September 14, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"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 · KJV

David's grief for sin was bitter, and its effects showed on his body: "his bones waxed old"; "his moisture was turned into the drought of summer." He could find no remedy until he made full confession before the throne of heavenly grace. He tells us that for a time he kept silence, and his heart grew more and more filled with grief; like a mountain pool whose outlet is blocked, his soul swelled with torrents of sorrow. He made excuses, he tried to distract his thoughts, but all to no purpose; like a festering sore his anguish gathered, and because he would not use the lancet of confession, his spirit was full of torment and knew no rest. At last it came to this: he must return to his God in humble penitence, or die outright. So he hastened to the mercy seat, and there unrolled the scroll of his sins 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 thing so simple, and yet so hard to pride — he received at once the token of divine forgiveness; the bones that had been broken were made to rejoice, and he came 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 wherever 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, You are a God "ready to pardon"! Therefore we will acknowledge our iniquities.