The Joy in Vertical Concentration
“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.” Psalms 32:1-4 (ESV)
Blessed are the Forgiven. Not exactly what we would find Jesus saying during His Sermon on the Mount but David gives us that sense in Psalm 32. This maskil of David begins with the uplifting of verse one and it doesn’t look back. In The Message (take it easy with this theologians) Peterson wrote verse’s one and two like this, “Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be-you get a fresh start, your slate’s wiped clean. Count yourself lucky-GOD holds nothing against you and you’re holding nothing back from Him.” Praise God in this very idea of forgiveness indeed.
But with this forgiveness comes a confession and David tells us how he felt with his un-confessed sin. The NLT puts verse three of Psalm 32 like this, “When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.” David examined his heart when he wasn’t experiencing that vertical joy in the Lord. Maybe, just like you and I, he knew holding on to some sort of sinful attitude or holding on to a critical spirit kept him from enjoying the fruit of godly joy. In Psalm 51 David says to God to, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” Quite a bold request coming from a murderer and an adulterer, huh?
David understands that with the discipline of Gods hand as he expressed it in verse four of Psalm 32. “For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me” it lead to his strength “evaporating like water in the summer heat.”(NLT) And once there was acknowledgement of sin in his life David cranks up the volume in Psalm 32. Check out the contrast in verse eight of Psalm 32, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you” to that of Psalm 51:13, “Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.” Now that’s good stuff.
For me, this all can fall back on what we read in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” You see there has to be a vertical concentration in Kingdom worthy things. The Holy Spirit uses this very cool promise of God to promote joy in our hearts and if we are not steeping ourselves in God’s Word we can lose track of our steps in everyday living. It will be a burden for us to carry and if the everyday is a burden to us then what of our carrying our Cross daily?
We need to trust God in order for Him to fill us with joy and peace “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13) We need to take a long view of things “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18) We need to be thankful with everything “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess 5:16-18)
Good verses to ponder as you concentrate vertically. Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a frequent contributor to Freedom Fighter
Compass Pointers: “To be joyless is to dishonor God and to deny His love and His control over our lives. It is practical atheism. To be joyful is to experience the power of the Holy Spirit within us and to say to a watching world, “Our God Reigns.” The Practice of Godliness Jerry Bridges
Anchored to the Rock: I know no blessing so small as to be reasonably expected without prayer, nor any so great but may be obtained by it. Robert South
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