07 Mar Summer Psalms – Psalm 32: Prayer for the guilty

Psalm 32:1-11

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ² Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³ For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah. 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. Selah.

⁶ 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. ⁷ You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah. ⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. ¹¹ Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Edward Snowden. Are you familiar with that name? Edward Snowden is the man behind the biggest leak in the history of the National Security Agency. In May 2013, he released secret information on the scope of American government surveillance. It turns out that NSA keeps a record of every phone calls people make and looks into their lives at a level no one had imagined. This started a national conversation about people’s privacy because no one liked the idea of being watched constantly. And the debate still continues today. A few weeks ago, I received a message that WhatsApp had a new privacy policy that enables them to share user data with its parent company Facebook. The new policy allows Facebook to access user interactions and shopping activity to target ads and customize content. And immediately WhatsApp loses millions of users. What many do not know is that WhatsApp also said that they cannot see users’ private messages or hear their calls, and neither can Facebook. But the moment the new privacy policy is introduced, people immediately delete these apps. Why? Because they do not want other people to peek into their privacy.

And this is not only their concern. It is our concern as well. None of us wants to be fully known by others. Because the truth is, all of us have something to hide. And here is the bad news. There is absolutely nothing that we can hide from the Lord. The best effort of NSA, WhatsApp and Facebook are nothing compared to the Lord’s complete knowledge of us. The Lord knows every little detail about us. He knows when we sit and when we stand. He knows our thoughts. He knows our daily schedules. There is nothing about us that he does not know. And this is a big problem because it means he knows all our sins. There is no hidden sin before the Lord. We can run from the Lord, but we cannot hide from the Lord. And yet for David, this perfect knowledge of the Lord is not something to be afraid of but something to rejoice in. It is something he shouts for joy. How? Psalm 32 will answer that question for us.

Let me give you the context of Psalm 32. Psalm 32 is most likely the sequel of Psalm 51. Both Psalms are written by David. Psalm 51 is the immediate response of David after the prophet Nathan rebuked him for his sins. While Psalm 32 is David’s personal reflection after some time had passed. But what caused David to write these psalms? The story goes like this. One day, David was walking on the roof and he saw a very beautiful woman taking a bath. David was intrigued and he found out that it was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his most trusted soldiers and friends. So, David sent his wingman to take her to his house and he slept with her. And while David slept with Bathsheba, Uriah was risking his life fighting David’s war. Can you imagine how messed up it was? A few weeks later, Bathsheba found out that she was pregnant, and she sent a message to David saying, “Surprise, you are going to be a father.” This put David in a big dilemma. So, David tried to cover it up. He ended up plotting Uriah’s death and murdered him indirectly. As soon as the news of Uriah’s death reached David, David took Bathsheba and married her. David thought he got it covered. No one would find out about his sin and his evil plot. Till a few months later, Nathan showed up at the palace and told David, “I know what you did last summer.” And David’s world was turned upside down. He realized that he had sinned against the Lord. He realized that he deserved death for his crime. But the wonder of all wonder, David did not die. David deserved to die but he lived. And in what was probably the darkest day of his life, he wrote Psalm 51. And not long after that, he wrote Psalm 32.

Here are some questions that Psalm 32 throws at us. What do we do when we sin? What do we do when we screw up? When we know we have failed? When we know we are at fault? What do we do when we know we are guilty? Do we hide it? Or do we confess it? One path leads to many sorrows and the other leads to happiness. And David wants us to make the right choice. Recently, the Christian world was shaken by the news of Ravi Zacharias’ secret sinful lifestyle. If you do not know who he was, he was probably the number one defender of the Christian faith. Incredibly smart man. But not long after his death, they found out that he secretly took sexual advantage of many young women. And some Christians tried to defend Ravi by pointing out that David, a man after God’s own heart, also committed terrible sins. But there is a big difference between Ravi and David. David acknowledged and repented of his sins while Ravi denied and hid his sins. Get this. The bad news is we cannot hide from the Lord. The good news is we can hide in the Lord. Psalm 32 is good news for the guilty. It tells us that when we confess our sins, the Lord who knows all our sins will forgive all our sins. And when the Lord forgives, he forgives immediately and completely. Confession of sin is the way to true happiness.

Let’s look at this psalm. I divide this psalm into four parts. The blessing; The testimony; The appeal; The choice.

