At the time of writing I am preparing for the Sunday service on 6th March 2022. It is the first Sunday in Lent and the topic is daily practices that embody humility. One key discipline for Christians that definitely fosters humility is that of regularly, habitually, confessing sin and receiving God's forgiveness.
In my studies I ended up in Psalm 32; if you read it, you will quickly appreciate why it is an obvious landing point for the topic in question. I decided to look it up in Alec Motyer's wonderful book Psalms by the Day: A New Devotional Translation. What I read there is too good to keep to myself.
Motyer was a consummate Hebrew scholar and something of an expert on the Old Testament. His books are treasures of wisdom and learning, especially when he writes about the prophet Isaiah.
Psalms by the Day is what it says on the tin. A new devotional translation that has linguistic and scholarly integrity - it is not a subjective paraphrase. But it is a devotional translation, designed to draw the reader's heart to worship and praise.
Here is Psalm 32 in it's entirety, together with a few of Motyer's illuminating notes.
David's. A Maskil.
A.1. Statement one: the blessedness and fulness of forgiveness
(Sin forgiven)
- Blessed is he with iniquity borne away, with sin covered.
(No charge; no stain)
- Blessed is the human to who Yahweh does not reckon iniquity, nor is there in his spirit deceit.
B.1. Testimony: confession and forgiveness
(Delay)
When I kept silent, my bones wore out through my roaring all the day.
For, day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My moisture was changed right round as by the all-consuming heat of summer.
(Confession and response)
- My sin---why, I let you know it, and my iniquity I did not cover over! I said, 'I will make confession of my rebellions to Yahweh, and for your part, you bore away the iniquity of my sin,. (Selah)
A.2. Statement two. Conclusion drawn: prayer and safety
- On this account, every beloved will pray to you in a season of finding: surely, in the inundation of abundant waters To him they will not reach.
B.2. Testimony: preservation and guidance
(Human testimony: security in Yahweh)
- You are a covert for me. From trouble you will preserve me. With ringing cries of rescue you surround me. (Selah)
(Yahweh's testimony: what he promises and what he expects)
I will give you insight and I will teach you in the way you are to go; I will counsel you, my eye fixed on you!
Do not be as a horse, as a mule--- without discernment: with bridle and halter its ornament for restraining. No approach to you!
A.3. Statement three: trust brings love and joy
Many are the pains of the wicked, but whoever is trusting in Yahweh--- committed love surrounds him.
Rejoice in Yahweh, and exult, you righteous ones, and shout aloud, all you who are upright in heart.
Motyer, A. (2016) Psalms by the Day: A Working Translation with Analysis and Explanatory Notes, and a "Pause for Thought" Based on the Passage Read. Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, pp. 80--82.
Verse 1 says, "Blessed is he with iniquity borne away, with sin covered."
Motyer comments, "Two of the leading words in the sin-vocabulary. 'Iniquity' is the 'warped' human nature; 'sin' the specific misdemeanour. (The third word is 'wilful rebellion'.) 'To bear away' sin is a regular Old Testament idiom for forgiveness. Its root is in the 'scapegoat' ceremony of the Day of Atonement when the High Priest 'put' Israel's iniquities, rebellions and sins (note, all three words) on the head of the goat, and it then 'bore' them away, never to be seen again. This 'sin-bearing' concept is basic to Old Testament atonement theology."
That's pure gold - and a good illustration of just how good this book is!
Verse 5 reads "My sin---why, I let you know it, and my iniquity I did not cover over! I said, 'I will make confession of my rebellions to Yahweh, and for your part, you bore away the iniquity of my sin, (Selah)". Motyer points out that "this immediacy of forgiveness following penitence reflects 2 Samuel 12:13".
13 Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.'
Nathan replied, 'The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
Sometimes Christians are quick to confess their sin to God but then still struggle to believe that they are truly forgiven without first enduring a period of feeling guilty or worthless. Yet God's forgiveness really is immediate. Not because it is the result of "cheap grace" but because an incredible price has already been paid to secure God's forgiveness.
That's why Motyer coins his specific title for Psalm 32. That moment from Jesus a pardon receives is taken from the second verse of the famous hymn, To God Be The Glory."
The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment, from Jesus, a pardon receives!
Can you think of a better thought for Lent?
As the psalmist says: Rejoice in Yahweh, and exult, you righteous ones, and shout aloud, all you who are upright in heart.