Restoration and Joy. (393)

God’s forgiveness brings restoration and joy.
Psalm 32:1-7

background

Despite being identified as a man after God’s own heart, David sinned in his affair with Bathsheba, and sinned again by attempting to cover up his illicit activity. God didn’t fall for any of the cover up and sent Nathan to spotlight David’s guilt.
In Psalm 51, David poured out his heart in repentance over his sin and sought God’s forgiveness.

God is the only source of forgiveness for all people.

Think about this: What emotions do you experience when you extend forgiveness?

Joy

Psalm 32:1-2 HCSB

1 How joyful is the one
whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered!
2 How joyful is the man
the LORD does not charge with sin
and in whose spirit is no deceit!

Psalm 32 may be a follow-up to Psalm 51, David’s confession of his sins related to adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah (2 Sam. 11-12).

In Psalm 51, David poured out his heart in repentance over his sin and sought God’s forgiveness. In Psalm 32 he rejoiced over the gracious forgiveness offered by God.

In creating this psalm of instruction, David taught that owning up to sin and confessing it brings God’s forgiveness and restoration.

David began Psalm 32 with a proclamation of blessing containing two parts. Each part starts with the phrase how joyful and is followed by two poetic lines.

How joyful is actually one word in Hebrew and it’s traditionally translated “blessed” or “happy”. The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5) uses the corresponding Greek word at the beginning of Jesus’ statements

• What emotions do you experience when you receive forgiveness?

David found joy when he laid down his deception in verse 2. To experience God’s full forgiveness, we need to do the same, but it’s hard – especially when we deceive ourselves.

Excuses:

• My sin isn’t that bad.
• I can stop whenever I want to.
• It’s okay because no one really gets hurt.

Obviously, none of those statements are true. Give up the self-deception of rebellious lives, and can fully experience the joy of God’s forgiveness.

The first two verses of Psalm 32 emphasize joy. The next three verses recount David’s misery before turning to God.

• Why does unconfessed sin eat away at a believer?

Unconfessed Guilt

Psalm 32:3-5 HCSB

3 When I kept silent,
my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
Your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat.
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You
and did not conceal my iniquity. I said,
“I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
and You took away the guilt of my sin.

David realized God was pleased with a broken spirit and a broken and humble heart (Ps. 51:17). This is the kind of confession that brings deliverance and forgiveness.

In these three verses of Psalm 32, we see an example of moving from an experience of anguish over sin to the act of confession, and then to the gracious response of God’s forgiveness.

David attributed the cause of distress to keeping silent and refusing to confess his sin. He first admitted that when he kept silent his bones became brittle or wore out in groaning all day long.

The Hebrew word for groaning can also be translated as the “roaring” of a lion

Isaiah 5:29 NASB
Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;
It growls as it seizes the prey
And carries it off with no one to deliver it.

Ezekiel 19:7 NASB
`He destroyed their fortified towers and laid waste their cities;
And the land and its fullness were appalled Because of the sound of his roaring.

In regard to human subjects, it could refer to groaning or anguished cries

Psalms 22:1
< For the choir director; upon Ayelet Hash Shahar. A Psalm of David.>
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.

Job 3:24
“For my groaning comes at the sight of my food,
And my cries pour out like water.

We come under the hand of God’s conviction for the simple reason that He loves us. God wants us to confess our sins because confession brings about two major blessings.

First, the sin itself is removed. David wrote in another psalm: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12).

Second, the weight of conviction is released. Because the very sin that brought conviction is removed,

• How would you describe the process of confessing sin to God?

God offers forgiveness when we confess our sins to Him.

• What steps can we take to celebrate our forgiveness?

Joyful Deliverance

Psalm 32:6-7

6 Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You at a time that You may be found.
When great floodwaters come, they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place;
You protect me from trouble. You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance.

Because the psalms are poetic expressions, they’re often packed with imagery and metaphor.

The three ways God cares for us:

1. God is our “hiding place.”
2. God is our protection.
3. God surrounds us with celebration.

• How have you experienced God’s forgiveness as protection or a hiding place?

God’s forgiveness brings restoration and joy.

Conclusion

We all want the gift of joy in this life. We usually grasp for joy in the same ways we find happiness. Instead, choose surrender as your path to joy.

Surrender your will, let go of your sin, and enjoy the restoration that only God can bring.”