Forgiven from sin, preserved from trouble, instructed by God
Our lives are different. It’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t trust in God, but for us, it’s a whole other story. We’re no longer vulnerable and weighed down by sin, wandering and wondering where to go. We have had that heavy burden of constant sin lifted from our shoulders. And even when life gets difficult, we aren’t fearful of eternity. We are instructed by the one who sees our path and directs us in the way we should go. It’s an incredible life. And it’s ours — the life of one who follows God. This is what Psalm 32 is saying. So let’s break it down.
If we throw the word around too often, it may lose its meaning, but forgiveness for a sinner is very powerful. It’s the thing we as humankind need more than anything else in the world. Jesus knew that when he came -- and that’s what he gave.
When the paralytic was brought to him, Jesus’s first response was, “Your sins are forgiven” (Matthew 9:2). When a woman of the city showed her love for Jesus by anointing him with oil and tears, he told her, “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48). What happens next shows us the enormity of what Jesus did. But it wasn’t even the response of the forgiven paralytic or the forgiven woman. It was the response of the Pharisees. They started talking amongst themselves, saying, “Who does he think he is?” and saying he was blaspheming — because only God could forgive sins. The fact that we are forgiven means that God himself intervened and made it possible. And when we go from being a sinner to being forgiven, it changes everything. We are no longer desperate, hopeless, aimless and stuck. We are fulfilled, full of hope and purpose, and living a renewed life as we journey with and towards God forever.
Sadly, while we’re in this world, the devil isn’t going to stop tempting us. We are forgiven, but that doesn’t mean we’re all set to go off by ourselves. We need forever protection that comes from God. He knows that helping us wasn’t a one-and-done thing. He knows that we still need him every day. And he made the commitment to us long ago that he would stay by our sides, guiding and preserving us, come what may.
It’s not to say we won’t have hard times or seasons of suffering in our lives. As Christ-followers, we are almost guaranteed that. But moreover we are guaranteed that what’s most important will be kept safe: our souls. There are those that can harm the body, but they can’t touch our souls (Matthew 10:28) if we entrust them to God (1 Peter 4:19). So many times David asks God to protect him, through all of the years that he was running from Saul. But David knew the ultimate way God was preserving him wasn’t just by keeping him safe physically, but (more importantly) spiritually. When God keeps us safe, no one can touch us.
So the bad is gone and we count on God to keep the bad away, but then we fill ourselves with his goodness. Whereas verses 1-5 talked about forgiveness and verses 6-7, 10-11 are about being surrounded by and trusting in God, verses 8-9 is about instruction.
Knowing how God wants us to live doesn’t come from a boring manual or a list of facts — it’s a lifestyle! Not one that we invent, but one that comes from constantly seeking God and knowing his will, how he wants us to live. Jeremiah 10:23 puts it very elegantly: “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.” We don’t have it in us to know which way to go. We are very limited in our perspective. But thankfully, when we just look to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), we’re looking to the one who has an eternal perspective, for our lives and for God’s kingdom. He knows more and is able to do more than we could ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20). And so, constantly talking to him (prayer) and listening to what he’s saying (reading his Word) helps us know which way to go, letting God direct our steps.
This is the incredible life we have if we follow God. First, we are no longer weighed down by our sins that would otherwise separate us from God (he took our sins upon himself, 1 Peter 2:24). Then, as we continue to walk a life free from sin, we don’t go about as vulnerable, but preserved by the Almighty every day of our lives — a life in which he instructs us in the way that we should go, knowing his will for us and his kingdom. It’s more than we ever deserve. We shouldn’t be able to have this beautiful life. But we do. Thanks to God, we do.
