Psalm 58 Ding-dong! The Witch is Dead!

Psalm 58 is a type of lament referred to as an imprecatory psalm. What is that? It is a psalm that calls for the just wrath of God upon the wicked. It captures the raw cry of the poor and powerless against unjust oppression.

The iconic image of the witch's feet
protruding from under the house.

Admittedly, there is something joyous about breaking the oppression of the wicked (v.10-11). One example is in the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy’s house falls on and kills the wicked witch, the Munchkins sing, “Ding, dong, the Witch is dead…” since their fearful tormenter has been killed. A death that was very imprecatory-esque (to coin a phrase). Here are the lyrics they sang (in case you were wondering).

Ding-dong! The Witch is dead
Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!
Ding-dong! The Wicked Witch is dead
Wake up, you sleepy head
Rub your eyes, get out of bed
Wake up, the Wicked Witch is dead
She's gone where the goblins go
Below, below, below
Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out
Ding-dong, the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low
Let them know the Wicked Witch is dead!

While this type of psalm (imprecatory lament) is often quite graphic in its creatively worded and often hyperbolic poetic descriptions, the focus is not so much a longing for bloodthirsty revenge as it is for removing the oppressor and their opportunity to continue hurting others.

Now, let’s look at the biblical text of this reflection from Psalm 58.

"Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?

 Do you             judge the children of man uprightly?

No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;

          your hands deal out violence on earth." (v.1-2)

While the author used a Hebrew term translated here as “gods” or “Mighty Ones” it is clear that he was making a sarcastic statement. Those who should have been responsible for weighing out justice to all had not done so. There may also be a bit of a peek behind the curtain to the spiritual “powers and principalities” that pull the strings of such unjust leaders. Of course, the false gods of the world never judge rightly...they are merely tools of selfishness (as are their followers). So much violence in the world comes from those ultimately seeking their own self-interests. Jesus made it clear that Christians are to be different. We are called to follow our Savior’s example by denying ourselves, taking up our crosses daily, laying down our lives, our rights, and our successes. He did not come to be served but to serve. Elsewhere he said that it was the meek who shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5). When we come to Christ with empty hands and an open heart He will bring his people peace, a peace that cannot be taken away by the world.

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Meanwhile, the wicked shuffle their cards, dealing out wickedness, and planting lies and injustice everywhere they go. Why do they do this? Why do their hearts devise wrongs? Because they have made an idol out of themselves. The Apostle Paul laid this out in his letter to Timothy in describing the coming days of difficulty, days that sound very much like our own.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Tim. 3:1-5)

When you are a lover of self and not a lover of the good, how can you live peacefully in a relationship with other people, much less God? You can’t. Thus,

The wicked are estranged from the womb;
    they go astray from birth, speaking lies. (v.3)

The irony of this imprecatory psalm is that it is set to a tune titled, "Do not Destroy"! The psalmist and the lamenting community do not take it upon themselves to destroy their oppressors. Rather, such a psalm is used to process the frustration of the author/reader with wicked rulers and faux judges who are like deadly snakes that will not be charmed (v.4-5) and it asks God to deal with them as only He can. In the end, the justice of God is revealed! Everything is not as it seems!

He began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. (Luke 12:1-3)

It is hard for many Americans to relate to such brutal leaders and persecution as the psalmist describes...but Christians from other places know exactly what the psalmist is talking about. However, even in the USA, we are coming to see hypocrisy on a massive level unveiled.

The imprecatory request of Psalm 58 begins to make more sense when we, or those we love, have been the recipients and victims of deadly lies and unprovoked attacks.

"O God, break the teeth in their mouths;

tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!

Let them vanish like water that runs away;

when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted." (v.6-7)

If I were to paraphrase these verses, I might say, “Let the source of their deadly venom be broken and torn out. Let their efforts melt away to nothing, let their assassination attempts be ineffective.”

