PSALMS 33


     We will begin by giving Psalm 32 in metre. This shows how easily
you could sing this.

                   THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE

                           Chapter 32

verse 1  "How blest the man whose sins the Lord Has pardoned in his
          grace, All whose transgressions are removed, And covered
          from his face."
verse 2  "How blest the man to whom the Lord Imputeth not his sin;
          And in whose spirit is no guile, Nor fraud is found
          therein."
verse 3  "When I from speaking had refrained, And silent was my
          tongue, My bones waxed old, and were consumed Through
          roaring all day long."
verse 4  "Because upon me night and day Thy hand did heavy lie;
          So that my moisture has been turned To summer's drought
          thereby."
verse 5  "My sin I have confessed, my guilt Have not concealed from
          thee; I said "My faults I will confess" And thou forgavest
          me."
verse 6  "For this shall every godly one His pray'r direct to thee;
          In such a time He shall thee seek, As found thou mayest be."
verse 7  "Surely, when floods of water great Do swell up to the brim,
          They shall not overwhelm his soul, Nor once come near to
          him."
verse 8  "Thou art my hiding place, thou shalt from trouble keep me
          free; With songs of my deliverance Thou shalt encompass me."
verse 9  "I will instruct thee, and thee teach The way in which to go;
          And, with my eye upon thee set, I will direction show."
verse 10 "Then be not like the horse or mule, Which do not understand;
          Whose mouth, lest they come near to thee, a bridle must
          command."
verse 11 "The sorrows of the wicked man Exceedingly abound;
          But him who trusts upon the Lord Shall mercy compass round."
verse 12 "Ye righteous in the Lord be glad, In Him do ye rejoice;
          All ye that upright are in heart, For joy lift up your
          voice."

     We will now begin the verse by verse study of Psalms chapter 32.
Psalms 32:1 "{ [A Psalm] of David, Maschil.} Blessed [is he whose]
transgression [is] forgiven, [whose] sin [is] covered."

     This Psalm begins like the Beatitudes in Matthew with blessed.
In the days of David, the sins were covered by the blood of the
sacrificial lamb, but praise God, our sin is wiped completely out by
the precious blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10:4 "For
[it is] not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins." If David can say, blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, how much more can we Christians say blessed is he whose sin
is abolished?

     Psalms 32:2 "Blessed [is] the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not
iniquity, and in whose spirit [there is] no guile."

     Imputeth, in the verse above, means weave, fabricate, plot, or
think. There are many more words taken from this root word. I believe
that it is saying, the man is blessed when God does not think of the
man's sins. Iniquity means transgressions or sins. The spirit of the
man who has been forgiven is humble. His spirit is thankful for the
Lord who forgives sin. Romans 3:25 "Whom God hath set forth [to be] a
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of
God;" Propitiation means atoning victim.  The easiest way to say this,
is Jesus paid all the penalty for our sin, and our sin does not exist
anymore, if we trust in His blood. I John 4:10 "Herein is love, not
that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the
propitiation for our sins."

     Psalms 32:3 "When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my
roaring all the day long."

     David, like us, was miserable until he confessed all of his sins
to God and was forgiven. When the heart is full of guilt, it makes the
body feel bad, too. The roaring all the day long was a lot of noise
that did not include confession to God. Sinful living brings only
sorrow and pain.

     Psalms 32:4 "For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my
moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah."

     The worst punishment comes from the Lord, when He is trying to
get us to repent. Tears that David shed were tears of sorrow for the
problems he was having, and not for the wrong he had done. Some of us
do the very same thing before we come to God and confess our sins, so
that we can be forgiven. We say, poor me.

     Psalms 32:5 "I acknowledged 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."

     The very first step in getting help from God is confessing the
sins. Sometimes it is hard for us to even acknowledge to ourself that
we are committing sin. The very best thing to do, as I said, is get
the sin out in the open. Do not hide the fact you have sinned, and
then confess the sin and get forgiveness.

     Psalms 32:6 "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."

