crooked ways, and his ideas of excusing himself, and when he had done that, when he had given up his guile and his guilt, too, then he got the double blessing: “Blessed, blessed!” If there are any of you who are treading crooked ways with God and man, give them up. I know of nothing that will make you give them up like knowing free, full, perfect pardon through the precious blood of Christ, and the free grace of God. The two things go together, guilt and guile; the two things go out of us together; when guilt is pardoned, guile is killed. Now hear how David felt while he was conscious of his sin, and yet was not right with God.
Psa_32:3. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
A wanton glance, and the sin with Bathsheba. Where was the pleasure of it when it cost him all this? Such groaning that his very bones get old as if they were rotten, and his heart was heavy as if he wished to die. “For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me.” God was dealing with him; God with his hand pressing him heavily, forcing his sin home upon him, making him say, “My sin is ever before me.” Oh! the misery of sinning to a child of God. Do not dream that we can ever have any pleasure in sin; the worldling may, but the believer never can. To him it is a deadly viper, that will fill his veins with burning poison.
Psa_32:4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
When he tried to pray, it was a dried-up prayer; he tried to make a psalm, but it was a dried-up song; he tried to do some good, for he was still a good man, but it was all withered without the Spirit of God. His moisture was gone out of him, turned into the drought of summer, and summer in David’s country was a very droughty thing indeed. Every human thing despaired, the grass seemed to turn to dust; it was so with him. If you go into sin, this is what will happen to you. If you are a true child of God, you will have all the joy of God taken from you, all the moisture of your heart dried up, and you will be like a parched, withered thing. “Selah”: time to stop, time to have a pause in the music; he was on so bass a key, he had need now to screw up the harp strings and rise to something a little sweeter.
Psa_32:5. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
He must come to confession, full, spontaneous, unreserved; there must be a resolution. “I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord”; a firm determination to hide nothing, to see the sin yourself, and to tell the Lord that you do see it, and to confess it with great grief and sorrow. What a wonderful word that is: “I said, I will confess, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” God took away the sin: ay, the very pith and marrow of it, “the iniquity of my sin.” Take the bone away, and the marrow of the bone too; “thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” — it has all gone, wholly gone; by one stroke of God’s divine grace the sinner was pardoned. Selah again
Psa_32:6. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
“For this” (because of this and for this blessing) “shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found.” The pardoning God must be sought. There is an attraction in the greatness of his mercy. They that are godly, even though they have offended and gone astray, must come back and seek for pardon in a time when thou mayest be found. “Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.” The godly man is safe when the floods are out. There are times when great waters prevailed in David’s country; the brooks sometimes turned to rivers and came down with a rush when they were least expected; and here he says that, when such a thing as that shall happen, yet God’s people shall be saved, They shall come, but they shall not come nigh unto them. Let me read those words again: If you have gone to God in the day of your sin, and have found pardon, he that took away the sin will take away the sorrow. “Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.”
Psa_32:7. Thou art my hiding place; thou shall preserve me from trouble; thou shall compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
“Thou art my hiding place” — precious words! “Thou art my hiding place”; not “Thou art a hiding place,” but “Thou art MY hiding place.” A man who is beset by foes does not stand still, and say, “Yes, I can see there is a hiding place there,” but he runs to it. Beloved, run to your hiding place this morning, each one of you who can have a claim and interest in Christ: run to him now and say: “Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.” David has come up out of the roaring to the singing; all the day long he roared, and now all the day long he sings; he hears songs everywhere: he lives in a circle of music; his heart is so glad. Well may he put another “Selah,” for he has smitten the strings very joyfully, and they need tuning again.
Psa_32:8. I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
And here the speaker changes: “I will instruct thee”; I have forgiven thee; “I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.” I have restored thee back to the way; now I will teach thee in the way thou shalt go. “I will guide thee with mine eye”; thine own might lead thee astray. I will guide thee with mine eye”; I will be on the path, I will fix mine eye upon thee. “I will guide thee with mine eye.”
Psa_32:9. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
“Be ye not as the horse,” not only David, but all of you. If God will guide you, be guided; if he will teach you, be teachable; if he will be gracious to you, be gracious towards him.
Psa_32:10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked”; David had found that out; his sin had brought him a transient pleasure, but a lasting misery. He shall have a bodyguard of mercy; God will be gracious to him, tender to him, and will not leave him if he is trusting in the Lord.
Psa_32:11. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous.” Be glad. Well, but you cannot always be glad, says one. “Be glad in the Lord”; you may always be glad in him. Here is an unchanging source of joy. “Rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy.” Here is the man that was silent, has gone as far as shouting now. Is it not enough to make him? Twice he was blessed, in the first and second verses; and now he has been pardoned, he has been delivered, he has been compassed about with mercy: why, he must be glad! “Shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” God bless you in the reading of his Word.
This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 32; John 17.