The blessing

Psalm 32:1-2 – Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ² Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Psalm 32 begins with the sentence, “Blessed is the one.” The word bless is from the Hebrew word “asher” which literally means happy. So, you can read it, “Happy is the one.” The same word is also used in Psalm 1. In Psalm 1, the psalmist speaks of happiness that belongs to those who walked in the Lord’s way. Those who walk on the right path and do not turn to the right or the left are happy. But Psalm 32 is different. In Psalm 32, David has sinned against the Lord. David has messed up big time. So, can David still be happy? The answer is yes. Psalm 32 tells us that happy is the person who has walked away from the Lord but received forgiveness from the Lord. It offers us hope. It does not matter how bad we messed up, we can be happy when we receive forgiveness from the Lord.

Pay attention to the words David used to describe his wrongdoings. He uses three different words: transgression, sin, iniquity. What is transgression? Transgression is used to describe an active rebellion against the Lord. It is when we know the right thing to do but deliberately chooses to do the wrong thing. What is sin? Sin is used to describe an archer who shoots at a target but miss the mark. It is when we try to do what is right but fall short of the Lord’s standard. What is iniquity? Iniquity is used to describe the inward bent to do what is wrong. It is the desire within us to do what is wrong. So, let’s combine the three. Here is our problem. We know the right thing to do but we choose to do the wrong thing. And when we try to do what is right, we miss the mark. And on top of that, we desire to do what is wrong over what is right. In other words, we are bad throughout.

Listen. Sin is not first and foremost what we do but what we are. We are not sinful because we sin; we sin because we are sinful. David’s sin is not a freak accident. It is not something that shows up out of nowhere. Before David committed adultery with Bathsheba, David first desired to have sex with someone who was not his wife. Before David murdered Uriah, David thought of all the plans and how to execute the plan to perfection. Puberty did not cause David to sin. The problem with David is the same problem that we have. We were born in sin. This means all of us have a propensity to sin ever since we came out of our mother’s womb. No one was born innocent. None. Right now, we have many babies in our congregation. And many more will come this year. RSI is taking 2021 as the year of reproduction very seriously. And I know that for every parent, their baby is beautiful. But let me tell you something about your baby. It does not matter how cute they are, your baby is a future sinner. Someone should write that down on a hallmark card. “Congratulation for bringing another cute sinner into this world.” If you work with kids, you know this well. Why do some kids love to bite other kids? Have you ever wondered? Do they see their parents fight for TV remote and bite one another? I hope not. Why is it that their favourite words are “no” and “mine”? Why are babies extremely self-centred? Have you ever met an unselfish baby? No. From the moment they were born, they demanded your attention. “Look at me, feed me, or I am going to make your life miserable with my cry.” And this self-centeredness does not stop with them. It continues to affect us. You don’t believe me? Let me prove it to you. What is the first thing you look at when you look at a group picture? How do you decide between good and bad group picture? Let me tell you the answer. You. And it does not matter if everyone in the picture looks bad. As long as you look good in that picture, you post that picture. It does not matter if everyone looks good in the picture. If you look bad in the picture, you delete that picture. All of us were born in sin. This is the reality of our hearts. When we look at David, it is easy for us to think, “There is no way I would do that. There is no way I would have sex with another man’s wife. There is no way I would murder anyone.” But I think we are overestimating ourselves. The truth is, we are capable of a lot worse than we are willing to admit. Given the same opportunity and circumstance, we can easily repeat David’ sin.

But that is not the end of the story. Pay attention to the words David used to describe what the Lord does with his sins. He used three different words. Forgiven, covered, count not. The word forgive comes from the word that describes removing a heavy load. The word covered means concealing from sight. And the word count is a bookkeeping word. So, when David says that the Lord counts no iniquity it means that the Lord will not write David’s sins into his book. Let me put it this way. Anyone ever maxed out their credit cards? Let’s say you do. You know you are in trouble. You know that when that credit card statement comes, a month of ramen noodle is waiting for you. But when you open the credit card statement, voila, there is no charge. You know that you maxed out the card, but the balance is zero. There is no minimum payment. There is no penalty. It is as if you have never used the credit card. In the same way, you look at the Lord’s bookkeeping and you see nothing written in it. Your sin balance is zero. Your minimum payment is zero. And your penalty is zero. It is as if you have never sinned. This is what David is talking about. No wonder he is happy! And this is good news for us. Think about it. David committed adultery and murder, but he received total forgiveness from the Lord. And if David can be forgiven, we can be forgiven. It does not matter what we have done, the good news is that we can be forgiven. We can be happy. There is no greater happiness than knowing that our sins have been completely forgiven. This is the blessing.

The testimony

Psalm 32:3-5 – ³ For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah. 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. Selah.

