Pearls of the Word

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I did not hide my iniquity

by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf

"Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide [kacah] my iniquity; I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord', and you forgave the guilt of my sin" (Psalm 32:5 NRSV).

The Hebrew word kacah means to cover up, to hide, to forgive... David didn't cover up (hide) his iniquity from the Lord, but he spoke to Him in order to be forgiven. That's why he could sing: "Happy are those whose transgression is lifted up, whose sin is forgiven [kacah]" (Psalm 32:1 Interlinear). When we acknowledge our sins to the Lord, He forgives and covers them.

When we cover our iniquities, they can't be forgiven, and we become the prey of our enemy. But when we implore God for forgiveness as soon as we find an iniquity (i.e. at a time of finding), He covers (forgives) it, and when the great floods of the enemy come, they will not reach us (Psalm 32:6).