Happy?

Our Lenten journey through the Psalms continues this week – this time with a focus on Psalm 32 – known as a Penitential Psalm. In it, the psalmist describes the journey of the repentant sinner – from his tossing and turning at night and the toll sin takes on body, spirit and mind; to the act of honest confession to feeling release from sin’s gripping bondage. All this, says the psalmist, leads to a wonderful little emotion we know as “happiness.”

I wonder: have you ever felt this - as a result of your own confession and pardon from sin?

I mean, every week, we pray the prayer of confession, take our moment of silence and then hear the words of assurance. And it’s good that we do this and take it seriously. And it’s not to just be something we do – or simply get though. Confession, they say, is good for the soul, right? But why?

The answer to this comes right at the beginning of the psalm, where it says: “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Happiness is to be the feeling of our being forgiven and set free from sin. And our happiness is then to be the springboard to a new and changed life.

Do you feel happy when we pray the prayer of confession? Do you feel different after the words of assurance of pardon? Do you feel you want to be different afterwards? Do you feel…changed? 

Psalm 32 begs these questions of us, as does its pairing with the story of the “Prodigal Son” – a story which is really about, well, everyone. And it’s a story that leaves us with choices: To repent and confess and then gleefully get in on the party. Or, to stay on the outside, pouting and wallowing in our self-righteousness while wondering “how come they get to go in?”