Morning & Evening Devotional Reading–

September 14– Evening

by C. H. Spurgeon, revised and edited by W. C. Neff

“I acknowledged my sin to you and did not hide it; I confessed, and you forgave.”

—Psalm 32:5

David’s grief for sin was bitter. Its effects were visible in his body; “his bones felt old and ached”; “his moisture was turned into the drought of summer.” He found no remedy until he made a full confession before the throne of the heavenly grace. He tells us that for a time he kept silence, and his heart became more and more filled with grief. Like a mountain lake whose outlet is blocked up, his soul was swollen with raging streams of sorrow. He made up excuses; he tried to divert his thoughts, but it was all to no avail. Like a festering sore, his anguish gathered, and, because he would not use the lance of confession, his spirit was full of torment and knew no rest.

At last it came to this– that he must return unto his God in humble penitence or die outright; so he hastened to the mercy seat and there unrolled the volume of his iniquities before the all-seeing One. There he acknowledged all the evil of his ways in language such as you read in the fifty-first and other penitential Psalms. Having done this, a work so simple and yet so difficult to pride, he received at once the token of divine forgiveness. The bones which had been broken were made to rejoice, and he came forth from his closet to sing the blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven.

Notice the value of a grace-wrought confession of sin! It is to be prized above all else, for in every case where there is a genuine, gracious confession, mercy is freely given– not because the repentance and confession deserve mercy, but for Christ’s sake it is granted. May God be blessed! There is always healing for the broken heart. The fountain is always flowing and ready to cleanse us from our sins. Truly, O Lord, you are a God ready to pardon! Therefore, will we acknowledge our sins openly before you. [M&E]