Blessing From God

Today's Readings
Nehemiah 3:15 - 5:13 | 1 Corinthians 7:25-40 | Psalm 32 | Proverbs 21:5-7
Tomorrow's Readings

Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
(Psalm 32:2-5)

Paul quotes the first part of this Psalm in Romans 4 as he develops his thesis about a "righteousness apart from works", and its foundation in the old testament. He stops short of the end of verse 2, which gives us: and in whose spirit is no deceit. One might ask if Paul is playing loosely with scripture to suit his own agenda. Fortunately, the psalm resolves within itself any confusion that might arise from this. For when David speaks of deceit, he immediately embarks on a testimony of how he tried to deceive the Lord and his own conscience, concealing and refusing to confess his sin; only he found that he could not. The presence of God by his Spirit wheighed upon him, causing him to whither in some sort of depression until he finally reached a point where he could no longer live with the breach in his relationship with God. The he confessed his sin, and God forgave the iniquity - he did not count his sin against him.

Thus we find that these verses are not only suited for a conversation about justification and alien righteousness. Rather, they are with us every day as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We find that God walks with us, and even when we sin and attempt to conceal it, he abides with us still, entreating us to return to him in repentance until we can stand it no longer. Then repenting, we find ourselves right where we want to be and could never desire to leave: in the favor and blessing of our Father. And to add to the absurdity and profundity of his mercy, for confessing our deception he calls us truth-tellers: those in whose spirit is no deceit. And that is what David is saying: he is not describing the grounds of forensic justification, but rather, once justified, the necessary posture of our hearts to walk daily in the freedom of blessing that flows from that justification.

This sounds far more technical than I intend. To put it simply: if by faith you have received the righteousness of Christ, then walk in his freedom. Do not attempt to conceal your sin, for that is folly and you only hurt and deceive yourself. Confess it, and he stands ready to bless you.

The more eminently that anyone excels in holiness, the further he feels himself from perfect righteousness, and the more clearly he perceives that he can trust in nothing but the mercy of God alone. Hence it appears, that those are grossly mistaken who conceive that the pardon of sin is necessary only to the beginning of righteousness. As believers are every day involved in many faults, it will profit them nothing that they have once entered the way of righteousness, unless the same grace which brought them into it accompany them to the last step of their life. Does anyone object, that they are elsewhere said to be blessed "who fear the Lord," "who walk in his ways," "who are upright in heart," etc.? The answer is easy, namely, that as the perfect fear of the Lord, the perfect observance of his law, and perfect uprightness of heart, are nowhere to be found, all that Scripture anywhere says concerning blessedness is founded upon the free favour of God, by which he reconciles us to himself.
John Calvin