In these verses, David gives us his personal testimony. His initial response after he committed those sins is, he keeps silent. He hides it the best he can. He fools himself into thinking that as long as he keeps silent, as long as no one knows about it, then he will be fine. But it does not work that way. For about a year, David keeps silent. And from the outside, it seems like everything is fine. But on the inside, everything is not fine. David lives the whole year with a guilty conscience. And it affects him physically, emotionally and psychologically. On the inside, David is groaning all day long and it saps his strength out of him. Unconfessed sin leads to deep inward sorrow. If you are a Christian, you know this. Whenever we sin and we try to hide it, our guilty conscience is eating us from the inside. I mean, there might not be a single person who knows what we did. We might hide it very well. No one can see it. And yet at the same time, we feel extremely anxious. We cannot be happy. There is a constant fear of being found out. There is a voice inside of our hearts that keep telling us that we are not good enough, that we are guilty. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Why do we feel this way? Let me tell you why. Because it does not matter how well we try to hide it, we instinctively know that someone knows. Someone is watching. Someone is paying attention. Someone knows that we are a fraud. Someone knows that we are guilty. And my friend, if we feel this way about our hidden sins, this is a good thing. David says that if our sin lies heavily on us, it is because the Lord is refusing to give up on us. It is the hand of the Lord himself that presses heavily on us. The Lord is pursuing us. He won’t let it slide because he loves us. And the Bible says that the Lord disciplines those he loves. The worst thing that can happen with our hidden sins is for the Lord to ignore them. Because it means that he does not love us. So, if the Lord is pursuing you tonight, do not harden your heart. But respond rightly. Look at verse 5.

Psalm 32:5 – 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. Selah.

Two things that David does. First, he owns his sin. Look at the word “my” in this verse. David does not play the blame game. He does not try to find scapegoats. David owns his sin. True confession starts when blame shifting ends. A lot of time when we sin, we try to find reasons to justify our sin. Do you realize that we always have a way to not see what we do not want to see? We can always find points of view and angles that hide reality. We know this. I do this all the time. I know that there are certain angles and certain points of view, that makes me look skinnier in the picture than I really am. If the camera just hits me at the right angle, no one can see my fat and it looks wonderful. I can always find ways to hide the reality. That’s what we do with our sins. “Lord, I watch porn because I have a natural need that cannot be met, and I don’t want to have sex outside marriage.” “Lord, I sleep with my co-worker because my wife is not giving me what I need at home.” “Lord, I cheated on my tax income because I want to give more to the church and the poor.” “Lord, I date a non-believer because I believe in RSI mission to make disciples.” Essentially what we are saying is, “Lord I am like this because…” That is not owning sin. That is blame-shifting. But David does not do that. David owns his sin and refuses to blame anything or anyone but himself. To own our sin is to stop making excuses.

And the second thing David does, David takes responsibility. David acknowledges his sin. He does not cover his iniquity. He confesses his transgression. He accepts full responsibility for his sin. This is how we differentiate between true confession and merely admitting our sins. It is not enough for us to own our sins. We must be willing to take responsibility for our sins. This is crucial. Because I have met many Christians who are quick to own their sins, but they don’t take responsibility. They are simply sorry for the consequences of sin but not for the sin itself. There is a big difference between sorry because we fear the consequences of sin and sorry because we break the Lord’s heart. And the Lord knows! We can’t fool him. We can fool our pastor and the people around us but not the Lord.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say that there are a husband and a wife who had a big fight and came to see me for counselling. So, we meet, and they fight in front of me while I listen to them. The wife says, “We’ve been married for 10 years and you never change. You keep saying you would do A, but you always do B. You lie to me again and again and I continue to forgive you. You never help me with the kids. You always play games when you came back from work and do not talk to me. You love your friends more than me. I am sick and tired of this relationship. I’ve had enough. I am leaving you. Good luck with the kids. I want a divorce.” And usually, the husband replies, “You want a divorce? Fine. Let’s get a divorce!” And the counselling ends. What did I do? Nothing. That’s how counselling works most of the time. Then a week later, the husband returns to me. “Yos, my wife is really serious about leaving me. What should I do?” And I reply, “What else can you do? Admit your wrongs to her, apologize and change.” So, the husband goes to his wife and says, “I’m sorry babe for not listening to you. I was wrong and I won’t do it anymore. I’ll change and become a better husband and father. Please give me one more chance.” And the wife says, “Okay, let’s give it another chance.” Problem solved? Not necessarily. What often happens is that the husband does change for a while. But when it looks like the wife is not thinking to leave anymore, he would go back to his old self, and they would ask to see me again a few months later.

