Psalm 32

The Voice

Psalm 32

A contemplative song^[a] of David.

The psalms celebrate God’s forgiveness that comes through confession and repentance. Some interpreters link this psalm to David’s sin with Bathsheba after Nathan had exposed his transgression, but the king certainly had other failings. Even if we do not associate this psalm with any personal transgression by David, it serves well as a model confession for those who are painfully aware of their sin.

¹How happy is the one whose wrongs are forgiven,
whose sin is hidden from sight.
²How happy is the person whose sin the Eternal will not take into account.^[b]
How happy are those who no longer lie, to themselves or others.

³When I refused to admit my wrongs, I was miserable,
    moaning and complaining all day long
    so that even my bones felt brittle.
⁴Day and night, Your hand kept pressing on me.
    My strength dried up like water in the summer heat;
    You wore me down.

[pause]^[c]

⁵When I finally saw my own lies,
    I owned up to my sins before You,
    and I did not try to hide my evil deeds from You.
I said to myself, “I’ll admit all my sins to the Eternal,”
    and You lifted and carried away the guilt of my sin.

[pause]

⁶So let all who are devoted to You
    speak honestly to You now, while You are still listening.
For then when the floods come, surely the rushing water
    will not even reach them.
⁷You are my hiding place.
    You will keep me out of trouble
    and envelop me with songs that remind me I am free.

[pause]

⁸I will teach you and tell you the way to go and how to get there;
    I will give you good counsel, and I will watch over you.
⁹But don’t be stubborn and stupid like horses and mules
    who, if not reined by leather and metal,
    will run wild, ignoring their masters.

¹⁰Tormented and empty are wicked and destructive people,
but the one who trusts in the Eternal is wrapped tightly in His gracious love.
¹¹Express your joy; be happy in Him, you who are good and true.
Go ahead, shout and rejoice aloud, you whose hearts are honest and straightforward.

Notas al pie

32:title Hebrew, maskil
32:1–2 Romans 4:7–8
32:4 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”

Joshua 4:14-24

The Voice

¹⁴That day the Eternal exalted Joshua in the eyes of the people, and they looked up to him (as they had looked up to Moses before him) for the rest of his life.

¹⁵Then the Eternal One told Joshua,

Eternal One: ¹⁶Command the priests who are carrying the covenant chest to come out of the Jordan.

¹⁷Joshua gave the order.

¹⁸As the people watched, the priests carried the chest of the Eternal up out of the Jordan; and as soon as they had stepped out of the riverbed, the river was filled and overflowing, just as it had been before.

¹⁹The Israelites crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. ²⁰This was where Joshua set up the twelve stones from the Jordan riverbed. ²¹He summoned the people of Israel.

Joshua: Someday your children will ask you, “What do these stones mean?” ²²And you will tell them, “Israel crossed the Jordan here on dry ground.” ²³For the Eternal One, your God, dried up the waters of the Jordan until you crossed over (just as He held back the Red Sea for our parents until they crossed) ²⁴so that everyone on earth would know how powerful the Eternal is and so that you would reverence your God, the Eternal, forever.

Read full chapter

2 Corinthians 5:6-15

The Voice

⁶In light of this, we live with a daring passion and know that our time spent in this body is also time we are not present with the Lord. ⁷The path we walk is charted by faith, not by what we see with our eyes. ⁸There is no doubt that we live with a daring passion, but in the end we prefer to be gone from this body so that we can be at home with the Lord. ⁹Ultimately it does not matter whether we are here or gone; our purpose stays fixed, and that is to please Him. ¹⁰In time we will all stand in judgment before the throne of the Anointed, the Liberating King, to receive what is just for our conduct (whether it be good or bad) while we lived in this temporary body.

¹¹So because we stand in awe of the one true Lord, we make it our aim to convince all people of the truth of the gospel; God sees who we really are, and I hope in some way that you’ll look deeply into your consciences to see us as well. ¹²But we hope you understand that we are not trying to prove ourselves to you or pull together a résumé that will impress you. We are simply hoping that you will find a sense of joy in connecting with us. And when you are approached by others (who may value appearances more than the heart) asking questions about us, you will be able to offer an answer for them. ¹³If we seem out of control or act like fanatics, it is for God. But if we act in a coherent and reasonable way, it is for you. ¹⁴You see, the controlling force in our lives is the love of the Anointed One. And our confession is this: One died for all; therefore, all have died. ¹⁵He died for us so that we will all live, not for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose from the dead.