Ultimately, we are either children of the light, who want the truth to be revealed, the corruption exposed, and the unjust scales to be recalibrated. Yet, God’s people are not to take vengeance into their own hands… only God can make those judgments without error. And one day he will complete the work. On that day,

Mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous;                                                       surely there is a God who judges on earth." (v.11)

As noted above, Psalm 58 is an imprecatory lament that expresses the psalmist's desire and request for justice to be done! He concludes with this verse that tells what the world's reaction will be after God’s delivering judgment of the wicked appears. His judgment does not tarry until that final day but is an ongoing work that occurs every day, in every season, and yet will suddenly come to an unmistakable and unchangeable conclusion. Even now, it is his kindness and mercy that allows us to confess and repent before we are caught and face the consequences of our sins (àRom. 2:4-5). We do well to heed the words of John to the dispersed church…

If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But…

if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:6-9)

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An imprecatory lament should serve to remind us of our own shortcomings and utter dependence upon the grace of God in Christ Jesus! We all have trash that needs to be removed.

When we know how much we have been forgiven we will not quickly enter into judgment on others, but will fervently pray even for our enemies, patiently correcting with gentleness, that they might be set free for they are unwitting slaves (à 2 Tim. 2:23-26).

My prayer for us in these days is that we might have the courage to witness to the truth, the faith to see God’s powerful work on behalf of his children, the love to serve alongside him in his mission, and the hope to remain steadfast to the end.

Psalm 51 Take Not Your Holy Spirit From Me

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This famous psalm contains the penitential prayer of David after his sin with Bathsheba became known. In 2 Samuel 12, the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to confront David for his sin. To understand the depth of grief in David’s prayer here in Psalm 51, it is helpful to reread how God delivered the message to David that prompted the prayer.

And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Allow me to interject here that this is a great metaphor for what sin does… it is the taking, killing, and consuming of another person’s pet lamb or something even more dear. Like any normal person, David was angered by the injustice in Nathan’s report. But there was more to the story.

Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. (2 Samuel 12:1-9)

Nathan came to the king with a compelling word picture that allowed David to emotionally pronounce judgment on another person over the hypothetical taking and killing of a poor man’s pet lamb. Perhaps we would like to judge David for this outburst, however, is this not what we all tend to do? Instead of confessing and repenting of our own sins, we often project our guilt onto others. We have created an entire media culture that facilitates this cursed coping mechanism. There is so much we can learn from the Lord and Nathan’s approach, but that is not the focus of this post.

Instead, from Psalm 51, I want to consider how we respond when conviction for our sins comes upon us.

“You are that man!” Oh no!

How do we respond when we become aware of our failure to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and have failed to love our neighbors as ourselves? Will we deny doing anything wrong and embrace a lie, or will we contritely admit the truth and run to our merciful God, our Heavenly Father who loves us?

As the narrative reveals, King David was far from perfect, and he did some horrific things.[1] Yet when he realized that he had sinned, he repented wholeheartedly... with no denials, no excuses, no minimization, and no blaming. He didn't go all "Saul" on the corrective message or the messenger. How do we respond when the Holy Spirit convicts us that we have sinned? Psalm 51 is a great primer on how to confess and repent.

How do we handle guilt over our actions, inactions, attitudes, and thoughts? Do we cover it up or switch to a fight or flight reaction? Or do we realize that God knows the deep truth about us and that the best response is to confess? The reality of our failures is that there will come a time when they can be denied no longer. It is far better to be a quick confessor!

Confession (v. 3-4)

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When we confess, we are saying, “Yep, I did it (i.e., ‘I know my transgressions…’v.3) and you are completely right to judge me” (v.4). David’s conscience had been activated by conviction and now he couldn’t unsee his sin. Further, he recognizes that all sin ultimately was against the Lord. He was not denying that he hurt people but recognizing that the Lord was the ultimate recipient of that hurt… not just the poor man whose lamb was taken but the one who is the Lamb of God as seen in type through the OT sacrificial system.

In verses 5-6, David owned up to his systemic fallenness. Allow me to paraphrase, “I have a sinful nature; it seems that even as an infant I was not sinless, yet you teach me wisdom in my heart/inward being (v.5-6). He knew that God doesn’t wait for perfection before he gets involved in our lives but walks with us and teaches us along the way… if we have ears to hear.

David knew that he had sinned against the heart of God and taken from others that which he could not give back. Yet, because he valued his walk with God he came to God in this prayer of faith and deep humility and asked some honest requests.

Petition: Requests he asked of God…

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Have mercy on me (v.1) and not just any run-of-the-mill mercy but mercy that is “according to your steadfast love.” Mercy is not getting the dreadful thing that you deserve. David knew he deserved death and pleaded for that mercy sourced in and suited for God’s steadfast love (Heb. hesed). And just as that hesed abounds in God’s nature, so David asked for abundant mercy so that his second round of requests might be accomplished. 

