Confession, Psalm 32
Throughout Lent, we're going to be journeying into the book of Psalms. In many ways the most amazing and honest book of the Bible, the 150 Psalms are sung prayers which incorporate the full range of human emotion and experience. In the Psalms we hear joyful people, desperate people, angry people, frightened people, hopeful people, faithful people and doubting people. These prayers are the human heart laid open and the human relationship with God in all its confusion and ecstasy.
[note: I will refer to the Psalmist as "he" because the odds are pretty good that most of the Psalms were written by the professional musicians of the Temple, who would all have been men. I would love to have a record of the prayers of the women of Israel through the ages]
We began on Ash Wednesday with Psalm 51, a deep and heartfelt confession of sin to God in whom the Psalmist trusts. The Psalm for today, 32, lays out the rationale for the importance of confession. The Psalmist reflects that when he kept the guilt of having gone astray inside, attempting to deceive other people, to deceive God, and to deceive the self, the guilt ate him up inside.
Most people I know have felt exactly this at one point or another in their lives. And most of us have a need to just tell someone in order to find some peace. The Psalmist tells God, and also in this public prayer, gives us a model for telling God.
Even more, the Psalmist tells us, we can tell God trusting that God will greet our confession not with punishment and anger, but with forgiveness, love and shelter. Jesus' promise of mercy was not new, but was fervently believed by worshipers in the great tradition of the Psalmists of Israel.
Confession brings freedom, which allows repentance, the possibility of turning our lives in a new direction. We are freed from being held captive to guilt or fear of being found out. The refuge is not a hiding place from truth, but rather the refuge of forgiveness, mercy and healing. Those whose hearts are clear from guilt and the fear of being exposed can truly rejoice.
Confession is not meant to be only a ritual, resulting in punishments to make right the wrong, but ultimately a gift, a liberation. Those who trust God can find this freedom. Why carry around this heavy burden when the promise from Jesus is that his "yoke is easy and his burden is light."
[note: I will refer to the Psalmist as "he" because the odds are pretty good that most of the Psalms were written by the professional musicians of the Temple, who would all have been men. I would love to have a record of the prayers of the women of Israel through the ages]
We began on Ash Wednesday with Psalm 51, a deep and heartfelt confession of sin to God in whom the Psalmist trusts. The Psalm for today, 32, lays out the rationale for the importance of confession. The Psalmist reflects that when he kept the guilt of having gone astray inside, attempting to deceive other people, to deceive God, and to deceive the self, the guilt ate him up inside.
Most people I know have felt exactly this at one point or another in their lives. And most of us have a need to just tell someone in order to find some peace. The Psalmist tells God, and also in this public prayer, gives us a model for telling God.
Even more, the Psalmist tells us, we can tell God trusting that God will greet our confession not with punishment and anger, but with forgiveness, love and shelter. Jesus' promise of mercy was not new, but was fervently believed by worshipers in the great tradition of the Psalmists of Israel.
Confession brings freedom, which allows repentance, the possibility of turning our lives in a new direction. We are freed from being held captive to guilt or fear of being found out. The refuge is not a hiding place from truth, but rather the refuge of forgiveness, mercy and healing. Those whose hearts are clear from guilt and the fear of being exposed can truly rejoice.
Confession is not meant to be only a ritual, resulting in punishments to make right the wrong, but ultimately a gift, a liberation. Those who trust God can find this freedom. Why carry around this heavy burden when the promise from Jesus is that his "yoke is easy and his burden is light."
posted by shelly @ 10:45 AM
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