Psalms 32:3-4. 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 understand this to have been the feeling of David after his great sin, before he confessed it. He tried to excuse it to his conscience. It has been thought by some that David was, for at least nine months, in a very insensible state; but he does not appear to have been so. All the time until his sin was confessed and acknowledged, he was miserable. Because there was divine grace in his heart, sin could not dwell there with comfort. As he would not own his sin before the bar of God, pleading guilty, and waiting for judgment, as he kept silence, it preyed upon him so, that he seemed to grow prematurely old, and that, not only in his skin and his flesh, but his very bones were affected: "My bones waxed old." Those solid pillars of the house of manhood trembled and were shaken under his awful sense of sin. You cannot be a child of God and sin, and then be happy. Other men may sin cheaply, but you cannot. If you are a man after God’s own heart, and you venture into uncleanness, it will sting you as does a viper it will burn within your bones like coals of juniper.
"When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long." David did pray, but he did not dare to call it prayer. It was like the moaning and groaning of a beast that is wounded, and faint, and near to die; and this terrible pain was upon him always: "For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me." God has a heavy hand for his sinful children. Other fathers may spoil their children with indulgence; but the Lord will not spoil his children. If we sin, we shall feel the weight of God’s hand. We ought to thank him for this; for though it brings great sorrow, yet it brings great safety to us. The worst thing that can happen to a man is to be allowed to sin, and yet to be happy in it. One of the best things for an erring believer is a taste of his Father’s rod. "Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer." All David’s joy was squeezed out, pressed out, by the heavy hand of God. His flowers ceased to bloom; his fruit was withered; his experience was nothing but a hard drought, without a drop of moisture. When David had gone so far, and had played only on the bass strings so long, he said, "Selah," that is, "Screw up the harp strings, let us put them in tune again. We are going up to something better now."
Psalms 32:3-4. 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 understand this to have been the feeling of David after his great sin, before he confessed it. He tried to excuse it to his conscience. It has been thought by some that David was, for at least nine months, in a very insensible state; but he does not appear to have been so. All the time until his sin was confessed and acknowledged, he was miserable. Because there was divine grace in his heart, sin could not dwell there with comfort. As he would not own his sin before the bar of God, pleading guilty, and waiting for judgment, as he kept silence, it preyed upon him so, that he seemed to grow prematurely old, and that, not only in his skin and his flesh, but his very bones were affected: "My bones waxed old." Those solid pillars of the house of manhood trembled and were shaken under his awful sense of sin. You cannot be a child of God and sin, and then be happy. Other men may sin cheaply, but you cannot. If you are a man after God’s own heart, and you venture into uncleanness, it will sting you as does a viper it will burn within your bones like coals of juniper.
"When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long." David did pray, but he did not dare to call it prayer. It was like the moaning and groaning of a beast that is wounded, and faint, and near to die; and this terrible pain was upon him always: "For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me." God has a heavy hand for his sinful children. Other fathers may spoil their children with indulgence; but the Lord will not spoil his children. If we sin, we shall feel the weight of God’s hand. We ought to thank him for this; for though it brings great sorrow, yet it brings great safety to us. The worst thing that can happen to a man is to be allowed to sin, and yet to be happy in it. One of the best things for an erring believer is a taste of his Father’s rod. "Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer." All David’s joy was squeezed out, pressed out, by the heavy hand of God. His flowers ceased to bloom; his fruit was withered; his experience was nothing but a hard drought, without a drop of moisture. When David had gone so far, and had played only on the bass strings so long, he said, "Selah," that is, "Screw up the harp strings, let us put them in tune again. We are going up to something better now."