_DEALING WITH SIN_
PSALM xxxii.
Here is the burden of unconfessed sin. "_When I kept silence my bones
waxed old._" There is nothing brings on premature age like secret sin. It
keeps the mind in perpetual unrest, and a troubled mind soon makes the
body old. The real nourisher of the body is a quiet and radiant soul. But
let the soul be in chaos, and the body will soon be a ruin.
And here, too, is the healthy act of confession. "_I acknowledged my sin
unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid._" He retained no single germ
of the whole unclean brood. He brought them out into the light one by one,
as though he were emptying a noisome kennel. He brought them out, and
named them, in the awful Presence of the Lord.
And here is the ministry of forgiveness, and therefore the miracle of
restored health. Let me mark the rich variety of the descriptive words.
"_Forgiven!_" "_Covered!_" "_Imputed not!_" It is all removed and
obliterated, and the place of defilement and profanity becomes the holy
temple of the Lord.