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Father, we thank you for speaking to us clearly in your word. We thank you that it is in our language. We thank you that by it you make yourself known. Please give us soft hearts and minds alert to listen to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

On the night before The Battle of Waterloo in 1815, after all the plans were laid and all the troops positioned, the Duke of Wellington (commander of the allied army) was asked by his second in command – what were to be his orders “in the event of an accident”. The Duke is said to have responded with two words: Keep Hougoumont. The next day Napoleon’s army of 72,000 infantry, calvalry and artillery would march against Wellington’s army of 68,000 infantry, cavalry and artillery. They would fight over a stretch of land about 2.5 miles long in an age before radio or text message, when orders would have to be sent via horseback messengers across terrain obscured by smoke from canon and fire and passed from colonels, to majors, to captains, to sergeants to troops over the noise of and confusion of battle. Hougoumont was a farmhouse on Wellington’s right flank. He feared that if Napoleon were able to take it, he’d be able to surround Wellington’s army and destroy it. There was one order Wellington wanted to pass on to his second in command which would dominate the way the battle was fought the next day, should he be killed; keep Hougoumont.

We may not be on a battlefield with muskets and canons firing – but life is complicated, it can be hard and often perplexing. There are many times when we feel we cannot see through the smoke and are unsure what to do. There are times when we look for advice and don’t get it, and there are times when we’re given conflicting advice and don’t know who to follow. Psalm 32 contains a vital message for us by which we understand and navigate life. In Wellington’s mind, Waterloo was won or lost by Hougoumont. There was one simple order he wanted his army to fight by: keep Hougoumont. In Psalm 32, David wants us to grasp one simple proposition to help us understand and interpret life (Psalm 32.1);

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven…

The superscription says it is a ‘maskil’. This is a derivative from the Hebrew word derived from ‘Sacal’ = to instruct. The same root word is used in Psalm 32.8, where David says I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. So this is like a teaching song, or required reading from King David to his people. It is borne out of David’s personal experience, passed on to his people. It is as though he has walked through a great doorway on a road marked blessing, from which he is calling back to us: come this way too; this is the way to blessed, happy life. And as we follow David, we see this principle in Psalm 32.1 borne out for us:

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven…

1. David says: I kept silent and I suffered, I confessed and God forgave

Psalm 32.3-5 give us a choice. They are two very different attitudes to life. The first attitude just does not compute that the blessed person is a forgiven person. Psalm 32.3 David keeps silent even though he knows he has done wrong. The words for transgression and iniquities describe wrong actions; these are things David is aware of doing, which he knows to be wrong. To keep silent in Psalm 32.3 is the same as to cover them up in Psalm 32.5. David is behaving as though the blessed person is the one who is able to walk through life without ever doing something wrong, or without doing anything “too” wrong. Now do you see what the problem is here? If the blessed person is the one who manages a certain level of righteousness – who determines what that level is and what happens when you fail?

It’s possible that David has far higher standards than we do, and if we were to discover David did, it’s possible some of us would be tempted to say “David don’t be so hard on yourself; we all make mistakes”. Well that’s still living as though the blessed person manages a certain level of righteousness – all it proves is that our level is lower than David’s. And what if David failed even that? When we believe that the blessed person is the one who manages a certain level of righteousness – we will never feel secure. We will hate being exposed. Our reaction to failure will be to make excuses, to cover up, to keep silent and to hope the feeling of guilt passes away or to hope we can make up for it in the future. But David’s experience tells us that doesn’t work. Psalm 32.3-4:

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away…day and night your hand was heavy upon me…

Now people will say that guilt is a western concept, that some peoples in the world are totally untroubled by guilt. Well, it might be true that some people are untroubled by the things that cause us to feel guilty, but the concept of transgression of a standard and the guilt that follows, is biblical. It is not that the British Courts of Justice are a curious Anglo Saxon way that human beings try to understand the complexities of right and wrong, innocence and guilt. Instead the British courts of justice (and courts of justice all over the world) exist because of the reality that there is a heavenly court and a perfect and impartial judge before whom we all must stand. On the day we stand before him, books will be opened and transgressions and sins brought to light for the attention of the court. And on that day there will be nowhere to hide. If we ignore or try to hide the guilt we feel on earth, we will be exposed and condemned on that day in heaven. Real justice on earth recognises and tries to conform to perfect justice in heaven. And what we all need is a way for guilt to be made right. David says when I kept silent, my bones wasted away because the just and loving hand of God was upon him. So it is wonderful news that there is a way to blessing for people who transgress. And that way is through confession. David says “when I kept silent I suffered, but when I confessed, God forgave”.

