Psalm 32 & 51
GUILT is the most invisible, but the
heaviest giant of all.
People all around us are being
slowly crushed and suffocated
by the giant of guilt.
It kills slowly with excruciating pain!
David battled two giants in
his lifetime.
Goliath is the well known
giant he defeated in a
matter of minutes.
Guilt is the lesser-known
giant that took David many
months to overcome!
David had it all – every good thing life
had to offer.
He ruled the greatest nation in the world
Not only was he God’s anointed,
he was also the people’s choice.
Once he was an obscure shepherd boy,
now he was the most important man of
the land.
David had the heart of an artist
the soul of a priest
the mind of a philosopher
the body of a warrior
David had made it to the top.
Many have indicated he was restless
and needed a new giant to conquer.
Sadly, this one got the best of him!
The Agony of Guilt
Psalm 32
describes the
anguish of body
and soul
that David went through while trying
to conceal his sin.
When the damage has been done and the
guilt sets in – our first impulse is
SILENCE
“When I kept silent, my bones grew old
through my groaning all the day long.”
- Psalm 32:3
We feel that we can’t talk to people, even
those closest to us. We feel like we can’t
talk to God.
“If I had not confessed the sin in my
heart, the Lord would not have
listened.”
- Psalm 66:18
Now a gulf of silence stretched
between David & God.
The silence as a result of guilt is deafening
His soul was suffering & his health
followed suit.
No one is more eloquent than David on the
dimensions of SORROW
“Day and night your hand of discipline was
heavy on me. My strength evaporated like
water in the summer heat.”
- Psalm 32:4
King David was still commanding all of his
subjects and mighty army, but his conscience
could not be ruled.
David was trapped inside his own guilt.
Sorrow overcame him, sapping his life of
all its considerable vitality.
His conscience was filled with disgust,
breaking his communion with God.
There were no songs to sing.
The only poetry he could write was
the poetry of grief.
HIS LIFE WAS A MESS!
David suffered so much was there was no one
to whom he could convey his pain; instead he
felt isolated because of his SECRECY
For over a year, David lived with an
intolerable secret. His sin with Bathsheba
may not have been planned, but his sin
against Uriah was premeditated & calculated.
The guilt of what he had done was
wearing him down.
The Accusation of Guilt
God sent a prophet named Nathan to
confront David about his sin.
The Lord had revealed to Nathan what
he needed to know about David’s sin.
Nathan tells David a story
of two men – one rich and one poor
“David was furious. ‘As surely as the Lord
lives,’ he vowed, ‘any man who would do
such a thing deserves to die!’”
- 2 Samuel 12:5
Nathan lowers the boom
and tells David
“You are the man!”
- v 7a
It’s hard to imagine a moment filled
with more anguish and relief
at the same time.
While David was humiliated and
ashamed – finally the secret he had been
carrying for so long was out in the open.
Now was the time for David to admit his
guilt and move toward cleansing.
The Admission of Guilt
We now move from Psalm 32 to Psalm 51,
a record of David’s response and discover the
pattern for defeating this giant of guilt!
David accepts FULL responsibility
for his SIN
Take a highlighter and go down
Psalm 51 and note each
I, me, my, mine.
David did not avoid the fact
that he was the one who had sinned and was
guilty before God! This is a lost art in our day!
David Acknowledges the Sinfulness
of Sin
In three verses, David uses 4 different words to
describe what he had done
Transgression, Iniquity, Sin, Evil
When we fail to live by God’s standards –
listen carefully to our language!
When we confess our sin
we are saying the same thing about it
that God says about it!
“Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my
rebellion to the Lord.”
And you forgave me!
All my guilt is gone.”
- Psalm 32:5
There was a day when people were scared of
sin, but today, we find people using every word
except “sin” to describe behavior that is
offensive to God.
When it comes to our sin, we mumble
instead of confess.
We’ve so insulated ourselves from the concept
of sin that our modern generation thinks
nothing of living with all kinds of
unconfessed sins in their lives.
And the church is in danger of adopting this
same mentality. Let’s model David’s
pattern of confession – not his sin!!
David Addresses His Confession to God
“Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.”
- Psalm 51:4a
David realizes sin is first and foremost a violation
of God’s Holy Standards and that God is the One
before whom confession & repentance is due.
The Answer to Guilt
There are some steps we must take…
Removing the Sin
Check out the phrases David uses to describe
this step
“Wash me thoroughly…cleanse me…
purge me…wash me…blot out…”
Sin is like a STAIN. The word “cleanse” refers
to the cleansing of a leper. If someone came into
contact with a dead body – they had to be
ceremonially cleansed with hyssop.
David is asking for God to be merciful!!
Restoring the Joy
In verses 8 & 12 – David prays that God will
return to him the “joy of his salvation”
Note…David is NOT asking for God to restore
his salvation…but the joy of his salvation.
There was a time when David danced for sheer
joy before the Lord as the ark of the covenant was
transported up to Mount Zion in Jerusalem
{2 Samuel 6:14}
Renewing the Fellowship
David desires for the chasm between God &
himself to be bridged, so there is once again
oneness and unity.
“Blessed is the one whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”
- Psalm 32:1-2
Content is the person whose sin is forgiven and who
enjoys being in right relationship with the Lord!