Come out and surrender while you have a chance

 This week's verses are Psalm 32:1-7:

How blessed is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven,
whose sin is pardoned.
How blessed is the one whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish,
in whose spirit there is no deceit.
When I refused to confess my sin,
my whole body wasted away,
while I groaned in pain all day long.
For day and night you tormented me;
you tried to destroy me in the intense heat of summer.

(Selah) 

Then I confessed my sin;
I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.
I said, “I will confess my rebellious acts to the Lord.”
And then you forgave my sins.

(Selah) 

For this reason every one of your faithful followers should pray to you
while there is a window of opportunity.
Certainly when the surging water rises,
it will not reach them.
You are my hiding place;
you protect me from distress.
You surround me with shouts of joy from those celebrating deliverance.

(Selah)

 This psalm is a big change from King David's usual bragging about his righteousness. I heard someone say recently that we have so many luxuries available to us now that we don't ever have a space to dwell on our sin. We get convicted of sin, and the next second we're off to YouTube or a podcast or messaging a friend. We don't have those spans of unoccupied time like people in the past had, where we can think about things. David had that kind of time.

The interesting thing is that he knew he had done wrong, but he resisted admitting it. He wrestled with it and was tormented. God intensified this feeling in him until he couldn't bear it anymore and he finally confessed his sin. He couldn't lie to himself and to God anymore.

At the point where he was no longer trying to cover things up, God forgave him and he was free. He was free to share everything and be forgiven. And by the sounds of it, it was happening to other people too. It sounds like David had found revival, at least on a personal level.

Have you ever done anything really terrible to another person? Maybe you broke something valuable of theirs, or said something hurtful, or didn't step up when you should have. But then when they forgive you, it feels awesome to be free of that guilt!

Yet at the same time, we do terrible things to God all of the time, and we never think about it in the same way. When we sin, it can feel a bit abstract. We don't always have that same emotion, that same sense of having grieved a person. Why is that?

Next time God shows you something ugly about your character, or you realise you've done something wrong, don't just jump to the next thing. Stop and confess it to God and acknowledge that you have grieved a person. Don't try to make excuses, or convince yourself it really wasn't all that bad, or try to reframe it as a strength instead of a weakness. Be like King David and tell God the truth he already knows.

The Psalmist is right that the one doesn't have deceit in their heart is really blessed, that coming clean and being forgiven is a blessing. Take advantage of the opportunity while it is there. And you can be one of the people shouting for joy and celebrating deliverance instead of just scrolling your phone as you waste away.