Psalm of Repentance

“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven; whose sins are covered. Blessed are those whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.”- Psalm 32:1-2

          This Psalm of David is listed as “A Maskil”, which is translated in The Amplified Bible to mean “A skillful song, or a didactic* or reflective poem.” This Psalm is one of repentance for a sin David committed which can be read in 1 Chronicles 21. David commanded Joab, the leader of all his troops, to take a census of all of Israel. Under normal circumstances, this is done in preparation for war to see what numbers you have to take into battle. The Lord was not in this and became angry with David. David was punished, as was Israel, for his disobedience. As a result of his sin, David became ill. This Psalm is penitential in nature and also praises God for forgiveness and healing.

          Here we see David as grateful for the grace and mercy God has shown him by not counting his sins against him. As king of Israel, his sin resulted in punishment for himself and his people. To be blessed is to be ‘favored and protected’, in this case by Almighty God. We can take for ourselves today the fact that once we have had our sins forgiven, we are found to be favored by God and under His protection. This is unless we fall back into sin. Sin must be paid for. For the Christian in this day and age Christ’s blood atonement or payment for our sin was all that was needed to achieve forgiveness from God. However, we do still sin even after we have been redeemed. We are still under the blood and therefore may come to God at any time with a sincere and sorrowful heart seeking His forgiveness. God proclaims to us that He already forgave us even before we asked. It is in the asking that healing takes place. We cannot simply know that we will be forgiven and never repent of our sin. Repenting implies a turning away. We are then expected to do a 180° turn away from that sinful behavior. To not do that is to make God’s grace a cheap thing. 

          The phrase “whose sins are covered” is indicative of the Old Testament, when sacrifices were made to God to cover the sins of individuals. The blood of Christ doesn’t merely cover our sins, but instead erases them as if they had never been committed in the first place. Those whose sins cannot be counted against them and in whom no deceit is found are called blessed. As children of God, we are all highly favored and come under the protection of God all our days as we live for Him.

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries
* “intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction …”  – www.oxforddictionaries.com