Psalm 32 – Overwhelmed

Has there ever been a time – maybe even right now – when you have so much going on that you are struggling to cope with it all? Perhaps you don’t have too much going on, but one thing is so stressful that you are having a difficult time making decisions or functioning. What are the signs of being overwhelmed, how does it make you react, and what are some ways to cope with it.

When a person is overwhelmed, thoughts, emotions, and even physical sensations can become difficult to manage. Everyone feels overwhelmed from time to time. It is a completely normal response to the stresses of everyday, according to Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist and professor at Yeshiva University. Being chronically stressed and constantly feeling overwhelmed can take its toll on your mental and physical health.

Strategies for Coping

Psalm 32 provides instruction for dealing with our sins. James Montgomery Boice suggests that Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 need to be understood together. David has committed adultery with Bathsheba, He has sinned by manpulating battle plans so that her husband Uriah would be killed. He tried to hide the sins for awhile, but when Nathan confronted him, David confessed and was restored.

Psalm 32 is given the title “Maskil” which means “a psalm of instruction.” It is one of twelve psalms which bear the title.

The first step is handling our sin is to let God’s Word instruct and convict us of the sin. Nathan brought God’s Word to David. Though we are not condemned because of our sin, we are certainly damaged by it. Our sin can also damage others.

We need to hear God’s teaching, and like David, understand that we stand before God both guilty and shamed.

The second step in this psalm is to confess our sin. Although we will go into much more detail on Friday about the meaning of confession, at this point let’s define it by saying we do not rationalize our sin, we admit it and accept its consequences.

The beginning verses of Psalm 32 provide a classic example of Hebrew poetry. It perfectly describes Hebrew parallelism. There are three terms for sin in verse one. The psalm begins with the word “blessed.” Literally the word is plural, meaning “blessednesses.” A man is blessed – trifold – when he has sinned, has repented, and knows the joy of restoration.

The first word for sin is “transgression.” The word in the Hebrew literally means “a going away” or a “departure” – in this case a rebellion against God and His authority. There is something powerful here that we should not miss. Even when it appears that our transgression is against another person, who may be hurt by our sin, ultimately the sin is against a God who tells us how to behave with our neighbor. This is why in Psalm 51 David can proclaim “Against you, and you only have I sinned” even though David’s sin was directed toward Uriah and Bathsheba. As Alexander Maclaren writes, “You have not gotten to the bottom of the blackness until you see that sin is a flat rebellion against God himself.”

The second word for sin in verse one is translated sin. It means coming short or falling short of the standard. The term was used in archery to describe a person who shoots at a target but the arrow comes up short of hitting the target. It is not that the arrow barely misses the bull’s eye, nor that it powers past the target. God’s Law is the target and this word describes that we fail to measure up to it.

The third word for sin is iniquity in verse two. The word means “twisted, crooked, or corrupt.” These three words round out our understanding of sin: first, we are seen as being in rebellion against God; second we fall short of what is necessary because of the Law; and finally, this type of sin describes what the sin does to us – it mars and disfigures who we are.

Because of Christ, our sin does not leave us with eternal consequences, we need to see that our sin has consequences in our lives and in our relationships. Jesus covers our sins.

Corresponding to the three words for sin, there are three words in this Psalm that speak to how God deals with our sin. The first word is forgiven. The word literally means “to lift off.” The weight of sin on our shoulders is a burden that we cannot bear. Do you remember the words to the hymn? “My sin – O the bliss of this glorious thought – my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.”

The second word is covered. It is a strong word taken from the imagery of the Day of Atonement. In Greek, the word means “propitiation” – turning aside the wrath of God. In Hebrew the word is covering, the term that David uses here.

The third word speaks to what God does not do. He “does not count” the sin against us. The word “count” is the word impute. It is a bookkeeping term. It means to keep a person’s account activity on a ledger. God does not “count” our sins against us.

We need to consider one last thing from Psalm 32 as we think about what we need to do with the sin in our lives. Look again at verse 10. I like the NET version of this passage because it captures the meaning of the word from its Greek translation of the Hebrew.

Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you who have been forgiven. Indeed, you are blessed.