The Healing Power of Confession

In review of Psalm 32:3 it says, “Before I confessed my sins, my bones felt limp, and I groaned all day long.”

Bottom Line:

When I kept my sin to myself, I felt weak deep inside and moaned all day long.

What this means to me:

When it comes to sin, keeping it to myself and refusing to confess it will physically affect and put undue stress on my body. One healthy choice I can make this coming year is make sure that I’m asking for and receiving the forgiveness of God. Feelings of being physically “weighed down” by guilt are real. Carrying around that extra stinky sack of garbage won’t just make me ineffective for serving Jesus; it’ll ruin my health as well. The Bible teaches in Psalm 32:3-5: “Before I confessed my sins, my bones felt limp, and I groaned all day long. Night and day your hand weighed heavily on me, and my strength was gone as in the summer heat. So I confessed my sins and told them all to you. I said, ‘I’ll tell the LORD each one of my sins.’ Then you forgave me and took away my guilt” (CEV). The good news is that God has given me a foolproof method for relief from those soul and body-destroying feelings of guilt: repentance. It may be good for me to make a moral inventory. Psalm 138:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test my thoughts. Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (LB). In other words, I can start by grabbing a pencil and paper (or other electronic forms) and ask God to bring to mind my sin. Next, accept the blame. The greatest holdup to healing is me. I shouldn’t rationalize or minimize it. I may not own 100 percent of the blame, but accept the 10 percent of the blame that’s mine. Next, ask for forgiveness and believe that God will forgive me. Ask him to forgive me based on what he promises in the Bible 1 John 1:9, “God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong.” (GW). There is no need for me to beg or bargain. Just believe that God is able and willing to forgive me. God wants to use me. I should be sure that I’m clean about sin so that I can serve him.