Six Steps to Find Your Way Back to God
At some point, we will surprise ourselves by our sin. We’ll wake up one day amazed that we ever did that horrible thing. We’ll wonder who we’ve become and sit in a puddle of our own tears asking if there is hope for someone like us.
Can we be forgiven?
When we reach that point, Psalm 32 is there with an answer of hope. God can forgive us. More than that, he will forgive us. Our part is only to repent.
But how do we repent? Psalm 32 not only points to the goal of restoration but it also takes us by the hand and leads us down the path of repentance.
COMING TO THE PLACE OF REPENTANCE
We have a psalm such as this because David traveled down sin’s blood-stained path before walking the repenter’s trail. Some say Psalm 32 is connected to the events of 2 Samuel 11–12 in which David took advantage of Bathsheba, impregnated her, and killed her husband. He kept these wrongdoings under wraps, his sin weakened him, and his strength eventually dried up (Ps. 32:3). He wasn’t the strong and mighty warrior king. Instead of conquering his ten thousands, he was wounded by his many sins.
Try as he may, he could not lift the heavy hand of the Lord from his heart. And then the prophet Nathan came along with a story to uncover David’s transgressions. Finally, David saw himself for who he was. He needed freedom, but how could he have it now after all he’d done?
While David was hiding from God, God was bringing David to a place of repentance. He does the same for all his children. Sometimes we come kicking and screaming or sometimes drowned in tears.
Whatever the case, we must first see our guilt in order to respond to his grace. Psalm 32 is God’s divine coaching, in six steps, on how to find our way back to him.
STEP 1: ACKNOWLEDGE (PS. 32:5)
“I acknowledged my sin to you” (Ps. 32:5).
Psalm 32 was Saint Augustine’s favorite psalm because he claimed, “the beginning of knowledge is to know oneself to be a sinner.” No matter how smart we are, if we don’t know the brutal truth of our sin, we have no knowledge of true things.
Knowledge of oneself leads to knowledge of one’s sin. When we know we’re a sinner, we stop using soft words. We didn’t make a mistake, and we didn’t slip up. We meant to do what we did. It wasn’t simply a bad moment, it was an outworking of a bad heart. It wasn’t a momentary lapse in strength, but a revelation of our true weakness. We have missed the mark God set for us. We are sinners, and like any addiction, acknowledgment of it can bring new life.
There is a way to acknowledge our sin without owning it. But owning our sin is the doorway to repentance. We can admit we fall short, but we must go further. It’s not simply that we’ve done bad things (or failed to do good things), it’s that the heart from which those bad things came is like a dark basement where all kinds of evils dwell. What rises to the surface from time to time indicates a consistent problem underneath.
To acknowledge sin is to acknowledge personal evil. That’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s the beginning of a new future.
STEP 2: UNCOVER (PS. 32:5)
“And I did not cover my iniquity” (Ps. 32:5).
After we acknowledge our sin, we uncover it. We open the door to the rancid basement. We let the light shine in, revealing all. We let Jesus into our temple to do his work, flipping the tables to see the scandal underneath.
This step is really embarrassing. Others see what we’ve been hiding. The reactions can be, and often are, more painful than we imagined.
The proof that step one has truly occurred is that step two is close behind. There is a profound truth that motivates us to uncover our iniquity. When we uncover our iniquity, verse 1 tells us that God covers it. Conversely, when we choose to cover iniquity, God drags it into the light.
So, we have a choice: willingly bring it to God and his mercy or let him pull it out. One is painful but the other excruciating.
STEP 3: CONFESS (PS. 32:5)
“I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’” (Ps. 32:5).
Once we acknowledge and uncover, then we confess. We tell the truth about who we really are. If step two is embarrassing, step three is humiliating.
Speaking of our evil makes it more real to us, and it breaks the fragile glass of pride into a million pieces. When we tell the truth about who we are, we agree with God about who we are and allow his Spirit to come into our life to renew our broken spirit. Living with hidden sin dries up our spiritual strength but confession, by God’s grace, is the doorway into renewed joy. It won’t be easy, but it is necessary.
