Psalm 32

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah. 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 (Psa. 32:1-5).

I like that psalm. It goes on to say a lot more good stuff, in fact, about the joy of being forgiven. It starts, however, where being forgiven starts.

"When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long." David ends that thought with "Selah", which likely means, "Stop and think about it." Stop and think about it. Keeping sin to yourself eats you up. Not admitting it to God eats you up. It is a cancer that slowly eats you from the inside and can, in the end, kill you if you don't treat it.

"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." Again ... Selah. Think about it. Confession, they say, is good for the soul. It's good for my relationship with God; that's for sure.

Too often we go before the Lord, especially on a Sunday, and expect to find blessing. Instead we find dryness. May I suggest that it is often because too often we go before the Lord without confessing first our shortcomings? It produces weak, dry Christians. Confession, on the other hand, produces joyous followers of Christ. Try it. You'll like it.