Psalm 32
July 9, 2017
preached by Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Faith is the resting of the heart on God.”

~ William Ames (1576-1633), English Protestant theologian and philosopher

“Prayer is the practice of drawing on the grace of God.  Don’t say, ‘I will endure this until I can get away and pray.’  Pray now – draw on the grace of God in your moment of need.  Prayer is the most normal and useful thing; it is not simply a reflex action of your devotion to God.  We are very slow to learn to draw on God’s grace through prayer.”

~ Oswald Chambers (1874-1917), Scottish evangelist, teacher and author

“You sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.”

~ J.I. Packer (1926-present), British-born Canadian professor, theologian and author

“The reason why our prayers so often fall flat, or come out ‘stale,’ is because they have been uprooted from the soil of the word of God.”

“Prayer is the way we work our way out of the comfortable but cramped world of self, and into the spacious world of God.”

~ Eugene Peterson (1932-present), American-born clergyman, scholar, author, and poet

“Few delights can equal the mere presence of one whom we trust utterly.”

~ George MacDonald (1824-1905), Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister

Sermon Passage

Psalm 32 (NIV)

¹     Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
²     Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against
them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
³     When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
⁴     For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
⁵     Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
⁶     Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
⁷     You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
⁸     I will instruct you and teach you in the way you
should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
⁹     Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
¹⁰   Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.
¹¹   Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart!