The Instinct of Reputation: The Story of DavidSample

Confession

Psalm 32 is one of the great psalms of confession and repentance. Reading about the psalm is no substitute for reading and learning to pray it for yourself.

The psalm captures many of David’s experiences of sin and forgiveness. I’m particularly struck by the way David describes the pain of bearing his sins while unconfessed. When kept silent, David describes his sins as bones wasting away and days filled with groaning.

Those who refuse to confess experience what David describes as the heavy hand of God constantly upon him. Our strength withers and dries us up like the ground in the heat of Summer.

David understood what it felt like to ignore it. To try and avoid the truth. It never works. Far better to confess what is there and experience the grace and forgiveness of God, forgiveness that David experienced in God’s steadfast love.

I often find myself and others more willing to talk about confession than actually doing it. But there is no substitute. God calls us into integrity through the act of confession. We must acknowledge what is true, what is there, what we would prefer to ignore.

That work always begins with confession to God. David makes this explicit in the psalm. “I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the inquiry of my sin.” Confession begins with our honesty before God.

But the Bible also encourages us to confess our sins to one another. We must find other men to whom we can also be honest.

David is remembered for so much he got right and wrong, but perhaps it is his confession of the truth that stands out most profoundly from his life. We know more about David than we do any other ancient figure. Perhaps the real testament to his honesty is the fact it is all still here. He didn’t burn the books. He didn’t wipe away the history. He didn’t demand legendary tales of only his success. David allowed the whole truth of his life to be recorded.

He left us with the truth of his whole life, much of it recorded by his hand. He left us the psalms of his life, the honest words of a man's deepest sorrows, regrets, confessions, worship, and faith.

That is the final mark of David’s integrity. He certainly did not get it all right, but he was finally able to bear the truth of it all before God and us. Nothing was finally hidden.

The final image of David’s life was an old man, clothes piled on his bed to keep him warm. He was a man. For all his success, still a man. A man of integrity, allowing us to see it and recognize it in ourselves too.

Are there things you need to confess to God and others?