     Blot out my transgressions (v.1d,9)

         Wash me thoroughly (v. 2, 7)

               Purge and cleanse me (v.7)

These three requests are all in one accord, asking for the same thing. David wanted to be clean inside and out. While used in parallel, we might see subtle variations on a theme. He wanted to be set free from the guilt of what he had done, washed from all the lingering external residue, and even deep-cleaned on the inside cutting off sin at its root, a prideful heart.

All he experienced until the Lord forgave and restored him was the opposite of joy, but in hope, he prayed, “Let me hear joy and gladness” (for I am consumed with sorrow and regret). David knew something about a right relationship with God—it is the source of joy. As people who have received forgiveness through Jesus Christ, we too should lean into the joy and gladness of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, David humbly asked for healing as he confessed his brokenness (v.8) As a shepherd, David knew that sometimes a shepherd must break the leg of a wandering sheep of its own good. During the recovery time, they are always in the presence of the shepherd and learn that life is better there than wandering among wolves and lions.

Then David wrote/prayed the well-known words that many of us have fervently sung as well as prayed down through the centuries,

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit. (v.10-12)

These three short verses encapsulate the cries of the hearts of all who not only know and mourn their sins but who also know the God who is “slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness.” What might seem at first to be six densely packed requests are three pairings of parallel requests.

In the first pairing, David asked God to create and renew a clean heart/right spirit “within me” where he only knew the stain of his sins and the wrong thinking and sorrow they produced. In the third pairing, we see that the restoration of the joy of salvation (echoing v. 8) is tied to a willing spirit that upholds us in difficulty.

While I can personally relate to David repeatedly asking for cleansing, and renewed joy, it is the relational request of the middle pairing (v.11) that captures my heart this week.

Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me. (v.11)

I propose that neither of the other pairings are possible without the Lord granting this request. Even if we were cleansed, we could not hope to remain so if God removed his presence from us. Not only that but what enduring joy could we have apart from the Spirit? This might not seem important to us because we often undervalue the Holy Spirit. However, David knew what happened to his predecessor—Saul—when because of his stubborn heart and refusal to confess his sin, God had removed his Spirit from him (1 Sam. 16:14). David had witnessed Saul’s torment, jealousy, and fits of homicidal madness all too often. He would not have wanted to be like Saul, and I am sure that such memories added to the intensity of his plea. Thankfully, the Lord doesn’t merely dole out heavenly currency to meet our needs, he gives us his very self! The presence of the Lord is life (1 John 5:11-12).

This psalm is a blessing for those who know they have sinned and long to be right with God. It not only gives us the language to bare our soul before the Lord, but it is also a prayer that God answered for David (the psalmist) and will answer for us today through Jesus Christ! But having been forgiven, will we teach others God's ways, or will we return to our own?

Declaration

Right after this prayer of petition, there is a pledge of faithful living from then on. David declared what he would do upon being cleansed, kept close, and restored to the joy of salvation. He would be an example for others to follow. Something he could not be without the inclusion of both his failures and his repentant faithfulness. He planned to sing aloud and declare God’s praise. Recently on a church worship and prayer night, we sang Cody Carnes’ song Bless God, which includes these lyrics,

Come on and bring your offering
Sing if you've known His grace
Come on and lift up your holy hands
He's worthy of all our praise.

Bless God in the sanctuary
Bless God in the fields of plenty
Bless God in the darkest valley
Every chance I get
I bless Your name.

This is exactly what David said he would do upon experiencing such desperately needed grace. The Lord doesn’t long to smell more burning meat on the sacrificial altar’s grill. He desires a different type of sacrifice—that of “a broken and contrite heart” (v.17).

What is the sign of such a sacrificial heart? It is confession. Instead of walking the path of rationalization, minimization, and deflection, a contrite heart admits its moments of weakness, acts of disobedience, and attitudes of independence and rebellion.

A dozen years ago I commented on this psalm, “In this great psalm of repentance, David acknowledged the kind of sacrifice God accepts...a broken and contrite heart. Such hearts like his are in short supply these days having lost their shelf space to more popular and less helpful indulgences like denial, pride, excuses, pride, technical confession without remorse, and did I mention pride?”

