1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
5 I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, "I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD"; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found; surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding; whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
JW: The happiness of them whose sins are forgiven, ver. 1, 2; the necessity of confessing our sins, and of prayer, ver. 3-6; God's promise to them that trust in him, ver. 7-10; an exhortation to rejoice in God, ver. 11. Title of the psalm. Maschil - Or, an instructor. This psalm is fitly so called because it was composed for the information of the church, in that most important doctrine, the way to true blessedness.
2: 'Imputeth' - Whom God doth not charge with the guilt of his sins, but graciously pardons and accepts him in Christ. 'No guile' - Who freely confesses all his sins, and turns from sin to God with all his heart.
3: 'Silence' - From a full and open confession of my sins. 'Old' - My spirit failed, and the strength of my body decayed. 'Roaring' - Because of the continual horrors of my conscience, and sense of God's wrath.
4: 'Hand' - Thy afflicting hand. 'My moisture' - Was dried up.
5: 'The iniquity' - The guilt of my sin.
6: 'For this' - Upon the encouragement of my example. 'Found' - In an acceptable and seasonable time, while God continues to offer grace and mercy. 'Waters' - In the time of great calamities. 'Not come' - So as to overwhelm him.
8: 'I will' - This and the next verse seems to be the words of God, whom David brings in as returning this answer to his prayers. 'Mine eye' - So Christ did St. Peter, when he turned and looked upon him.
9: 'Will not' - Unless they be forced to it by a bit or bridle. And so all the ancient translators understand it.
10: 'Sorrows' - This is an argument to enforce the foregoing admonition.
I LOVE that Wesley referenced the account of Jesus' turning to look at Peter after the rooster crowed (cf. Luke 22.61; image to the right). What a great way of connecting this penitential psalm to the Passion of our Lord.
I find the timing of my brief conversation with Jonathan Powers on twitter earlier today very appropriate in light of this Psalm. He wrote about the "grace of repentance" in light of St. Clement's comments on the matter. Have you considered repentance a grace before? Since Wesleyans believe that it is God who enables us to respond in faith and repentance to the gospel message, then we should treat really the entirety of life, including our ability to respond to God's saving offer, as grace.
I also find that this psalm fitting squarely within the Lenten season during my blogging journey through the Psalms very appropriate.
Lots of atonement talk taking place these days...also appropriate for the season of Lent as we take the path of downward mobility that will lead us to Calvary. Matt O'Reilly has recently written a post over at his blog on the historicity of penal substitutionary atonement that has sparked some interesting discussion. Wesley's language in his comments, as you can see above, focus heavily upon language associated with the atonement: guilt, pardons, accepts, confesses, turns from sin, God's wrath.
It is a given that our concept/doctrine of sin will guide how we understand the atonement, its nature, its application to the people of God, etc. Gary Anderson wrote a book entitled Sin: A History. Among other things, Dr. Anderson traced the transitions of the semantic domain of sin from the Old Testament through the New and into the history of the Church. He argues that sin in the earlier portions of the Old Testament had a significant connotation of something weighty. Sin weighs us down and this hinders our ability to relate to the Divine, to others, and to the created order. While sin largely connoted images of 'debt' and 'guiltiness' in times since (and not that these are off-putting or wrong but), I think we'd do well to republish a sense of sin's weightiness. That's why there's a significance to Aaron's placing the sins of the people upon the goat that was sent away in the Day of Atonement. The weight of Israel's sin was being lifted and taken away. Ever hear how people express that "it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders/chest" when they confessed something hidden for years? That captures a sense of this weightiness we're talking about. I guess that's pretty significant, as we see in this psalm too, that confession lifts something out of us, or as this psalm declares, delivers us from what was keeping us down. We see here, as in the creation account of Genesis 1, the power of words...especially when accompanied by action. I suppose Anderson is onto something because the author of Hebrews brings out this sense of sin's weightiness in saying, Therefore...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run...
