I thought I will do something more expository this morning.
Please read Ps 32 before you read what's ahead
Verses 1–5 are clearly one unit which deals with confession and forgiveness. The main point is in verses 1 and 2, is that to be forgiven is a very happy condition. Verses 3–5 tell us how to attain that happy state: first, negatively, don’t try to conceal your sin from God (verses 3 and 4), then, positively, acknowledge your sin and confess it to God (verse 5). So the point of verses 1–5 is: the person who does not conceal his sins but confesses them to God will find the tremendous happiness of a clean conscience and peace with God.
Then the first half of verse 6 draws an inference from verses 1–5: since this is the case, therefore, “Let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.” If such great blessedness follows the prayer of confession, then, for goodness sake, let’s all pray!
Then in the second half of verse 6 and all of verse 7 there seems to be a shift of concern away from confession and forgiveness to the protection of God in the troubles of life.
Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach him (i.e., the godly). You are my hiding place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with songs of deliverance.
What David is saying is that the blessedness of the forgiven man in verses 1 and 2 consists not only in his peace of conscience but also in the protection that God now gives him in the midst of troubles. Or, to put it another way, the man who prays and confesses his sin to God is blessed not only because of what God does not do—namely, treat him according to his sins—but he is also blessed by what God does do—namely, preserve him from trouble and surround him with songs of deliverance. God is not only not against him, he is mightily for him.
What David is saying is that the blessedness of the forgiven man in verses 1 and 2 consists not only in his peace of conscience but also in the protection that God now gives him in the midst of troubles. Or, to put it another way, the man who prays and confesses his sin to God is blessed not only because of what God does not do—namely, treat him according to his sins—but he is also blessed by what God does do—namely, preserve him from trouble and surround him with songs of deliverance. God is not only not against him, he is mightily for him.
In verse 8, God takes the pen in his own hand, as it were, and promises not only protection but instruction and counsel for how we should live from day to day: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” The blessing of protection in verse 7 is great indeed, but it would be incomplete if it were not accompanied by the blessing of direction. What good would it be if he guarded us from destruction but did not tell us which way to go? Protection with direction, care with counsel, that is the happy condition of the person who prays to God and receives forgiveness for his sins.
So the main point so far in verses 1–8 is that all the godly should pray to God in a time when he may be found. And as incentives David gives the promises of forgiveness (vv. 1–5), protection (vv. 6–7), and direction (v. 8).