We see examples of individual and corporate confession leading to repentance throughout history. A little over a hundred years ago, God broke through in Korea. As the Spirit moved, public confession flowed. The following account of the impact shows how brutal but vital this step is:
Then began a meeting the like of which I had never seen before, nor wish to see again, unless in God’s sight it is absolutely necessary. Every sin a human being can commit was publicly confessed that night. Pale and trembling with emotion, in agony of mind and body, guilty souls, standing in the white light of their judgment, saw themselves as God saw them. Their sins rose up in all their vileness, till shame and grief and self-loathing took complete possession; pride was driven out, the face of man forgotten. Looking up to heaven, to Jesus whom they had betrayed, they smote themselves and cried out with bitter wailing: ‘Lord, Lord, cast us not away forever!’ Everything else was forgotten, nothing else mattered. The scorn of men, the penalty of the law, even death itself seemed of small consequence if only God forgave. We may have other theories of the desirability or undesirability of public confession of sin. I have had mine; but I know now that when the Spirit of God falls upon guilty souls, there will be confession, and no power on earth can stop it.[1]
STEP 4: PRAY (PS. 32:6–7)
“Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found” (Ps. 32:6).
Steps one through three lay us so low that prayer becomes our only hope. We come to God with nothing in our hands but a simple request for cleansing and healing. We’re dependent upon his mercy alone to make us new.
David urges the reader to offer prayer when God may be found. Repentance opens us up to God in new ways and we see both our need and his provision with fresh eyes. We are sinners in need of mercy and grace. It’s in the darkness that light shines the brightest. So our time of greatest desperation is when God is near to us and able to be found. How can that be?
In light of our sin, should he not withdraw? Here were find the beauty of the gospel. When we make the turn from our sin toward God, God is there to grant forgiveness. Yes, our sin separates us from God, but our repentance brings us back to him. When we return, we find that he has not forsaken us. Instead, he redeems through the cross of Christ.
So we offer prayer in the midst of our repentance because God is right there with us in it. That’s hard for us to believe. We tend to think we can find God when we’re at our best, but here we see that when we realize we’re at our worst, God is open to us. When we’re confronted with our sin, we have a choice: go on sinning or run to the Savior by prayer. Ray Ortlund, Jr. has said,
“Where is God? In two places. He dwells in the high and holy place, where we can’t go. And he dwells among the lowly and contrite, where we can go. So the way to find God is obvious. Humble yourself, and he’ll find you.”[2]
STEP 5: FOLLOW (PS. 32:8–9)
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you” (Ps. 32:8–9).
Repentance leads us not only away from the negative actions and thoughts that ruined us but also into the new path of righteousness that comes from obedience to Jesus. God’s Word instructs and teaches us where we should go (Ps. 32:8), but we must not be like a horse or mule, refusing to be led apart from the bit and bridle (Ps. 32:9).
We can be so stubborn, can’t we? Shockingly, with the memory of full pardon so close behind us, we can still turn away from God’s light to walk in the paths of darkness again. But we don’t have to. Repentance is not only turning from our sin, it’s also turning to God and following him. We will have to turn to him time and time again. And when we do, we will find a nail pierced hand to lead us in the way.
He’s not asking us to carve a path of new life on our own. He’s out ahead, leading, instructing, teaching, and counseling. He will take us into the newness we long for. All he’s asking is for us to stay near.
STEP 6: REJOICE (PS. 32:11)
“Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (Ps. 32:11).
The ultimate end of Christian repentance is joy. That’s not what we imagine is on the other side in step one when that fragile glass of our pride breaks. But God is in the restoration business, and through his Redeemer, Jesus, we are welcomed back into God’s good graces—not at eighty percent of our previous value but at the fullness of Christ’s.
God’s grace isn’t partially cleansing; it’s wholly cleansing. And when we’ve been washed by the blood of Christ, we rejoice as only a saved sinner can.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul
David McLemore is an elder at Refuge Church in Franklin, Tennessee. He also works for a large healthcare corporation where he manages an application development department. He is married to Sarah, and they have three sons. Read more of David’s writing on his blog, Things of the Sort.