The Holy Spirit Draws Us Back to Jesus

If we have not grown hard of heart and calloused of conscience when we become aware of our sin, our guilty hearts often hear two voices speak—one condemns and the other convicts. We do well to learn the difference.

Condemnation is the voice of the accuser speaking to our fears and shame warning us to get as far away from the angry, judgmental, punitive God as we can, for we no longer deserve his love, and he doesn’t want anything to do with us. Remember that the accuser—Satan—is the father of lies.

The other voice is that of conviction. Conviction is the voice of the Holy Spirit reminding us that we can’t save ourselves and that we need to get to Jesus Christ, the lover of our soul, as quickly as we can, for Jesus is our light, life, and everlasting hope! John tells it straight,

Come unto me...

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9 ESV)

If we are sorry for our sin, and don’t merely turn away from a harmful attitude or behavior but
return to our merciful Lord Jesus we should have no fear that the Holy Spirit will be taken from us.

Remember that God is greater than our hearts (1 John 3:20), so today, instead of self-condemnation, take time to thank the Lord for the forgiveness and cleansing he has given to us! David did.

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[1] [Note: the regular inclusion of the faults and sins of “heroic” biblical characters is solid evidence that the Bible is not propaganda but a true historical narrative.]

Psalm 38 We Don't Groan Alone

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Do not forsake me, O Lord!
    O my God, be not far from me!
Make haste to help me,
    O Lord, my salvation! (Psalm 38:21-22)

With what is the psalmist wrestling in Psalm 38? Was he crying out because of sickness, personal sin, and/or social isolation? There seem to be bits of all three woven together in this emotionally charged psalm.

What about us as readers, as disciples, and even as pastors and ministry leaders? What is it in our lives that brings us to the end of ourselves and prompts us to cry out to the Lord for deliverance? Is it something physical or emotional, something spiritual or relational? No matter what the cause, it is likely that this Psalm gives voice to at least part of our condition.

Bone-crushing Sickness Described

Some good Bible scholars, like Peter Craigie (WBC, Psalms 1-50), insightfully unpack the effects of prolonged sickness as the major theme of this psalm. The psalmist allows us to enter the depths of his physical condition in honest and emotional statements like these:

v. 3a There is no soundness in my flesh…
v. 3c There is no health in my bones…
v. 5a My wounds stink and fester…
v. 8a I am feeble and crushed…
v, 17 I am ready to fall… my pain is ever before me

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Certainly, the psalmist uses poetic language to describe his situation including a liberal dose of hyperbole (deliberate exaggeration for effect). Such use of hyperbole is not an indication that the psalmist is a “drama queen”, but rather that the psalm gives the reader a window into the deep pain and isolation felt by those with prolonged illnesses. Often there is an alienation that occurs with chronic illness as described in verse 11,

My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,
    and my nearest kin stand far off.

Even those with the best of intentions can come to the end of their ability to stay engaged with those whose ailment/ issue/ suffering seems all-consuming. The psalmist may have faced such disappointment from his circle of family and friends.

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Then there are those who are quick the assign personal blame for those illnesses in an, “It’s your own fault” sort of way. With such a judgment comes its corollary, a self-justification that I/we are not suffering as you are because we are not guilty of such sins. Some suggest that it is our nature to begin to assign such circumstances to the wrath of God in punishment for our sins. Both conclusions are likely to be false.

If enduring such suffering despite the quitters and the critics with their hurtful comments was not bad enough, then there were those who were the psalmist’s enemies…the haters. Why do some people like to exploit the weaknesses of others like predators might cut down the weakest in the herd? The haters take advantage of the psalmist’s not being able to defend himself and pile on their accusations, plotting his destruction as described in verse 12,

Those who seek my life lay their snares;

    those who seek my hurt speak of ruin

    and meditate treachery all day long.

And, in verses 19-20,

But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,
    and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
Those who render me evil for good
    accuse me because I follow after good.

The psalmist isn’t paranoid here, although chronic pain and a failed support group can lead one down that path. We know from David’s life that he had those who proved to be his enemies. Here he is specific about their behavior and their plans. They seem to be growing stronger while David’s strength melts away. Ironically, while those who should be expected to care for the psalmist “stand aloof” it is his enemies that had drawn near to hasten his demise. So, let me repeat the ironic situation—while the people the psalmist cared about had left him, the people who hated him came close taunting, plotting, and howling like human hyenas.