What happened? Here is what happened. The husband changed because he is afraid of the consequences of his actions. He is afraid that his wife would leave him. Once the threat is gone, he slides back to his old self. In other words, the husband is sorry because he fears the consequences of sin, but he is not sorry because he breaks his wife’s heart. And this is what we do. How many times have we come to the Lord and say, “Lord, I promise I will never do this again; I promise that I will change”, only to repeat the same thing over and over again and never change? Why? Because we do not take responsibility for our sins. We simply fear the consequences of our sins. But not David. David not only owns his sins, but he also takes full responsibility for his sins.

And here is what’s amazing. The moment David owns his sin and takes full responsibility for his sins, at that very moment, the Lord forgives David. The Lord immediately bestows upon David complete forgiveness. He does not pause and consider, “Hmmm, maybe I should wait a little longer before I forgive him so that he knows that I was mad at him.” No. The moment David confesses, at that same moment David receives immediate complete forgiveness. Here is an important principle that we must get. When we cover our sins, the Lord will uncover them. When we uncover our sins, the Lord will cover them. This gives us insight into the Lord’s nature. The Lord wants to forgive us more than we want to be forgiven. The Lord delights more in forgiving us than we are receiving his forgiveness.

Dane Ortlund in his book “Gentle and Lowly” gives a great illustration. A compassionate doctor has travelled deep into the jungle to provide medical care to a primitive tribe afflicted with a contagious disease. He has had his medical equipment flown in. He has correctly diagnosed the problem, and the antibiotics are prepared and available. This doctor is extremely wealthy and has no need for the people to pay him in return. But as he seeks to help the sicks, they refuse. They want to take care of themselves. They want to heal on their own terms. Finally, a few brave young men step forward to receive the care being freely provided. Here is a question. What does the doctor feel? Joy. Delight. And his joy increases to the degree that the sick come to him for help and healing. It’s the whole reason he came to them. How much more if the diseased are not strangers but his own family? So it is with the Lord. He does not get frustrated when his children come to him for fresh forgiveness. It’s what he came to do. That’s the whole point. He came to heal us of our sins. We cannot fix ourselves and that is why he came to do what we cannot do on our own. That is why David then appeals to us.

The appeal

Psalm 32:6-9 – ⁶ 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. ⁷ You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah. ⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. ⁹ 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.

Pay attention to his appeal. David is not appealing to everyone. He is very specific. He is appealing to everyone who is godly. In other words, he is appealing to Christians. Why? Because Christians mess up. Here is something that we know about Christians. Christians are not those who never mess up. Christians are those who mess up but repent. David is appealing to the godly people who mess up to confess their sins and repent while the opportunity remains. Because there will come a time where the Lord may not be found. I know it is not popular to say this, but it is absolutely crucial. David is giving us a strong warning here. Here is the warning. If we insist on living in sin, there will come a day where it is too late for us to repent. There will come a time where our hearts get so hard that we do not want to have anything to do with the Lord. And if that time comes, it will be impossible for us to repent. Not because the Lord hates us but because our hearts have become so hard that we no longer want the Lord. And my friend, this is a strong warning for some of you. Repent and confess your sins before it is too late. There is a line that you must not cross. If you cross that line, there is no turning back. I have no idea where that line is, but it exists. But one thing I do know. If you hear this appeal and the Spirit is whispering to your heart to confess your sins, it is still not too late. Just like the Lord has forgiven David, he will forgive you as well if you confess your sins.

But it gets better than that. The Lord will not only forgive our sins, but he will also become our hiding place. He will preserve us from trouble. When the rush of great waters coming our way, it shall not reach us because we are hidden in the Lord. So, this is what David is saying. When we sin against the Lord, his wrath is upon us. His wrath is coming for us like the rush of great waters. And the only one who can save us from the Lord’s wrath is the Lord himself. And when we confess our sins, the Lord becomes our hiding place. The Lord himself will protect us from his wrath. Here is an important principle. When we cover our sins, we are hiding from the Lord and his wrath is upon us. When we confess our sins, we are hiding in the Lord and we are eternally secure. This is how David appeals to us.

And then in verses 8 and 9, it is no longer David who appeals to us but the Lord. The Lord says that when we confess our sins, he will instruct and teach us in the way we should go. The Lord will not leave us on our own. He will counsel us with his eye upon us. Which mean that the same eye that sees all our sins is now watching over us for our good. The Lord’s complete knowledge of us is no longer something that we fear but it is a warm blanket to our souls. He watches over us constantly like parents watching over their newborn baby. He watches over us vigilantly, he will never let us go on our own, and he is in control over every single situation of our lives. That’s why the Lord says do not be like a mule without understanding who insists on going its own way. The Lord is essentially saying, “Do not be like David in the past. Do not keep silent about your sins. Make the right decision. Humble yourselves. Own your sins. Confess your sins. Take responsibility for your sins. And receive my complete forgiveness and absolute protection over you.” Which leads us to the last part.

