Spurgeon: September PM
* 09/14/PM
"I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not
hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and
Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."
--Psalm 32:5
David's grief for sin was bitter. Its effects were visible
upon his outward frame: "his bones waxed old"; "his moisture was
turned into the drought of summer." No remedy could he find,
until he made a full confession before the throne of the
heavenly grace. He tells us that for a time he kept silence, and
his heart became more and more filled with grief: like a
mountain tarn whose outlet is blocked up, his soul was swollen
with torrents of sorrow. He fashioned excuses; he endeavoured to
divert his thoughts, but it was all to no purpose; like a
festering sore his anguish gathered, and as he would not use the
lancet of confession, his spirit was full of torment, and knew
no rest. At last it came to this, that he must return unto his
God in humble penitence, or die outright; so he hastened to the
mercy-seat, and there unrolled the volume of his iniquities
before the all-seeing One, acknowledging all the evil of his
ways in language such as you read in the fifty-first and other
penitential Psalms. Having done this, a work so simple and yet
so difficult to pride, he received at once the token of divine
forgiveness; the bones which had been broken were made to
rejoice, and he came forth from his closet to sing the
blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven. See the
value of a grace-wrought confession of sin! It is to be prized
above all price, for in every case where there is a genuine,
gracious confession, mercy is freely given, not because the
repentance and confession deserve mercy, but for Christ's
sake . Blessed be God, there is always healing for the broken
heart; the fountain is ever flowing to cleanse us from our sins.
Truly, O Lord, Thou art a God "ready to pardon!" Therefore will
we acknowledge our iniquities.