2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
5 I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, "I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD"; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found; surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.
8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye.
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding; whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
11 Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
JW: The happiness of them whose sins are forgiven, ver. 1, 2; the necessity of confessing our sins, and of prayer, ver. 3-6; God's promise to them that trust in him, ver. 7-10; an exhortation to rejoice in God, ver. 11. Title of the psalm. Maschil - Or, an instructor. This psalm is fitly so called because it was composed for the information of the church, in that most important doctrine, the way to true blessedness.
2: 'Imputeth' - Whom God doth not charge with the guilt of his sins, but graciously pardons and accepts him in Christ. 'No guile' - Who freely confesses all his sins, and turns from sin to God with all his heart.
3: 'Silence' - From a full and open confession of my sins. 'Old' - My spirit failed, and the strength of my body decayed. 'Roaring' - Because of the continual horrors of my conscience, and sense of God's wrath.
4: 'Hand' - Thy afflicting hand. 'My moisture' - Was dried up.
5: 'The iniquity' - The guilt of my sin.
6: 'For this' - Upon the encouragement of my example. 'Found' - In an acceptable and seasonable time, while God continues to offer grace and mercy. 'Waters' - In the time of great calamities. 'Not come' - So as to overwhelm him.
8: 'I will' - This and the next verse seems to be the words of God, whom David brings in as returning this answer to his prayers. 'Mine eye' - So Christ did St. Peter, when he turned and looked upon him.
9: 'Will not' - Unless they be forced to it by a bit or bridle. And so all the ancient translators understand it.
10: 'Sorrows' - This is an argument to enforce the foregoing admonition.
I LOVE that Wesley referenced the account of Jesus' turning to look at Peter after the rooster crowed (cf. Luke 22.61; image to the right). What a great way of connecting this penitential psalm to the Passion of our Lord.I find the timing of my brief conversation with Jonathan Powers on twitter earlier today very appropriate in light of this Psalm. He wrote about the "grace of repentance" in light of St. Clement's comments on the matter. Have you considered repentance a grace before? Since Wesleyans believe that it is God who enables us to respond in faith and repentance to the gospel message, then we should treat really the entirety of life, including our ability to respond to God's saving offer, as grace.
I also find that this psalm fitting squarely within the Lenten season during my blogging journey through the Psalms very appropriate.
Lots of atonement talk taking place these days...also appropriate for the season of Lent as we take the path of downward mobility that will lead us to Calvary. Matt O'Reilly has recently written a post over at his blog on the historicity of penal substitutionary atonement that has sparked some interesting discussion. Wesley's language in his comments, as you can see above, focus heavily upon language associated with the atonement: guilt, pardons, accepts, confesses, turns from sin, God's wrath.
It is a given that our concept/doctrine of sin will guide how we understand the atonement, its nature, its application to the people of God, etc. Gary Anderson wrote a book entitled Sin: A History. Among other things, Dr. Anderson traced the transitions of the semantic domain of sin from the Old Testament through the New and into the history of the Church. He argues that sin in the earlier portions of the Old Testament had a significant connotation of something weighty. Sin weighs us down and this hinders our ability to relate to the Divine, to others, and to the created order. While sin largely connoted images of 'debt' and 'guiltiness' in times since (and not that these are off-putting or wrong but), I think we'd do well to republish a sense of sin's weightiness. That's why there's a significance to Aaron's placing the sins of the people upon the goat that was sent away in the Day of Atonement. The weight of Israel's sin was being lifted and taken away. Ever hear how people express that "it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders/chest" when they confessed something hidden for years? That captures a sense of this weightiness we're talking about. I guess that's pretty significant, as we see in this psalm too, that confession lifts something out of us, or as this psalm declares, delivers us from what was keeping us down. We see here, as in the creation account of Genesis 1, the power of words...especially when accompanied by action. I suppose Anderson is onto something because the author of Hebrews brings out this sense of sin's weightiness in saying, Therefore...let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run...
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