Psalm 32 is about the joy of being forgiven, and of feeling forgiven. This runs all the way through the psalm in various ways, first, in being in a state which can receive forgiveness; next, in describing the anguish of keeping silent about our imperfect state or denying there might be any wrong in us; and then in a section on the power of releasing ourselves to the Lord and acknowledging our wrongs.
Then comes the idea that in approaching the Lord we become protected and preserved. After this, it is the Lord who speaks about us being taught the way we should go. Finally the psalm ends by describing how someone who trusts the Lord and lives from him will find gladness in the Lord.
We shall look at the spiritual meaning of each of these parts of the psalm. Before that, let’s briefly describe ‘forgiveness’. To forgive is to release feelings of resentment and anger and to experience the change that comes. To be forgiving can go further, and mean to have an accepting attitude to life itself. God’s forgiveness is constant but it is purposeful, not sentimental. (Arcana Caelestia 6559 end )
The first two verses, Psalm 32:1-2, talk about the lightness that comes in feeling you are forgiven. Such a person feels blessed in no longer carrying the heavy burden of guilt or shame. The two verses are divided up into two pairs, first, involving transgressions and sins, secondly in iniquities and guile.
The spiritual meaning here in each verse is to do with wrongs done to what is true, and then wrongs done to what is good. The second type are more serious. To attack truth does not alter whether a truth is true or not. If anything is harmed, it is the attacker within himself. But to attack what is good is to harm and hurt something of the will, of affection, and of love.
The psalm begins by describing the feeling of being blessed by the Lord even though a wrong was done, and then moves into the more ideal picture of someone who does not do wrong because he turns from it and keeps a pure spirit. Then the tragedy of holding back our wrongs from the Lord is described, and the penalty that we pay in keeping silent. This is followed by the release of confessing and of feeling forgiven. The spiritual meaning here is all to do with repentance and recognising our need of the Lord (See the explanation in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 159-165)
Next comes the realisation that all of us need to have this experience of feeling the Lord’s forgiveness. When we bring ourselves to the Lord in faith and trust we are protected from the deluge of despair, guilt, shame or however our grief presents. There is assurance and experience of the Lord’s safekeeping and deliverance.
The next verses point out that we need to be instructed and taught so that we know for sure the way we should go, and we know why. We should not be like an animal which must be harnessed in order to travel; we should travel because we have understood and therefore we choose this direction. (Conjugial Love 498)
The psalm finishes with a kind of logic, that trusting the Lord brings us the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness, and therefore that we should be glad, and live uprightly, keeping the Word of the Lord.
