Happy The Man Whose Offense Is Forgiven, Psalm 32:1

Dan Doyle

Conscience is a powerful thing. It is, if nothing else, persistent, not in a negative sense but like a good friend who tells us the unvarnished truth, who helps keep us true to ourselves and to God. The psalmist, David, knew the power of conscience, and he reveals its workings to us with beautiful poetic clarity here in Psalm 32. In this psalm, David recognizes the consequences of ignoring our conscience, and the unspeakable joy and liberation we gain by repenting our sins, giving them over to God’s divine mercy.

Psalm 32 begins on a bright note saying: “Happy the man whose offense is forgiven” (v. 1). Then the psalmist makes a very observant comment concerning those who have developed the habits of a good life, a virtuous life, saying: “O happy the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, in whose spirit is no guile” (v. 2). He is recognizing a very important truth here. It is not in material things, not in the fleeting pleasures promised by the world’s temptations, that make us happy; rather, true happiness is the result of developing the habit of prudence, that is, knowing what is really right or wrong, good or evil, and choosing, even at cost, to remain true to what is right, just, and good. It is in learning the virtue of self-discipline that we are made free and ultimately find true happiness, even when confronted by troubles.

What happens when we ignore our conscience? David is very clear concerning this, too, when he speaks of his own experience, saying: “I kept it (my sin) secret and my frame was wasted. I groaned all day long for night and day your hand was heavy upon me. Indeed, my strength was dried up as by the summer’s heat” (vs. 3-4). David compares the weight of his guilty conscience to God’s hand laying ‘heavy upon’ him. We may, out of fear or shame, try to keep our sins secret from the world. We might do so because we know that the world is, more often than not, merciless and unforgiving. But that heavy hand of God that David experiences here is the weight of God’s love. God never ceases to call us back to a right relationship with him and with ourselves. There is one way to lift the weight of guilt off our conscience: repentance. It is this alone that returns us to that right relationship with God, who is our happiness.

David sings: “But now I have acknowledged my sins; my guilt I did not hide. I said: ‘I will confess my offense to the Lord.’ And you, Lord, have forgiven the guilt of my sin” (v. 5). Holding on to our guilt is one of the great sources of our unhappiness and our anxieties. It can also prove injurious to our mental and even to our physical well-being. Repentance is more than just confessing our sins to the Lord; it is letting them go of them by giving them over to the Lord, who promises to remove them from us forever. Indeed, we are told in Psalm 103 that God removes our sins, “As far as the east is from the west” (Ps. 103:12). This experience is not unfamiliar to me, and I imagine it is not unfamiliar to you as well. This is the nature of God’s love for us.

The prophet, Ezekiel, speaking in the Spirit, tells us: “Though I say to the wicked man that he shall surely die, if he turns away from his sin and does what is right and just, giving back pledges, restoring stolen goods, living by the statutes that bring life, and doing no wrong, he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the sins he committed shall be held against him” (Ez. 33: 14-16). And also: “Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord God. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil ways that he may live?” (Ez. 18:23)

Trusting in God’s faithful love and mercy, let us repent of any words or deeds we have done in our impatience or anger, or out of our selfishness, or our unkindness, and say to God: O, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. When we turn back to him in humble repentance, we will find him gazing lovingly back at us. Thanks be to God!