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Psalm 32 reads as follows from the New King James version of the Bible: 1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah 6 For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters They shall not come near him. 7 You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. 9 Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you. 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him. 11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous; And shout for joy, all you upright in heart! Central to this psalm is the Lord giving the royal treatment to his servants in ways that are visible and can be understood as coming from him in the manner of fellowship. Big troubles out there will not come near you, you will get a hiding place or oasis, and the Lord will canvass the surroundings and conditions out there to work things in your favor. Verse 1 thru 5 says in the King James version of the Bible:, “ Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blessed is the man whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, 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. The hiding place is also of interior light and light of understanding and intelligence. The Lord gifts us gifts of intelligence and enlightens us. There is an oasis of light in the minds and in our understanding. This hiding place is the Love and the Light of the Lord surrounding you on all sides according to the final verse of this psalm. 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. Verse 9 talks 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. This is not to pick on the mule, as the mule and similar animals do have intelligence and abilities. This verse is also very interesting in that it is showing that the Lord believes that people are capable. If Albert Einstein had been teaching a class in quantum theory and says” come into the lecture hall, listen to my lecture and volley with me on the subject, don’t be dumb”, this statement is actually flattering in that Mr. Einstein is seeing you as capable of grasping the subject and that you can go into a legitimate back and forth discussion with him on the topic of complex physics. Einstein, will shed light on the subject, but you will be able to go into the light of understanding on the subject and you should be grateful that you are capable of this. Another aspect of this verse might also be interpreted as there being an invitation to speak up in the relationship with the Lord,not to be silent like the mule usually is except in the case of Balaam where the mule did speak. In the case of Balaam his mule actually saw the angel in front of them and then actually spoke to Balaam about it. The mule came forward in speech to interject understanding of the reality of the situation. 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. Jesus wanted the discourse from Peter and the others who were with them. 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 those reasons as I don’t want to be upset of vast outer surroundings that I have little direct control over or in most cases none. The first call is to stay in the inner circle of Jesus by keeping close to the Lord in prayer, just as the disciples did. This was their oasis, but it wasn't a passive oasis but an oasis of dialogue and understanding. 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, that is is the Lord's work that the oasis of light be upon my changing circumstances. 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 last third of this psalm is depicting 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. Even while this happens, you are in the light of his oasis or hiding place in that he is meeting you in those real time situations and you know it is the Lord that is presence to you with the oasis of light. It might be less dramatic situations, but maybe you were meditating in church and you had one question in mind and then a friend picks you up at church and speaks to that one question, a question that the friend didn’t know was what you were pondering about in that time you spent a church. This is the Lord meeting you in the real time. This might have Less dramatic overtones than other possible interventions, but nevertheless exciting in that only you knew that this was your question. The Lord might meet you in the exact moment. 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 sourced from the Lord and is identified as his oasis rather than a run of good fortune coming from the high seas or some unknown source. And correspondingly you can be grateful, not being like the somewhat unknowing mule that doesn’t understand always 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 the favor that is bringing this to pass. 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, the same treatment maybe even King Solomon got. 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 emanating
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