Forgiveness of Transgression

Although David does not say very much about his circumstances when penning this psalm, we may point to the time after his sin with Bathsheba when the Lord gave him these words. The poet speaks about this time as a time of silence (verse 3).

He was silent in the days and months after the terrible sins against Uriah and with Bathsheba—silent, not over against man, but he was silent before the Lord. How should we understand this? Did he no longer perform his religious duties? Did he no longer bow his knees? Did he no longer go up to God’s house? Oh, surely, he did. When David says he was “silent,” he wishes to say that he did not want to confess his sinful life before the Lord; He kept the sin to himself. He wanted to cover up his unrighteousness.

My readers, that is also your life and my life, by nature. We are silent. Never in any way will we ever of our own volition bow our heads in the dust before God to pray to Him, our Judge, for grace, no never. Certainly, our lips do testify of sin and guilt. Our confession is truly orthodox, but we are silent before the Lord with our heart. By nature, we live in peace in this condition. Let no one bother us in our restful life of sin. Let no one take away our idols. Yet, with David there was something different.

Although his silence lasted approximately nine months, he had not experienced any peace, for his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day; his moisture was turned into the drought of summer. See, here you have the difference between the person who lives in a condition of unbelief and the person who lives in a state of unbelief. All of the unconverted live in a state of unbelief; they do not feel any sorrow about their condition; they live on in this state unconcernedly. It is impossible to describe how terrible our state of death is. It is possible, at times, for God’s Church to come into a condition of unbelief, but it then causes them sorrow and discontent.

Why is that? It is because they have known other times. They have so much sorrow as a result of darkness because they have seen something of the true light. David knew so well of times in his life that he could walk in the light of God’s friendly face. Now, when he had to miss that light because of his own transgression, his moisture is turned into the drought of summer. His body even wastes away because of it. Yet…he holds fast to the sin, far from where he should be, for the good that he would, he did not do, but the evil which he should not, that he did. Although his soul pants and his body wastes away because of the hiding of God’s face, he cannot bring himself in that place where sin becomes sin and guilt becomes guilt.

Tell me, readers, how did David ultimately come in that place? Who has brought him there? What has happened that we now hear him say, “I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid”? God has done that, for that is where the Lord has brought him. Do you ask how the Lord does that? God always does this through His Word and Spirit. The prophet Nathan was used to doing this. By means of a simple example, he showed the non-suspecting David the loathsomeness of his sin. When David heard this, he was filled with anger and called out, “As surely as the Lord liveth, the man that has done this is worthy of death.” Then the prophet stretched out his arm and said, “Thou art the man.”

Then the great wonder happened. David did not remove the head of the messenger in anger, but he came down from his throne and called out, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid.” Something else is written, following these words. “Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” That is the most important, and let us never forget it. A person sometimes thinks when he has somewhat heartily confessed his sin before the Lord that those sins are already forgiven, but that is not the case. There is a difference between what we confess and what the Lord speaks unto us. One thing is certain—each forgiveness of transgression is preceded by one becoming a heartfelt sinner before the Lord. It is only for a broken and a contrite spirit that the blood of Christ, foreshadowed by the streams of blood which flowed daily from the altar of burnt offering in the tabernacle, has its rich value and power.

It is such an important question for you and me to ask ourselves if we have learned to know the place where we came down from our lofty throne and confessed, “I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid.”

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