Psalm 32: True Happiness Is Found in God's Forgiveness

Introduction

"Everybody wants to be happy, don't they?" Ray Burbank, one of the pastors of Charlotte Chapel, opens his message with the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. It is popular because it touches a universal longing. But do you really know what happiness is, a happiness that is true for everyone, that lasts, and that nobody can take from you?

We look for it in what we can get, in the people we love, in success. We tie it to our circumstances: when they go well we are happy, and when they go badly happiness slips away. The pastor warns that the Bible does not place true happiness in God's blessings, in prosperity, health or success. It places it in his forgiveness.

About 3,000 years ago, King David, who had everything, wrote Psalm 32 for the congregation to sing. Its message comes in two parts: true happiness is found in God's forgiveness (verses 1 to 5), so turn to God to receive that forgiveness (verses 6 to 11).

Outline of the Message

1. Happiness That Lasts

The chorus of "Happy" invites you to clap along "if you know what happiness is to you." The pastor asks: is happiness really relative? Is there a happiness that does not fade?
Many think God makes us happy by what he gives or by making our circumstances turn out well. That is not what the Bible says.
Happiness is found in the forgiveness of our sins, which puts us in a right relationship with God. This happiness lasts, it cannot be taken away, and it will only grow on the day we meet the Lord in heaven.
David learned this through his failures, told in the second book of Samuel: his adultery with Bathsheba, the murder of her husband Uriah and, at the end of his life, the illegitimate census of the people. He understood that he could not know joy without turning to God to be forgiven.
The psalm's message for us: "Don't stay silent before God, confess your sins to him, and you too can know the joy of forgiveness."

2. Three Words for Sin, Three Words for Forgiveness

"Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (verse 1). The word translated "blessed" in many translations can also be translated "happy," the pastor explains.
The happiest people are not those who feel the most capable, who look the most brilliant, or who have the best self-esteem. They are those who know how much they owe to God's grace, a forgiveness they did not earn but received by faith.
Drawing on Christopher Ash's commentary on the Psalms, he points out three words used to describe sin. Transgression: rebellion against God, choosing what I want over what he desires, brazenly crossing the line.
Sin: straying from the right path, missing the moral target. "For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Then iniquity (verse 2): moral distortion, taking God's good gifts and misusing them.
We should feel the weight of these words and ask ourselves whether it is really possible for God to forgive us. Yet the psalm answers with three words for forgiveness: lifted, like a burden taken off your back; covered, our sins no longer cry out against us for justice; not counted, God no longer puts it on our account.

3. The Silence That Consumes

In verses 3 and 4, David tells how he discovered this truth. "When I kept silence, my bones wasted away." He refused to acknowledge his sin; he tried to cover it himself, to hide it or ignore it.
By trying to cover his sins, he was resisting the only one who can truly cover them. God's hand was heavy on him and drained his strength, like a rumbling deep in the soul that he could not silence.
"Happy is the one who knows the Lord's forgiveness, but miserable is the one who does not."
This is what we call conviction of sin: the guilt and shame we feel when we know we have wronged God. A word too many, pride and selfishness, hateful thoughts, envy, discontent, covetousness, the lust that turns other people into objects, as with pornography. Then comes an immense shame, the urge to hide and to become more and more secretive.
If you came this morning with a heavy conviction on your heart, it comes from the Lord. The believer still struggles against sin, but something has changed: "It's not that you no longer sin, it's that you can no longer take pleasure in sinning." That is the Spirit of God in you.

4. The Confession That Hides Nothing

Verse 5 shows the outcome: "I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn't hide my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh.'"
David takes up the three words from verses 1 and 2. His confession holds nothing back. This is repentance, not just remorse: turning away from his sins and opening up to the Lord.
This is not a confession to earn forgiveness, as if by being sad enough and serious enough we could obtain God's mercy. It is the fruit of faith in the God who justifies the ungodly.
"And you forgave the iniquity of my sin." But how can God forgive, when no one deserves it, however sorry they are?
That is why 1 John 1 was read. Walking in the light comes with the assurance of forgiveness, not because of the act of our faith, but because of its object. "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous," able to wipe out our debts and take away our guilt.
He is "the atoning sacrifice for our sins": at the cross, he took on himself the penalty we deserved. He covered and paid for our sins, our guilt, our shame and the debt piled up before God.

