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Psalm 32 This is a psalm about God’s grace and about our being

If you ask children to pick their favorite season, summer is usually a popular response. Lazy days with no early morning alarm, time spent playing outside, swimming, and hanging out with friends are just some of the reasons why children love summer. Many adults, however, might not agree because with summer also comes more yard work, bugs, entertaining the children who are now home from school, sunburns, and let’s not forget the heat. That oppressive summer heat that causes your clothing to stick to you in the most uncomfortable places and makes you feel miserable. It is that feeling of misery in the middle of unbearable summer heat to which David compares covering up our sin. You see, as humans, our tendency is to try to hide our sin. This is most evident when our children do something they know they shouldn’t, so they run and hide in the corner. It is exactly what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when they sinned against God and ate of the forbidden fruit. They sought to cover themselves with leaves because they were ashamed of what they had done. Yet, when we try to hide our sin and cover up our sinful behavior, we only cause ourselves more pain. In verses 3 and 4, David writes of the physiological effects of sin, recalling that his “bones wasted away” and his “strength dried up as by the heat of summer.” He also refers to the mental toll of keeping silent about his sin, describing his “groaning all day long” and the heaviness he felt at night. God desires us to be in union with Him, and He knows that our sin prevents that from happening, so He has designed our bodies to suffer both physically and emotionally when we attempt to keep our sin hidden. In order to find that sweet relief from the pain – just like a refreshing glass of ice water and a cool breeze on a hot summer day – we need to acknowledge and confess our sin to God, as David describes in verse 5. Once we have confessed and repented from our sin, God promises the sweet blessing of forgiveness. It is significant that verse 6 starts with “Therefore” or “For this cause” because the refuge we find in God is only possible once we have been restored to Him through forgiveness. Forgiveness is the prerequisite to finding that respite in God’s presence. Verses 6-11 can only come after Verses 1-5. When I was young, one of my favorite hiding places used to be inside an old boxwood shrub next to our house. It was hollow and large enough to hide myself and usually some other critters as well. When I wanted a quiet place, I would climb inside the boxwood, which covered me so that no one (except my parents)

justified by no merit whatsoever on our part, but only by the mercy of the Lord our God, which forestalls anything

that we may do. – St. Augustine