Heart-breaking Sin Confessed

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While we can gain much insight into the inner life of those facing prolonged illness through this psalm, I think that Craigie’s calling this a “sickness psalm” diminishes the psalm's very strong element of confession. The second theme in Psalm 38 is that of the psalmist’s confession of his sins. Much of his illness imagery may be a poetic description of how deeply his guilt has wounded him. He feels the poison of his sin at work in his whole being and expresses it in terms of severe and chronic physical conditions. This does not completely relegate the physical suffering he describes to merely a poetic expression for he may have physically experienced what he describes. While the psalmist’s perspective seems to make a direct connection between his personal sin and the dis-health of his body this does not mean that such is always the case. But for the psalmist, who knew all too well his own guilt, it certainly felt like he was rightly suffering for his foolish sinfulness.

There is no soundness in my flesh

    because of your indignation;

there is no health in my bones

    because of my sin.

For my iniquities have gone over my head;

    like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

My wounds stink and fester

    because of my foolishness… (v.3-5)

Even more, the psalmist seems to know that he deserves even worse than he was getting and asked for mercy so that he might not feel the full burden of his sin.

Let me take a moment to stipulate that sin does anger God, but not necessarily for the reason that we might think. Sin does not anger God in either a curmudgeonly “get-off-my-lawn” or a vindictive "now-you're-going-to-pay" sort of way. Sin angers God because he wants us to fully experience his love, and his pervasive goodness, and to live in the holistic peace of an unbroken relationship with him and each other, but sin pushes all that away. Sin hurts us and wounds everyone around us. No good parent wants to see their children hurt and abused—neither does God. In fact, if God wasn’t angered at the sin of the world he would not be fully loving. Thankfully, the anger of God moves him to redeem and restore sinners, calling them back into a relationship with him. Jesus came to rescue us, not to destroy us...

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17)

Relational Isolation Hurts

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In any event, David’s illness/sin had brought a deep sense of isolation. On one hand, he was abandoned, or perhaps more strongly stated shunned, by those whom he loved. Illness and acute guilt have that effect on others. In David’s day, people would have withdrawn for several reasons. They would have wanted to avoid “catching” what he had while endeavoring to never fall into the same error that they might think he had committed. Still, others might have been exhausted by the long and seemingly hopeless illness (if it was an illness), or by his having gone beyond what was the culturally acceptable level from which rescue or deliverance might be expected. Finally, some "trolls" wanted to wag their tongues and their fingers in pointing out not only his sin but eagerly forecasting his certain destruction.

At some point, the psalmist stopped listening and responding to the unhelpful accusations as we see in v. 13-15,

But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,

    like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

I have become like a man who does not hear,

    and in whose mouth are no rebukes.

But for you, O LORD, do I wait…

    it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

David was not interested in the negative things others might say about him. While his refusal to listen was not as provocative as the ‘90s “talk to the hand” statement, he was focused like a racehorse with blinders on to keep from being distracted. It helps to remember that he was not in denial of his faults, for this is a psalm filled with some powerfully self-aware confession, but he chose to turn down the volume of other voices, to cry out in faith, and to wait expectantly for the very-present Lord to answer and deliver!

So, amid our own seasons of pain and suffering—physical, or emotional/spiritual—to whom do we listen? Whom will we trust to plead our case and deliver us? The psalmist knew the answer and clung to it with tenacious faith.

Desperately Seeking Salvation

The third theme in Psalm 38 is that of the psalmist’s two-fold trust in the Lord—first, that God would hear his prayer, and second, that the covenant-keeping God would be his salvation! It is a powerful contrast that while friends and family may “stand aloof” and enemies will “stand against”, the Lord stands for us and enables us to stand secure in him. 

Even in pain and overwhelming circumstances, David wrote in honest faith,

I am feeble and crushed;
    I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

O Lord, all my longing is before you;
    my sighing is not hidden from you. (v. 8-9)

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Despite his intense suffering, he did not groan alone, for God heard and saw all his deepest longings and concerns, even those too deep and agonizing to be articulated!

