Advent Week 2 - Psalm 32: Forgiveness

The Venerable Dan Hardin

Our theme this evening is The Blessedness of the Forgiven. Forgiveness is not a theory; it is an experience. Psalm 32 gives us the journey — from silence and misery, to confession, and finally to the deep joy of restoration.

“When I kept silent,” says the psalmist, “my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long.” Sin has a weight. When we withhold confession, when pride or fear closes our lips, the soul begins to feel the burden of the weight of sin. Guilt has a way of pressing not only upon the spirit but even upon the body. It steals our peace, it disturbs our rest, and it turns prayer into a labor rather than a joy. David knew that feeling well — that inward corrosion of conscience when sin is known but unspoken. To carry unconfessed sin is to live beneath a heaviness that no human strength can lift.

Then comes the release. “I acknowledged my sin unto Thee,” he says, “and Thou forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Notice how simple it is — no bargaining, no self-justification, no ritual performance — only the honesty of confession. The act of confession is not groveling before a tyrant; it is the return of a child to his Father’s embrace. True confession is homecoming. There is no liberation like it in all the world.

And so we come to the joy. The forgiven heart sings again. The psalm ends not in shame but in gladness: “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous.” Forgiveness in God is not merely a legal pardon — it is the restoration of fellowship, the mending of communion, the rekindling of joy. God does not merely erase our record; He restores our relationship. The burdened bones that once groaned now dance. The silence of guilt gives way to the music of grace.

As we draw nearer to Advent, this forgiveness is our preparation. The Christ Child comes to dwell in forgiven hearts. The season bids us to make straight the way of the Lord — not by outward gestures, but by humble repentance. When we confess, we clear the inn of our souls that He may find room within. Forgiveness prepares us to receive Christ in freedom and in joy.

So tonight, if your heart is heavy, if something long unspoken weighs upon your spirit, take David’s path. Speak it to God. Receive His mercy. And then, like the psalmist, you will find your voice again — the song of the forgiven, the blessedness of those whose sin is covered.

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.” Amen.