5. Turn to God While He May Be Found

In verse 6, David moves into teaching: let every godly person pray to God "while he may be found," in the translation the pastor read (the World English Bible says "in a time when you may be found"). Do not put it off: there may not be a later.
If you do not yet call yourself a Christian, the message is clear: look at the misery of the one who stays silent before God, and stop hiding. One day God will judge the world with justice. Without having received by faith the forgiveness offered in Christ, you will have no advocate. Today, tell God you are sorry, thank him for sending Jesus, and ask him to forgive you on the basis of his sacrifice.
For those who already know Christ, the psalm calls us to come back to God every day in repentance. "Let's draw near with a sincere heart in fullness of faith" (Hebrews 10:22). "Let's therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16).
The pastor likes the acronym children learn in Sunday school: the "teaspoon" prayer (TSP), with an O added. Thank you, especially for the gift of Jesus; Sorry; Please; and Others, to intercede.
"When did you last say sorry to God?" We do not always feel a strong conviction and we often spend our days blind to our sinful attitudes. Hence his advice: in the evening, before going to bed, pray the last two verses of Psalm 139: "Search me, God, and know my heart."

6. A Place of Refuge and a Path of Wisdom

The one who confesses sin knows the joy of forgiveness, but also security: "Surely when the great waters overflow, they will not reach him" (verse 6). The threats of this world will not put us in danger.
"You are my hiding place" (verse 7), a place to hide. The vocabulary is that of belonging, of being surrounded, of protection. David could sing this psalm while his life was full of distress, because he knew he was, in the end, safe.
Being honest with God, admitting our failures and confessing our sins is how we take refuge in him. "If you don't regularly confess your sins to the Lord, you are probably seeking refuge in someone else or something else."
In verse 8, David, the forgiven one, becomes the one who teaches: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go." Learn from my experience, from the misery of the one who hides and the joy of the one who confesses.
Verse 9: don't be like a horse or a mule that has no understanding. Don't be like a stubborn horse. Don't resist a good authority, don't run, don't fight the conviction he puts in your heart. Trust him, talk to him, don't stay silent.
Verse 10 sums up the whole psalm: "Many sorrows come to the wicked, but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh."

7. Rejoice, and Hold On to the Gospel of Forgiveness

Verse 11 is a command: "Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous!" Without reservation, with no exception for bad days. Whether you follow the service from home because you are ill, or you are going through financial difficulties or tensions in your relationships, if you know Jesus Christ, you know his forgiveness and a joy that lasts.
Psalm 32 is a check on our spiritual reality. The pastor sees in it a sober warning about the hypocrisy that so easily blinds us, especially when we have been Christians for many years. Let us pray that God awakens our conscience, as he did David's.
He also reminds us that the forgiveness of sins is at the heart of the Christian faith. He warns against a "therapeutic" gospel that softens God's justice and holiness and the problem of sin, to announce a God who would exist to make us feel better.
One might think this message has to be softened to attract the city. But the happiness of a friendly community and good times on Sunday can be found in any gathering: it is shallow and temporary. The Christian's joy is deeper, more wonderful and more lasting.
"This message may shock, but it leads to true blessing and joy." Let us not be like the stubborn horse: let us draw near to God through Christ while he may be found.

Key Takeaways

Lasting happiness comes not from circumstances or material blessings, but from God's forgiveness and a right relationship with him.
Sin is rebellion, straying and distortion. God's forgiveness lifts the burden, covers the fault and cancels the debt.
Staying silent before God consumes. Conviction of sin comes from the Lord.
Confession does not earn forgiveness: it rests on Jesus Christ, our advocate and the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
The one who confesses sin finds a refuge in God and is commanded to rejoice, whatever the circumstances.

Personal Application

Where are you looking for your happiness right now: in your possessions, your relationships, your success, or in God's forgiveness?
Is there a sin you are keeping silent about before God? What is stopping you from confessing it to him today?
When did you last say sorry to God, naming precisely what you did?
Could you pray Psalm 139:23-24 tonight before sleeping and let God show you what to confess?
In which difficult circumstances do you need to obey the command of verse 11: to be glad in Yahweh?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can true happiness be found according to Psalm 32?

Ray Burbank explains that lasting happiness is found neither in possessions, nor in relationships, nor in success, nor even in the material blessings God gives. It is found in God's forgiveness, which puts us in a right relationship with him. This happiness cannot be taken away and it will only grow on the day we see the Lord.

Why did David feel so bad when he stayed silent?

In verses 3 and 4, David describes his bones wasting away and God's hand growing heavy on him. For the preacher, this is conviction of sin: the guilt and shame that come when we know we have wronged God. In the believer, it is the work of the Spirit: we still sin, but we can no longer take pleasure in sin.

Do I have to be sincere enough to deserve God's forgiveness?

No. Ray Burbank clarifies that confession is not a way to win God's mercy by looking sad enough. It flows from faith in the God who justifies the ungodly. The assurance of forgiveness rests not on the act of faith but on its object: Jesus Christ, our advocate with the Father and the atoning sacrifice for our sins.