The Christian life is no guarantee that we will be immune to pain, sickness, and criticism, nor does it instantly deliver us from our own foolishness and failures. What it does is give us constant access to an Advocate (1 John 2:1), a Great Physician (Matt. 9:35; Luke 9:6), and a loving God who will never stand aloof in our time of need (Heb. 13:5-6).

There are times when it seems that no one knows my inner struggles, the burdens I carry, or the complete desperation with which I am forced by circumstances and my own failures to lean on Jesus Christ. Yet, such a crucible of heart and mind is common among those in ministry roles. I am thankful for the testimony of Paul, who like the psalmist, relied on God to deliver no matter how hopeless the cause!

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

Psalm 32:5,8-9 "Confession & Counsel"

Psalm 32:5

"I acknowledged my sin to you,

and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,"

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin."

Comments:

The first five times (out of the six) that I commented on this psalm (back in the pre-blog Facebook days), I focused on v. 5 and the importance of confession in the process of forgiveness. Here are those brief comments, rescued from the digital dust heap of news feed oblivion.

1. Forgiveness always begins with confession. We can't be saved until we admit that we need to be! (2/2010)
2. Our forgiveness starts with our confession to the Lord Jesus that He is right and that we have been wrong, and then as a matter of integrity we extend the forgiveness we have received from him to others who have sinned against us. It is the path to freedom and joy! (8/2010)
3. Confession is always the path to take with God...since covering, concealing, and complaining are completely ineffective, not to mention stupid, considering who we are trying to convince. What a blessing it is to be forgiven! (3/2011)
4. I am so glad that I don't have to confess all my faults and failures to another person but can go directly to the Lord. I am also glad that when I do confess the Lord doesn't reject me but cleanses me, hides me from danger, preserves me from trouble, and surrounds me with deliverance! (9/2011)
5. The more we know Jesus, the more we know that we are not Him. Yet he loves us. Remember "a bruised reed he will not break" (Isa 42:3) but those who are stiff-necked in refusing to confess will be broken. (3/2012)

Then in May of 2013, I changed it up and commented on v. 6-7 instead…

Therefore let everyone who is godly
    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
    they shall not reach him.

You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

Comment: The tsunami of circumstances and of crisis will not overwhelm the one who prays in the days of peace (preparing for a crisis before it happens). I wonder if we listen really close if we can hear a bit of God’s "shouts of deliverance" surrounding us? (5/2013)

Now, three years have passed since I last commented on this psalm but for today I will pick up where I left off and briefly consider Psalm 32:8-9.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    or it will not stay near you.

Comments: In verse 8 there is a change of voice. It is no longer the psalmist proclaiming blessing (v.1) or giving his testimony (v.3-5) or declaring his faith in God for deliverance (v.6-7). These two verses record the offering exhortation to the congregation to seek the Lord. This is the Lord speaking to the psalmist and the people alike with the instruction of wisdom. We would do well to be teachable to the instruction of the Lord. He is not the cosmic killjoy many have made him out to be. He is the one who restores joy, protects us, and surrounds us with” shouts of deliverance” (v.7).

While he may deliver us with a shout he desires to counsel us with his eye. While we are not an overly quiet family, we live near a family that seems to shout all the time. God’s family is not that way. He doesn’t constantly shout at us out of anger and frustration. Instead, he wants us to know him so well that we will respond to a simple look. For this to be the case we must know God well enough to understand and respond. This comes only by spending consistent time reading through the whole of the Scriptures, meditating on them, and listening in our times of prayer as well as speaking.

I remember hearing a message in Beaverton about 15 years ago, by Brooklyn Tabernacle’s Jim Cymbala, where he spoke about two ideas in v. 8. The first idea being that the Lord says “with my eye upon you” in the sense that there is never a moment when he will take his eye off of us. We are never out of his loving sight. The second idea he shared was that the Lord says, “I will counsel you with my eye” meaning that by the very movement of his eye we will know his leading. However, if we are like the metaphorical horse in this passage then we need a bit and bridle to control us. 

Do we have that kind of eye-to-eye intimacy with our Father that we can clearly understand his counsel? Is it our great desire to please him because he has loved us so well? Or does God have to use the “bit and bridle” of emergencies and crises to bring us close? 

Our honest confession to the Lord, and obeying the Lord's gentle counsel to us brings both forgiveness and freedom!