Bible Study

The Cover Up

I can still remember the look in our eyes. As young kids, whenever we disobeyed our parents, we tried to wait it out. Maybe they wouldn’t notice. Maybe they wouldn’t find out. The broken glass, the broken rule, the hurtful words.

But somehow, they always did.

When we stood before our mother or father, after going against their healthy boundaries, I felt embarrassed, ashamed, guilty-as-charged. The sheepish look on our faces told it all. Every time.

The old adage mothers tell their kids, “I have eyes in the back of my head” certainly rang true for me. In hindsight, maybe it was actually our blushing faces and hushed voices that alerted her keen, penetrating “mothers-radar.”

A Legacy of Cover Ups

How often do our sinful choices prompt our desire to “cover up?”

Even as an adult, we struggle with the same childlike, innate desire to cover up sins, mistakes and downfalls. Blaming others. Excusing ourselves. Naively hoping it all goes away.

When I think back to Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, I am struck by the fact that we continue walk out that story over and over. They disobeyed God’s simple command and were immediately ashamed, covering themselves and hiding from God.

Similarly, we often find it difficult to admit our shortcomings and sinful choices. Sometimes, we even fool ourselves into believing maybe nobody notices, not even God.

A Psalm of Confession and Forgiveness

Psalm 32, a Psalm of David, provides a full portrait of this all-too-common experience of covering our sins.

The poetic and powerful opening verses mirror both the reality of sin and gift of God’s forgiveness.

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

These two short verses contain three variations of sin and three corresponding responses of God’s forgiveness.
Sins

• Transgression – separation from God, tearing away from God, opposing the One who gave us life
• Sin – missing the mark, falling short of the glory of God, not pleasing to God
• Iniquity – distorting or twisting the laws God established as right and good

God’s Forgiveness

• Forgiven – lifting up and carrying away our sin
• Covered – an evil foulness is covered, no longer seen by the Judge, no longer visible
• Counts not – in the courtroom of heaven, the sin-debt I owe is paid instead by Christ, my sin is not counted against me, but against Him

So whether we sin by opposing God, by missing the mark of living fully for the LORD or by compromising God’s laws of righteousness, Jesus Christ is the solution.

Uncovering our Sins Before God

In the next few verses, the Psalmist, David, describes the torment of our souls when we have sinned. We groan under the weight of God’s piercing vision that sees all things and knows all things. Even the inner sins that may not be visible to others, God sees.

However, when we humble ourselves, uncover our prideful hearts, admit our sins and confess the truth to the LORD, we are forgiven. The burden is lifted.

God Himself then covers us, through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Much like the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve finally came out of hiding and confessed their sins, God covered them.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Call on the Name of the LORD

The Psalmist goes on to encourage everyone to call on the name of the LORD while He may be found. For the day will come, as in the days of Noah, when God will judge the living and the dead. Only those who have accepted the gift of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ, will be spared the judgment we rightfully deserve.

For Christ alone, is our hiding place. He preserves us and delivers us from sin, death and hell. Hallelujah!

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.

7 You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

Have a Teachable Spirit

In the next section, a new voice is introduced. Some Bible scholars believe it is God’s voice instructing His people. Others assert these words are from the Psalmist, David, as he instructs the people to follow after God.

We know that David was used powerfully by the LORD despite his terrible sins of adultery and murder. Sometimes, a helpful teacher is one who has been there. In this case, whether God’s voice or whether God speaks through David as the teacher, we can be certain David recognized from personal experience the binding strength of sin is released when we confess to the LORD.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

The Joy of Confession

The final verse of Psalm 32 says it all. When we come clean before God, by acknowledging our sins and receiving the righteous, merciful covering of Jesus’ blood, the deep soul-joy we experience is truly indescribable. Shout for joy! Christ has made us upright in heart!

11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

The Joy of Confession and the Covering of Christ

I find Psalm 32 profound and beautiful. When we cover up our sins, we writhe with inner pain. However, when we humble ourselves, come out of hiding from God and confess our sins to the LORD, then God Himself becomes our covering. Our sins are covered with the blood of Jesus.

Our once shameful faces now glow with the glory of God! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

Once covering up my sins, now covered in Christ!

Once hiding from God, now hidden in Christ!

May you receive the deep, rich beauty of God illuminated in Psalm 32.

Psalm 32 (ESV)

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.

7 You are a hiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!