1 Oh, what joy for those
    whose disobedience is forgiven,
    whose sin is put out of sight!
2 Yes, what joy for those
    whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,
    whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
3 When I refused to confess my sin,
    my body wasted away,
    and I groaned all day long.
4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.
    My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.  Interlude

5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you
    and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”
    And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.  Interlude

6 Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time,
    that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.
7 For you are my hiding place;
    you protect me from trouble.
    You surround me with songs of victory.  Interlude (New Living Translation).

Psalm 32 resonates, does it not? I think we all know what it is be weighed down with the guilt of sin, and we may also know the sheer relief that comes with confession to God, and the assurance of His love and forgiveness.

‘My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—
  My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His Cross, and I bear it no more;
  Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!’ Horatio Spafford

If this psalm belongs to the time of David’s adultery with Bathsheba, verses 3,4 show how he was burdened by a guilty conscience, and verse 5 corresponds to 2 Sam.12:13:

”Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’

Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.’ ”

But notice how David applies this lesson from his experience in verse 6a:

‘If prayer is sufficient to deal with the most serious problem of all – the sin which could be counted against us before God (1-5) – will not prayer solve every problem of life (6)? Such is the theme of this psalm…’ Alec Motyer

God, in answer to prayer, can deal with the biggest problem of all. Everything else we bring to Him is small by comparison.

‘Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence.’ C.H.Spurgeon