Psalm 32
Of David. A maskil.
1 Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
whose iniquity the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
whose iniquity the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
5 Then I acknowledged my
sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
6 Therefore let all the
faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
8 I will instruct you and
teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
10 Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
10 Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.
11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart!
sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Do you remember the
old Star Trek television shows – not the movie that just came out, or the more
recent series on television, Star Trek Enterprise – or Star Trek the Next
Generation, or Star Trek Voyager, and definitely not the cartoon series – I’m
talking about the Original Series that was on television back in the
1960s.
In that series,
every time someone was injured or had some fatal disease, Dr. McCoy would
struggle to find a cure. Within 60
minutes, not counting commercials, Dr. McCoy ALWAYS found a cure. Usually it was just in time. And he would inject something into the sick
person who was by this time either covered with scabs or looking very, very old
– or something. And then immediately
the sick person would look young instead of old, or immediately the scars would
disappear, the broken bone would be healed, or the burn would go away.
I’m looking for the
day when that is reality.
Imagine. You have shingles? Get a shot and the pain is immediately
gone. Got cancer? Skip chemo. Get a Dr. McCoy shot and the
disease vanishes and you go back to work that day. Break your leg, no problem.
We know it doesn’t
happen that way – at least not in our reality.
Healing takes time.
And so it is with
forgiveness.
When you have
sinned against God. Or when you have
hurt someone. Or when someone has hurt
you.
Forgiveness takes
time.
Psalm 32 starts out
this way:
1 Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
whose iniquity the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
whose iniquity the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
To be forgiven is a blessing.
But…
Forgiveness is elusive.
Forgiveness is hard to experience.
I think the reason is that most of us
do not know what forgiveness is.
Let
me tell you what forgiveness is NOT.[1]
Forgiveness is not
something that comes quick or easy. It
is something that takes time.
Forgiveness is not stopping
to feel the pain. It may be the
beginning of a long, long road to healing, but it is not the momentary, instant
stopping of the pain we have experienced.
Forgiveness
is not approving of someone’s actions or sins. How many times do we dismiss the seriousness
of an offense by saying, “Well, it’s okay.
Nobody’s perfect. Everybody makes
mistakes.”
Forgiveness is not
forgetting. It is one of the
great Christian myths that ‘forgive and forget’ is in the Bible. It is not.
Kenneth Haulk says that just the opposite is true. He gives an example that if your youth pastor
is arrested for drunk driving, you can certainly forgive, but you never ever
forget about that arrest and give the youth pastor the keys to the church bus
or let him drive the kids to the mountains.
You can’t forgive
and forget. You can’t. You were raped, molested, abandoned, beaten, abused,
cheated on, betrayed, lied about.
"Forget
it?"
You can’t
forget it. It’s impossible.
Nor should
you forget. It is one of the things that
makes forgiveness so hard and elusive.
You remember, in remembering, it is hard to let go and not to hold the
past against yourself or someone else.
Forgiveness is not
trusting. If someone says to me, “My dad
molested me. He said he’s sorry. Can he babysit my kids?”
Answer? No way. No
way.
“My boyfriend or
husband hit me, but he said he’s sorry. Should we just pick up where we left
off and keep going?”
No way.
Trust is built
slowly. It’s lost quickly. And restoring trust happens very, very slowly.
One of my
parishioners many, many years ago molested a child. The church member went to prison. Upon his release, he returned to church, but
there were some strict boundaries set as to what this person could and could
not do. Come to church, yes. But only with an elder sitting next to
him. Attend children’s events? Absolutely not.
We told him it was
for his protection as well as the protection of the children. We were protecting him from rumors and false
accusations. We were also protecting him
from committing a crime that something in his nature had allowed him to do
previously. And of course, we were
protecting the child. We forgave, but never trusted him again. The risk is simply too high. This is
particularly true with children who are vulnerable. We need to be exceedingly
careful with who we trust.
Forgiveness is not
reconciliation.
It’s not that
you’re friends and you hang out and everything’s okay. You’re close and it’s
back to normal. Not at all.
It takes one person
to repent.
It takes one person
to forgive.
It takes two people
to reconcile. That’s why St. Paul
says, "In as much as it is possible with you, seek to live at peace with
all people." Here’s what he’s saying. Do your best, but you can’t be at
peace with everyone.
So
what is forgiveness?
If
it is not forgetting, erasing, reconciliation, denial, or a quick fix –
what is it?
It’s
healing.
Forgiveness is healing!
And
in spite of what we may have watched on those old original Star Trek episodes,
healing is not instantaneous. Healing
takes time.
When
I was a child, my father told me not to play with knives or to use a pocket
knife if he was not around.
So
naturally, I played with my pocket knife when he was not around.
I
cut myself and started bleeding. There
was so much blood flowing from my hand, I had to tell my Dad what
happened. I asked my Dad if I had to go
to the hospital to get stitches.
Dad
was a textile man and he said, “I know how to sew cloth together. Sewing skin together can’t be much
different.”
So
he patched me up with a needle and thread – sterilized, of course!
But
the scar was very prominent. And every
time I looked down at that scar I would remember – “don’t play with knives.”
Sometimes
I would bump my hand against something and it would hit that scar just right
and I’d feel some extra pain.
Slowly
over the years, the scar has faded. You
can barely see it today.
Healing
takes time, but the lessons endure long after the healing process is completed.
To
this day, I am extra careful with knives.
Forgiveness is also a freedom. It is a relief from the stress and guilt and
shame.
In Hebrew, one of
the words this Psalm uses to describe forgiveness conveys the sense to “lift
up” or “carry away.”
If you are at
fault, if you have hurt someone, if you have committed some grave offense
against another, if you have sinned against God or neighbor, that carries with
it enormous stress.
Forgiveness is also
a covering of the mistake – not in the sense of hiding it or denying it. Not at all.
What it means to
have your sin covered is to have it covered by Christ. The youth pastor who is arrested for drunk
driving might not ever be allowed to drive the church van again, and rightfully
so – it is for the protection and the youth and the youth pastor that everyone
remember what happened. But in terms of
acceptance, community, love, and ultimate salvation, the sin of that youth
pastor has been covered by Christ. Not
hidden, but no longer to be vindictively held against him.
Forgiveness is also
a pardon. It is a release from punishment.
We may still have
to live with the consequences of our sins.
A spouse who is unfaithful may have to accept that the marriage can
never be healed. Or a person who
embezzled funds still has to fulfill a prison sentence, but there is a divine
pardon and a restoration of a relationship with God.
So how does one
find this elusive blessing of forgiveness.
Take a look at
Psalm 32:
I acknowledged my
sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
Confession is, as they say, good for
the soul.
The first step is that we confess our
guilt and sin to God.
And as that confession takes root and
as the forgiveness is received, healing begins.
And with healing, comes a return of the joy of life.
The last verse of Psalm 32 is this:
“Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you
righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!”
[1] Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill
Church preached a sermon
on “What Forgiveness is Not,” and the main points of this part of my sermon is
indebted to his work.