Psalm 32

Verse 1 thru 5 says, “ Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is the man whom the Lord imputes not inquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile, When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all day long.

For day and night thy hand was upon me, the moisture is turned into the heat of the summer, for I acknowledge my sin unto thee, I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sins."

This section of the psalm is talking about the heavy weight of sin being like the strong excessive heat of the summer. If the psalmist David had been hiking, it would be that he took the wrong trail and felt drained in the excessive heat and in the meantime the Lord had a great trail for him with some cooling spots. That the sin is acting as a heavy weight is only a favor from the Lord, and it is saying come back to all the good favor I have for you, let’s clear the deck of all this junk and get to what I have for you.

The rest of the psalm goes into the strong real time favors that the Lord has for him and others.

Verse 6 says, “ For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time thou mayest be found surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him."

This is one of the big favors from the Lord, there will be big time troubles out there, but it’s not coming near you. You’re not going to be touched by it. Everyone that is godly should be praying to him, no exceptions, while he may be found or before it is too late. You want to preempt your situations, your days, your activities with prayer. And this verse also shows that others may be sharing with you in the favors mentioned further on in the psalms, just as the apostles and disciples shared fellowship with each other in the presence of Jesus.

Verse 7 says, “Though out my hiding place, thou shall preserve me from trouble, thou shall compass me about with songs of deliverance."

This hiding place is more of an oasis. You might think of a hiding place as more of a dark tunnel or basement, more like a bomb shelter in World War 2. But in this case, it is more likely that the hiding place is a place of light, more of an oasis, where for example, I might be kept from trouble, as I’m sitting in the noonday sun sipping juice on a beach in a tropical island in the Caribbean, listening to my favorite tunes and taking a dip in the surf. Another person or others might be with you in sharing this hiding place or oasis.

Verse 8 and 9 says, “ I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which to go, I will guide thee with mine eye.

Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with a bit of brittle, lest they come near unto thee.

Right here, it is saying the Lord will have his eye on the situation, which is of course very specific and something to think about and meditate on, just how the Lord will keep an eye out for you, but this also shows as do the other verses of the psalms, the Lord’s real time presence to any number of situations you could possibly be in.

The verse about being not like a mule, it is more an invitation than an admonition. It is saying, that the Lord is watching over you carefully, working things in your favor, just don’t be like a mule, whose rider is also working the road for favor, but the mule doesn’t understand this. The Lord is doing all these great things; just understand that it is him doing it.

This is more like a fellowship thing, rather than being like the dumb mule, there is an invitation to fellowship with the Lord while all this favors are being transferred to your attention and all these good things are taking place.

Peter and the disciples had discourse with Jesus and he didn’t walk them around and talk to them as if they were dummies and there was consultation between them and with Jesus.

Compass about does indicate control, For example I as an individual operating solely in most instances can not compass about, as I’m stepping into so many situations as to the outer surroundings that it is not feasible to say I have any control in any or most of the presenting scenarios. It is important to come to this realization for various reasons, so I don’t get ticked off as among the reasons.

For example, I go to the beach, expecting the surf I prefer, either for a swim or surfing session. I find the surf just isn’t what I want but, the surroundings are not under my control so why should I be mad about this?.

The compassing about is not my area, I can’t control the conditions of the surf. What I want to do is keep all this in mind as I go about into this or similar situations.

Overall this psalm issues an invitation into the royal treatment. Here it seems to say in this psalm that there are others, who are getting the royal treatment, the hiding place, the compassing about, two descriptions of the royal treatment giving by God, the third of this psalm being that generalized trouble will not come your way. The Lord wants them to have an understanding of what is actually going on, don’t be stupid, saying in this psalm he’ll teach you and guide you, and when you get to the perfect surfing conditions, find the best surfboard and the best spot on the beach, realize it is he that brought this about for you and he wants you to have an understanding of this to the point of fellowship in prayer.

When none of the trouble that is out there comes near you, realize it is his doing.

Maybe you are sitting on a tropical island, and there is a hurricane hovering nearby, but this all but bypasses your spot in the region, unless you like hurricanes which may be the case. What the Lord is doing is canvassing the situation, and leading you to what is going to be the best spot and places and foreclosing situations for you against trouble.

With this have an understanding as to why this is better, it could be as simple as the Lord giving you the better sermons, the good churches, the best movies to see, articles to read, TV shows to watch, books to read, comedy shows for comedy. The relationship should be such that you understand that this leading and guidance is just this and run a run of good fortune coming from the high seas or some unknown source. And correspondingly you can be grateful, not being like the mule that doesn’t understand, that he got good guidance, good canvassing, and good conditions for what he wanted on his trip down the road or mule trail. It is not dumb luck, but the Lord’s hand or favor that is doing this. Maybe you are lucky but the good luck is directly from the Lord.

Verse 10 and 11 say as the final verses, “ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he that trustest in the Lord, mercy shall compass about him"

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous and shot for joy, all ye that are upright in heart."

This is saying that there will be troubles out there, and be all the more happy for the Lord’s hand in giving you mercy and protection and surrounding you with this royal treatment.

As per prayer, this psalm is talking about favors from the Lord that are very much real time and situational, and we are invited to consult with the Lord on these favors in prayer. Basically the goal is not to miss out on the favors and to maintain and tend to the fellowship involved thru prayer and good behavior in not compromising all this thru sin and if sin is present to confess it and get right. The central invitation of this psalm is to receive all this with the open arms of understanding, intelligence and insight as to what is going on and that this is part of the fellowship and it is all coming from the Lord’s generous hand. The Lord’s extending hand may and does often include others some of whom will come directly into your path and your part is to pray and also intercede not only for yourself but for others in world for these shining favors.

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