His Encouragement #110

Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.

Trisha, my blogger friend at Joy of Reading, and I decided on calling this post “His Encouragement” because our real source of peace, strength, and security can only come from Jesus Christ. He and He alone is our constant! We pray and hope that these Thursday posts become a real encouragement to you and help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you. God bless!

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Today’s Thursday Encouragement comes from:

Psalm 32 (ESV)

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ² Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³ For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. ⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

⁵ 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

⁶ Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. ⁷ You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.⁹ Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. ¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. ¹¹ Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

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Psalm 32 is one of the most beautiful Psalms in all the Psaltry. In most translations, Psalm 32 is titled, “Blessed are the Forgiven.” We are also told that this Psalm is a “Maskil of David.” Side note, the word maskil is derived from a Hebrew word that means enlightened or wise. I think this is an important idea since the entire Psalm is about sin, asking forgiveness, and being cleansed. The reader of this Psalm would be “wise” to pay close attention to the words in this very important poem!

I did some study and commentators say the best way to analyze this Psalm is to chunk it. You will notice that I have color-coded the Psalm into chunked parts. You may also notice that the chunks fall around the word selah. According to commentators, this is not accidental. They believe selah is a musical notation calling for a pause so that the hearers of the Psalm can contemplate the information discussed in the chunk of text. I like that idea, so today, I want to discuss each segment and I ask that you, dear reader, take a pause to consider the concepts discussed in each chunk. They are filled with super important info from God. Of all the Psalms, I feel that Psalm 32 is a very real love letter to God’s children.

Chunk 1

Transgression, sin, iniquity, and deceit.

These are bad things. Transgression is when we break a rule or law that God has set up for us. Sin is when we miss the mark. Iniquity is gross injustice or wickedness. And, deceit is purposely concealing the truth, purposely misleading someone, or cheating.

Verse 3 is interesting in that when we keep silent about our sins, when we run away from God and others out of shame and guilt because of our sins, our body takes matters into its own hands. Our bones waste away and our soul groans. When we have unconfessed sin our bodies feel wrong. We sigh, our tummies hurt, our chests throb, maybe even our heads ache. We get depressed and maybe a little testy. Our attitudes stink. And, we can’t help but feel heavy, like something is pressing in on us. As David expresses in verse 4, we feel heavy because YAHWEH is pressing on us. It’s His way of calling us to Him so we can have a conversation.

Chunk 2

Take responsibility. Go to God and confess. Hide NOTHING.

God already knows.

Once you go to God, He will forgive you!

Chunk 3

When we finally go to God, we realize the truth that has been staring at us all along — God is our hiding place. He keeps us from trouble. He delivers us FROM OUR SINS. We just have to be in right relationship. We have to offer prayer. And, we have to do it God’s way, not our way. If we do it our way, we may not find God.

Chunk 4

This last chunk is my favorite. It’s written as if God is talking directly to us. He tells us that He is our Teacher. He will train us up the way we need to go. He also tells us that He has His eye upon us. I love that! I love that God sees us.

Then, God gives us a warning: don’t be like mules and horses. This is pretty clear symbolism. Mules are incredibly stubborn and horses have to be broken in order to get them to submit to the will of the owner. What God is saying here is that we need to be wise. Take God at His word. Come to Him when we mess us and ask for forgiveness. Don’t be stubborn. Don’t be the person who has to learn the hard way with stress and guilt and shame eating at your bones. Those who choose to go the hard way will have many sorrows, but those who choose to follow God’s teachings will be surrounded by His steadfast love. Being surrounded by God’s steadfast love is cause for joyous celebration.

To sum up, we all sin. We all make mistakes. “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10 ESV). Don’t make yourself sick hiding your sins thinking no one will ever find out. No one can survive that two-faced kind of life. Instead, be wise and go to GOD! He’s waiting for you so He can instruct you, protect you, and surround you with His incomparable, steadfast love.

God is always the answer. AMEN and AMEN!

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NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN!

WHAT BIBLICAL VERSE IS ENCOURAGING YOU TODAY?

Check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective

Becca @ The Becca Files

Gina @ Stories by Gina

Rebecca @ Rev. Rebecca Writes

Andi @ Radiant Light

Leslie @ Edits & Reviews by Leslie