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THE REST OF THE STORY (Psalm 32)

I used to love to listen to the old radio commentator Paul Harvey. He could tell quite a story, and he would always build to a dramatic pause and say, “Now for the rest of the story.”

Today I want to tell you the rest of the story.

We all know the story of David’s terrible sin with Bathsheba, from the adultery to the murder of her husband Uriah. We remember how God’s preacher, Nathan, came to him and said in II Samuel 12:7, “Thou art the man.” We are familiar with David’s brokenness and repentance as expressed in Psalm 51.

Psalm 32 actually fits after Psalm 51. It is truly the rest of the story. I love this. It does not end with failure or even forgiveness. With God, there is always a future.

The very first word of Psalm 32 is this word: “Blessed.” How beautiful. It does not end with brokenness, but with blessing — in fact, with double blessing.

Verses 1-2: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”

If you went back to Psalm 51 with his confession of sin and repentance, you would find double brokenness. Verse 17 of that chapter states, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Double brokenness leads to double blessing. When you are thoroughly broken, that is not the end. It is the beginning. Sin leads you to a wall; God leads you to an open door. With Him, there is always more on the other side.

Did you know that a great majority of the psalms were written after David’s adultery? There was life and work for the Lord beyond his sin. With God, there is always more to come. He wants to bring blessing into the brokenness and out of it.

All of the psalms are connected in some way to the blessing of God. You might remember how the book began in Ps. 1:1 with the words, “Blessed is the man.” The first psalm tells you how to have the blessing, while Psalm 32 tells you how to regain it when you have lost it.

Our God is the eternal God. He is in your past, your present, and your future. The Bible says in Heb. 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

When you read Psalm 32, you see yesterday, today, and tomorrow. There is a look at the past, the present, and the future. Here are three things you can do to discover all that God has for you in the rest of your story.

1. Praise God for what He has done.

That is what the first five verses are all about.

Verses 3-5: “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”

The first thing David did was start praising God for what He had already done. As a sinner, God humbled him and brought him to the end of himself to be drawn back to Him. Praise the Lord, God loves us where we are but does not leave us there.

There was praise not only for what the Lord did for David the sinner but also what was done for the sin. God covered it. When you cover your own sin with deceit and guile, He has to expose it. But when you expose it, He covers it and it is gone. It is a divine coverup -- so to speak — done with God’s own grace and mercy through the blood of Jesus Christ.

In this psalm David used the same three words that he used in Psalm 51: transgression, sin, and iniquity. They were very descriptive terms for his great failure, but then there arose a threefold answer as he was forgiven, his sin was covered, and God did not impute it to him.

2. Pray for what God is doing.

Verses 6-7: “For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.”

Take a moment and pray for what God is doing today. Don’t get stuck in your past. According to Rom. 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

There may still be consequences to deal with and fallout from what you have done, but once you are forgiven and cleansed, there is nothing between you and the Lord. In prayer, acknowledge that God is near; by prayer, draw nigh to God. As James 4:8 tells us, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”

3. Look forward to the prospect of what God will do.

We already know from verse 7 that He will preserve and protect us.

Verse 8: “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”

Did you notice the change in who is speaking? It is no longer David talking to God or about God; now it is God talking to David. He will preserve us, protect us, and prod us in the way that we should go.

Verses 9-10: “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” This is another reminder of His protection.

Verse 11: “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.”

He will provide for us. He will give us the joy we need and the resources to keep moving forward. For the true follower of Christ, the best is always yet to come.

One very famous man in history, when he was dying, requested that Psalm 32 be inscribed on the wall next to his bed so he could meditate on it as he lay there. I can tell you that is a good psalm on which to meditate every day of your life.

There are three times in this passage that we see the word “Selah.” In other words, “Stop and think on this.” It is a psalm of meditation.

The first “selah,” at the end of verse 4, makes you think of your sin. The second one, after verse 5, reminds you of your Savior. The last one, that closes out verse 7, makes you think of your song.

Don’t get stuck on your sin. Don’t stop with just being forgiven. There is a song and hope for tomorrow. It is the rest of the story, and God is the divine author of it.

Psalm 32 is the first of 12 psalms known as “Maskil Psalms." That means “instruction.” In these verses, God gives all of us instruction. It is not just for David or the person who has committed adultery. There is a lesson here for all of us.

Go to the Lord’s school today and let Him instruct you. One of the things you will find in Psalm 32 is that God has much more for you. Trust Him for it — yesterday, today, and tomorrow.