"The Blessing of Transparency: Healing through Honesty"

Big Idea of the Message

Lamenting personal sin brings about repentance, a turning from the path we were on and turning toward God.

Headed the Wrong Way

Have you ever found yourself going the wrong direction on a one-way street? You start looking for an exit or side road so you can turn around. People honk their horns at you, and you begin to get flustered. Once you are safely on the right path again you are relieved. When God shows us our sin, it can be disconcerting in a similar way. But if we ignore the “Wrong Way” signs and keep going the same way, we put ourselves and those around us in ever-increasing danger. Being shown our sin is a mercy, and repentance is an opportunity to turn around and go the right way again.

Psalm 32:1-5

Personal repentance is painful. One example can be found in Psalm 51, written by David after his sexual abuse of Bathsheba and murder of her husband. In another of his psalms, he writes of lament and repentance. The psalm does not tell us the specific occasion in David’s life which prompted this song. Psalm 32 and 51 are “tuned together.” It is a Psalm of penitence, but it is also the song of a ransomed soul rejoicing in the wonders of the grace of God. Sin is dealt with; sorrow is comforted; ignorance is instructed.

The Blessing of Forgiveness

“We can never experience the fortune of forgiveness until we experience the curse of sin.”

David knew what it was like to be a guilty sinner. He knew the seriousness of sin and how good it is to be truly forgiven. The word blessing here in the Hebrew text implies that the believer has to do something first before they experience the result.

Reference Scripture: Romans 4:6-8

Romans 4:6–8 ESV

just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

If David were judged on works alone, the righteous God must condemn him; nevertheless he knew God’s forgiveness by experience.

David uses these three words to describe sin:

Transgression: crossing a line, defying authority. to rise up in clear defiance to authority

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

2. Sin: falling short or missing a mark. an offense against a moral standard, with a focus on the guilt or condemnation incurred by that offense

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

3. Iniquity: crookedness and distortion. a judicial state of being liable for a wrong done, and so receive a punishment or judicial sentence

James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

The Brokenness in Transparency

The discomfort of David’s sin wasn’t an abstract spiritual experience, but something that manifested itself emotionally and physically. David tried to deal with his sin by denying its presence in his life. While this may have seemed to be the easy way, it turned out to be the hard way. The results of denial were disastrous. David became ill: his bones were in agony, he groaned all day long, and his vitality was reduce to nothing. This psychosomatic and spiritual struggle was an example of God allowing the consequences of sin to manifest themselves. The book of Job is a strong reminder that not all suffering is the result of sin, nor does sin necessarily leads to suffering, and in the case of the psalmist it apparently did. He is aware that his suffering had a divine origin.

The Healing in Transparency

Verses 3-5 describe the painful process that it took for David to finally come to a place of repentance. He ignored his sin until finally he acknowledged his sin and repented. What does it mean to repent? When I have guilt, I feel bad about a wrong that I am a part of. There must be more to repentance than just the “bad feeling.” Keri Kent writes about “the word metanoeo, which means literally to perceive afterwards. Meta means after, but implies in that meaning to change; noeo means to perceive. So metanoeo is to change our perception. It happens when we are perhaps confronted—by a person or our conscience or the Holy Spirit—and think again about what we have done. We feel regret, but we don’t stop there. We seek forgiveness, but also, we change our actions. We decide to go a new way. We make it right. To repent is not just to feel guilty over our mistakes, but to choose a new path. It is to make a 180-degree turn, to turn around and walk in a new direction.” As soon as David confessed, God forgave. Sometimes the pain of God’s silence is a direct result of our stubborn unwillingness to repent. But we can find comfort in knowing that as soon as we humble ourselves and confess, God is faithful to forgive us.