Day 19 - You are my hiding place

We are roughly halfway through Lent and Psalm 32 is a good reminder of some of the purposes of this time of preparation. As we look forward to Easter, however our churches celebrate it, we cannot avoid the topics of sin, repentance, death and resurrection.

Someone recently told me that there is no way she could be persuaded to hammer a nail into the cross, as we have been invited to do in a Good Friday service. I am concerned that she is not yet prepared to realise that unless we acknowledge our own part in the horrific death of Jesus, we cannot necessarily appreciate the full impact of Easter.

The psalm begins with ‘blessed is the one’ (NIV). The Hebrew word asher can just as easily be translated as happy. Having our sins forgiven makes us joyous, brings a lightness to our existence. Because the psalms are poetry, the psalmist uses hyperbole: until he confessed his sin, his ‘bones wasted away’. But the burden of sin can cause physical symptoms as we cannot separate our physical, mental and spiritual health.

The author makes it seem so easy: “I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave…” Often it is easier to come before God and be honest while it can be much harder to accept that although the sin has been forgiven, any consequences still must be lived with.

The verses that inspired Michael Ledner’s song You are my hiding place are Ps 32:7 and Ps 56:3 ‘When I am afraid, I put my trust in you’. I love the idea that when I hide in God I will be surrounded ‘with songs of deliverance’. Nowadays with so many electric and electronic devices we can surround ourselves with hymns and songs. Let us remember to thank God for that.

We are then promised that God will guide us and keep his ‘loving eye’ on us (v.8). That knowledge should encourage us to ‘Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!’ (v.11)

Lent is a time to recognize our mortality and our sin, and to long for a renewed relationship with God. It's a time to escape from the life of flesh and into the life of the Spirit. This can be broken down into three key areas: repentance, self-discipline, and prayer. Psalm 32 deals with repentance and prayer, two of the three, and as Meat Loaf sang: ‘Two out of three ain’t bad’!

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, because you sent your son Jesus to die for us and take away our sins, we should be in a state of endless praise.

Jesus our Saviour, we thank you for opening Heaven’s doors for us and showing us the way we should go.

Holy Spirit, who encourages and blesses musicians, lyricists, and authors, we thank you that they enable our rejoicing in so many ways. Amen

Elaine Kinchin