Psalm 32

This is one of those psalms that I’m sure I’ve read, but I’d never understood it in the way I did today. David said, “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” (vs 3-5)

In this psalm, David reveals the truth about repentance—that it is for us, not God. He is ready and willing to forgive whether we repent or not. In fact, I would submit to you that He has already forgiven us, even before we ask Him. If that were not the case, Jesus would not have pictured the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son as one who was eagerly watching for his son. The father had already forgiven the son long before the son came home—otherwise, he wouldn’t have been watching.

And God is just like that father when it comes to us. Long before we even think of repenting and asking for forgiveness, God has already forgiven us. So, I can hear you thinking, why should we ask for forgiveness at all? Why should we repent?

David gave us the answer in this psalm. When we hold things inside, when we refuse to come to God with our sin problem, when we refuse to repent, our sin sits on us like a heavy weight. It is only in coming to God, confessing, and realizing His forgiveness that the burden is lifted and the guilt taken away. Until we come, we are carrying that heavy burden on our own.

Let’s be clear: God certainly wants us to repent, because He loves us, and He doesn’t want us to carry around the heavy weight of guilt either. But, from His perspective, He does not need our repentance in order to accomplish His forgiveness. God forgives us because He is a forgiving person, not because we ask Him for forgiveness.

Repentance is for us, not for God. He doesn’t need our repentance in order to forgive. But we need to repent in order to receive His forgiveness. And, as David said at the beginning of today’s psalm, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!” (vs 1)