The choice

Psalm 32:10 – ¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

David offers us two choices. Do we want to live in many sorrows? Or do we want to be surrounded by the Lord’s steadfast love? The choice is ours. The good news is we do not have to live in guilt. And Psalm 32 appeals to us to make the right choice. We can have the Lord’s steadfast love as our barrier. We can have the Lord as our hiding place. We can have the Lord’s complete forgiveness and absolute protection over us. We do not have to live in many sorrows. All we have to do is trust in the Lord. Exchange our sorrows with the Lord’s steadfast love. But here is the puzzle of this psalm. How can the Lord surround us, the guilty, with his steadfast love? How can we hide in the Lord, when our biggest problem is we need to hide from the Lord because of our sins? How can the Lord be our hiding place? What does it mean to trust in the Lord? I’m glad you asked. Paul will answer these questions for us. He quotes Psalm 32 in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 4:4-8 – ⁴ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁵ And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶ just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ⁷ “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; ⁸ blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Here is what Paul is saying. The key to understanding Psalm 32 is to know what Jesus did. The reason we can receive the blessing of complete forgiveness, the reason that we can hide in the Lord, the reason that the Lord can cover our sins is because Jesus was uncovered for us. Do you know what Jesus did for you? Jesus was stripped naked. He was crucified at the cross. He was fully uncovered. He was completely exposed. The perfect guiltless Son of God died a horrible naked death at the cross. Why? Because Jesus took upon himself the Lord’s wrath that we deserve. Jesus was uncovered at the cross so that the Lord can cover our sins. Jesus paid the price of our sins so that we don’t have to. And in Romans 4, Paul argues that the way we can be made right with the Lord is not through our works. The way to remove guilt is not by beating ourselves. The only way to get rid of guilt is to trust the works of Christ. There is no other way. We can only hide from the Lord’s wrath by hiding in Christ’s righteousness. The gospel says that Jesus was uncovered for us so that we can find cover in him.

And this is the reason why we can have the confidence to confess our sins. 1 John 1:9 – ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. John does not say that if we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and merciful to forgive us of our sins. Yes, he is merciful. But if we confess our sins, the Lord will forgive us because he is faithful and just. The Lord forgives us not because he is soft on sin. The Lord hates sin but he is just. It would be unjust for the Lord to not forgive us. Why? Because Jesus has paid the debt of our sins. Jesus was uncovered for us so that when we believe in him, the Lord has to forgive us. To go back on the credit card analogy, we maxed out our credit card but see zero charges on our statements. Jesus received his statement and see all kind of charges that he did not make. But Jesus did not call the company and complain but he paid those charges in full. Jesus has paid the price of our sins in full. The Lord will not demand us to pay for our sins because it would be unjust to require two payments on our sins. Because of Jesus, we receive complete forgiveness and complete protection from the Lord. And now we can confess our sin with confidence knowing that the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

That is why David ends this Psalm by telling us to shout for joy. Psalm 32:11 – ¹¹ Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! This is the reason we rejoice and shout for joy. Yes, we are guilty. Yes, we have sinned against the Lord. And the enemy lies to us. He tells us that we have no hope, we have no future, we are failures. But the shout of the gospel is far louder than the whisper of condemnation. Hear the shout of deliverance from the cross of Christ, “It is finished.” And now we can be glad in the Lord because we are righteous and upright in heart. Not because of our own righteousness but because we trust in Jesus and the Lord counts that as righteousness. And if we know what the Lord has done for us, how can we not rejoice? How can we not shout for joy? Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

Let me close with this. A Sunday school teacher is teaching the children about how the eye of the Lord is watching over us constantly. And the teacher asks a question to the children to see if they understand. She asks, “Is there is anything that the Lord cannot see?” And to her surprise, one little girl raises her hand. The surprised teacher asks the girl, “Darling, do you know something that the all-seeing Lord cannot see?” The little girl replies, “Yes ma’am. I know one thing the Lord cannot see. The Lord cannot see my sin when it is covered by the blood of Jesus.” Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. Explain how the perfect knowledge of the Lord is more frightening than major companies invasion of our personal privacy.
2. Our culture says that our nature is good and evil is a product of lack of education. How is this different from what Psalm 32 tells us about our nature?
3. Give a concrete example of what it means to own sin and take responsibility for sin.
4. What is the Lord’s natural response toward our confession of sins? Is this how you picture the Lord? Explain.
5. In your own opinions, what stop most people from confessing their sins?
6. What does it mean to hide in Christ? How does this truth enable us to freely confess our sins?