2. David calls: Follow me on the way to blessing

David shares his experience when he said (Psalm 32.5):

…“I will confess my transgressions to the LORD” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

There is a way for guilt to be made right, because God is a merciful judge – who in the language of Psalm 32.1-2 covers over sin and counts no iniquity against the person who confesses to him. So David moves from experience to exhortation in Psalm 32.6:

Therefore let eveyrone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found…

Psalm 32.8-9:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go…Be not like the horse or a mule without understanding…

The thrust of his exhortation is that God has been merciful to him – he will be merciful to us. There is a way to blessing which David does not want us to miss. It is by way of confession to a merciful God. The way of blessing is open to all – no matter who you are, where you have come from or what you have done. It is as though David is further on that road marked blessing, and he is reaching back through a doorway marked “confession” and he’s saying take my hand, follow me, stop trying to cover your transgressions but make a full account of them to God and you will find him merciful as I did. There is nothing in the world that need stop you from following after David. Psalm 32.7 – God will be a hiding place for you, as he was for David. Psalm 32.10 – through that doorway and on that road the steadfast love of God will surround you. There is no power in heaven or on earth that can destroy the person who has God for their friend. The only thing that stops a person from walking through that doorway and onto that road is a person’s choice. Will I acknowledge I have sinned? Will I stop trying to cover it up or to excuse it? Or would I rather the whole world and God be proved wrong so that I can hold on to my dignity?

The tragedy these verses reveal is not that there is a way to blessing that some miss. The tragedy is the reason for which they miss out on the blessing. Ultimately, there is something preferred to blessing with God. David calls us to follow him, through confession of our sins, along the road of blessing; because the blessed person is the forgiven person. David speaks to us in this Psalm as both God’s anointed King (the leader and teacher of God’s people) and also as a fellow traveller along the way. He is David the King and also David the sinner and mercy receiver. In that sense he points beyond himself to Jesus Christ. For in Christ we see the way guilt is made right. In confession, David uncovers his guilt before God and leaves himself totally exposed. He puts his life in God’s hands and makes no excuse for his wrongdoing. And God in Christ takes David’s life and bears the penalty he deserves. The court of heaven declares its verdict on David’s sin. And at the cross of Christ God executes justice. So lastly:

3. We hear Christ in this psalm call:

“Come to me – let me cover your sin with my body”. “Let your iniquity be counted against me, not you” David called – follow me, I have found blessing this way. But beyond David Jesus calls: “Come to me – for I have made this way for you”. You may have heard it said that many roads lead to God. That’s not quite true. Many roads lead to Christ, but only Christ can bring us to God. Only in Christ is our guilt atoned for and our transgressions covered. One person may hear about Christ and his sacrifice for sins while they are searching for forgiveness. That person may come to Christ quite quickly and know God’s peace, pleasure and security all at once. Another person may hear about Christ and his sacrifice for sins, and feel offended that there is no other way to God but through him. They may be devoutly following another religion. They may be well respected in their community. Their conscience may not trouble them in the slightest. But here is the rub – the nearer Christ gets to us, and the perfect standards of God’s law are made clear to us, one of two things will happen; We will either come to see how far short we fall, and how carelessly we transgress God’s law – and Christ will become more beautiful to us for his patience and mercy in the way that his mercy was magnified to second criminal on the cross. Or we will dig further into our own self-righteousness. It’s a fragile way to live; every time we lose our temper we need to justify ourselves. every time we do something shameful – we need to convince ourselves that there was nothing to be ashamed of. When we keep silent, our bones waste away…

Let nothing stop you from coming to Christ and confessing your sins, so that you may receive God’s blessing. Life is complicated, and there will be times when we are perplexed with guilt, uncertainty, depression and fear. Above the noise and the chaos, let’s let Psalm 32 define our life with its simple proposition - Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven. Christ calls to us: Come to me; I have made a way for you to be forgiven. What would it mean to live by this principle, and what would it look like if it percolated through every element of our life? If I consider what makes me slow to confess my sins to God or to another person – the first thing I worry about is what you will think of me. That reveals something of what I believe. I think that the blessed person is someone every thinks well of. If I consider what makes me so desperate to excuse myself, and to get my side of the story in – I find something similar; I believe the blessed person is the one who is never in the wrong. When I have unproductive weeks and I feel like deadweight on the church staff team, and I’m ashamed that my prayer life has withered and I feel utterly directionless – I am sorely tempted to believe God loves competent people more than forgiven people. The wonderful news of this Psalm is I don’t need to cover over my sins. I don’t need to polish my reputation. I don’t need to live with guilt hanging over me. Failure may be sad, it may be serious, but it needn’t be fatal because blessed is the person whose transgressions are forgiven. Because Christ has died and risen, there is a way to know God’s forgiveness, his protection, and to be surrounded by his steadfast love. May we let nothing stop us from coming to Christ and knowing God’s blessing this week. Let’s pray:

Father we thank you that you are kind and faithful – so that you do not change. Please help us to follow David and confess our transgressions and acknowledge our sins, so that we might know your forgiveness and steadfast love. We pray you’d help us to live out this Gospel message in our life together, being quick to say sorry and being quick to forgive. Please help us to share this good news with our family, friends and neighbours. For Jesus’ name sake, Amen.