Tuesday, February 28

Psalm 32 (vv. 3-5 printed below)

When I kept quiet, my bones wore out; I was groaning all day long— every day, every night!— because your hand was heavy upon me. My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. Selah So I admitted my sin to you; I didn’t conceal my guilt. “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord,” is what I said. Then you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah

One of the most important parts of a movie or TV show is the soundtrack. Finding the right songs to enhance the action or dialogue happening on screen helps create an experience that connects at a deeper level. If the Genesis 3 story had a soundtrack, I’d imagine Psalm 32 to be on that record. This psalm expresses so much of the feeling and drama of the Eden story. Verses three through five are especially powerful. The psalmist writes of groaning day and night, of feeling the weariness in one’s bones. This evokes the scene in Genesis 3 of the first people sewing up fig leaves and hiding among the trees of the garden. Then, they emerge from hiding at God’s invitation, and find, as the psalmist does, that they are safe in their vulnerability with God. The fear of guilt and shame is met with compassion and covering. The voice of shame had convinced them that God would abandon them if they were vulnerable, but God did the exact opposite.

How does the voice of guilt and shame work in your experience? How has it affected your life and relationship with God? How would silencing that voice change your life?