Psalm 32:7

Psalm 32 is headed “A Psalm of David, Maschil”, a psalm written to teach, and it is one of the seven penitential psalms. It opens with the blessing of the one whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered (Psalm 32:1). David then tells how his body and spirit wasted away while he kept his guilt hidden (Psalm 32:3), and how relief and restoration came when he confessed his sin to the LORD (Psalm 32:5). The psalm leaves his sin unnamed, and many connect it with his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah (2 Samuel 11), followed by Nathan’s rebuke and David’s repentance (2 Samuel 12). That history shows how much concealed sin cost him and how great the relief of God’s pardon was.

Verse 6 opens with “For this”, and the words point back to that forgiveness. Because God is merciful and forgives the one who confesses, every one that is godly should pray to him. What David learned in his own life he now gives to all God’s people as a pattern to follow. Proverbs teaches the same: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

The word for “godly” is châçîyd, which is related to hesed, God’s steadfast covenant love. The châçîyd is a faithful, devoted person who is loyal to God and who receives his hesed in return. In this psalm the godly are those who have confessed their sin and known the joy of being forgiven, so their godliness is the grateful trust and obedience of people God has already received in grace. Prayer for them is worship, fellowship and humble reliance on a God who can be reached, and it marks a life lived in open relationship with him.

“In a time when thou mayest be found” makes the prayer urgent. The verb mâtsâʼ means to find or to attain, and here God is the one who is found. The phrase calls the godly to see the right moment and take it: to seek God’s face, confess their sins and draw near to him while the way is open. Isaiah gives the same call: “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6). Paul says, “behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

So the verse warns against putting off confession and prayer. David’s own story shows the cost of delay, because his silence brought him suffering, and his confession brought him relief. Some of these times of opportunity come before days of greater difficulty, which is one more reason to act on them promptly.

The word for “floods” is sheṭeph, a deluge or an overflowing rush of water, a word full of overwhelming force. Joined with “great waters” (mayim rabim), it is a common picture in Scripture for calamity, distress, hostile powers and even God’s judgment. It recalls the flood of Noah’s day (Genesis 7) and the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 14). To be caught in such waters is to be swept under by forces too strong for any human hand, and only God can rescue anyone from them.

These floods stand for every great and threatening trouble: personal crises, upheavals in society, spiritual attacks, and the bitter results of sin left unconfessed. The promise to the one who seeks God is that “they shall not come nigh unto him.” God’s people may still pass through hard waters, and the promise is that they will be kept from being swallowed by them. The God they have sought is their protection. “The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him” (Nahum 1:7), and “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).

In verse 7 David turns from teaching others and speaks to God again, in his own name. The word for “hiding place” is çêther, a cover, a secret place, a covert, somewhere a person is concealed. God himself is the shelter, so the one who hides there is hidden close to him. The little word “my” makes it personal: David is resting his whole weight on God’s protecting presence.

In Israel a hiding place was often a real necessity, such as a cave, a fortress or a walled city that gave safety from enemies or disaster. As a king and a seasoned warrior, David knew such places well. Here his refuge is the LORD, who shelters him from outward danger and from the inward torment of guilt and fear that he had known while he hid his sin. The Psalms speak often of this refuge: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1).

“Preserve” is nâtsar, to guard, keep, watch over or observe. It describes careful, watchful keeping that goes on and on. The word for “trouble” is tsar, from a root meaning to cramp, so it can mean a narrow place or distress, and it most often means an adversary. Here it covers the distress David felt under hidden sin as well as the hardships and enemies that pressed on him from outside.

“Thou shalt preserve” looks ahead with confidence. God’s keeping often comes within the difficulty, as he sustains his people through it and delivers them at last. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19). Isaiah says the same of the one who trusts: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3).

“Compass me about” is çâbab, to surround or encircle. “Songs” is rôn, a shout or ringing cry of joy at being rescued, and “deliverance” is pallêṭ, escape, from a root meaning to escape. God is the one who does the surrounding. The man who once wasted away in silence over his sin is now ringed about with the sound of rescue, with God’s saving work echoing on every side. Israel celebrated God’s mighty acts and the testimonies of those he had saved in song and poetry, and David pictures himself in the middle of that praise. Lament has turned into joy, and “the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

The time when God may be found came in its fullest form when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Jesus is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), and in him we have the forgiveness David rejoiced in. God made him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21), and through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father (Ephesians 2:18).

The deepest floods of all are sin, death and judgment, and Christ bore them on the cross, where he forgave our trespasses and triumphed over the powers (Colossians 2:13). For those who are in him, those floods do not come near. He is our refuge and strength (Psalm 46:1), and he ever lives to make intercession for those who come to God by him (Hebrews 7:25). His keeping reaches past death, because he is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). His victory over principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15) is the source of our songs of deliverance, and his peace is one the world can neither give nor take away (John 14:27). In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us (Romans 8:37).

These verses call us to a steady life of prayer, kept up in ordinary days as well as hard ones. When God shows us a sin, the time to confess it is then, while he is drawing us, and the forgiveness David found is waiting for us there too. Prayer offered in calm seasons prepares the heart for the storms that come.

When the waters do rise, we have somewhere to go. Our hiding place is God himself, his presence and his unchanging character, and we reach him through humble confession and faith. He guards us, carries us through what we face, and in the end surrounds us with the sound of his rescue. So we can live in the freedom of his grace and keep thanking him for his faithfulness.