     Until the very moment before the flood came, the people could
have asked God to forgive them of their sin, and God would have
forgiven them, and saved them from the flood. When the rain started
coming down, it was too late. The judgement of God had already begun.
We must not wait, until after Jesus appears in the eastern sky, to
believe. It will be too late then.

     Psalms 32:7 "Thou [art] my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me
from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.
Selah."

     Notice, in the next verse that Christians are hid in Him.
Colossians 3:3 "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God."  God heard the cry of the Israelites in Egypt and sent Moses to
deliver them. Egypt symbolizes the world. God sent us a Deliverer, and
His name was Jesus. The Lord is my very special place of hiding.
Notice, David uses the word my, and me. Salvation is an individual
thing.

     Psalms 32:8 "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which
thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."

     God's eye sees everything. He watches over us and keeps us in the
path of Light that guides us. Jesus is the Light of the world. When we
walk in that Light, we are on the right path. Just as a loving parent
corrects a child who has wandered, God watches us and instructs us in
His ways.

     Psalms 32:9 "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."

     A horse, and especially a mule, does not mind very well, unless
there is a bit in their mouth to make them mind. If the bit and bridle
were not on them, they would go and do whatever they wanted to do. Do
not be lacking in understanding and have to be driven to do what is
right. I John 5:20 "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath
given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we
are in him that is true, [even] in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the
true God, and eternal life."

     Psalms 32:10 "Many sorrows [shall be] to the wicked: but he that
trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about."

     The word translated sorrows, above, can also be translated
lashes. It would be a terrible thing to stand before the Judge of all
the world, knowing that you are guilty of all the sins in your life.
There would be nothing to look forward to, but a lengthy stay in hell.
Perhaps, even the lake of fire. How wonderful, in contrast, it would
be to stand before the Judge of all the world in your robe of
righteousness that Jesus traded you for your sin. There would be no
sin to be accounted for. There would be a glorious reward of eternal
life in heaven with Jesus our Saviour. The mercy we are compassed with
is Jesus' righteousness.

     Psalms 32:11 "Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and
shout for joy, all [ye that are] upright in heart."
     Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. We have
plenty to shout for joy about. The Lord Jesus has clothed us in His
righteousness, and we are righteous, indeed. We have spoken before
about what righteousness means. It means to be in right standing with
God. Notice, upright in heart. Our heart is what we are. Isaiah 61:10
"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my
God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath
covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh
[himself] with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth [herself] with her
jewels."  Our robe of righteousness is snow white linen, washed in the
blood of the Lamb. Revelation 1:5 "And from Jesus Christ, [who is] the
faithful witness, [and] the first begotten of the dead, and the prince
of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from
our sins in his own blood,"  Revelation 7:14 "And I said unto him,
Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of
great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb."

     If you have believed and been washed in this wonderful blood of
the Lamb, tell everyone you see how wonderful it is, and perhaps, they
will confess their sin and be washed in His precious blood, too.

































                             Questions 33

1.  What makes this Psalm similar to the Beatitudes in Matthew?
2.  What was the difference in the blood from the lamb pertaining to
    sin, and the blood of the Lamb of God?
3.  Quote Hebrews chapter 10 verse 4.
4.  What does imputeth, in verse 2 of this lesson, mean?
5.  What is iniquity?
6.  Describe the spirit of the man who has been forgiven.
7.  Quote 1 John chapter 4 verse 10.
8.  David was miserable, until he did what?
9.  What 2 things does sinful living bring?
10. What is the very first step in getting help from God?
11. When was the last possible time the people could have sought God
    in Noah's time, to avoid being drowned in the flood?
12. When will it be too late for us to seek forgiveness?
13. Who did David say was his hiding place.
14. The Christian's life is hid in whom?
15. Who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt?
16. What does Egypt symbolize?
17. Who is the Christian's Deliverer?
18. Why did David say my and me in verse 7?
19. In verse 8, God guides by what?
20. Verse 9 says, " Be not as the _______ or as the _______."
21. What are these 2 animals lacking in?
22. What is another word sorrows, in verse 10, could have been
    translated?
23. Where did the Christian get his robe of righteousness?
24. What is the mercy, that we are compassed about with in verse 10?
25. Quote Isaiah chapter 61 verse 10.