Psalm 32 is another song of penitence and was no doubt occasioned by David's sin with Bathsheba. The background for this Psalm is II Samuel 11 and 12. David lusted after his neighbor's wife, committed adultery, made the husband drunk, had him murdered, and then covered the whole affair for at least a year. David was not a young man when he fell into these sins; he was a mature man ruling over a great kingdom. In this Psalm David could find no words to express his shame and humiliation.
I firmly believe there is a difference between a sin of weakness and a willful, habitual sin. A good man may sin, but, because of that sin, his heart will be broken. This was the case with David. He had sinned; he knew he had sinned; and his remorse showed him to be a good man. A wicked man is much different from David. He purposely, willfully, and habitually sins, with no remorse. There is no sorrow, or no repentance because of his sin. And he would commit the same sin again.
Psalm 32 speaks of the wonderful forgiveness in Christ. Psalm 33 follows with joy and praise. We have no new song until we become children of God through the shed blood of Christ. In Psalm 34 David thanks God for wonderful deliverance. In every trouble David went straight to God in prayer. At every deliverance he went directly to God in thanks and praise. What a glorious thing to thus live in God! Someone has said, "Thank God for the starlight, and He will give you the moonlight. Thank Him for the moonlight, and He will give you the sunlight. Thank Him for the sunlight, and by and by He will take you where He Himself is the Light.".
Psalm 35 is a cry for help in distress and is known as an Imprecatory Psalm. Other such Psalms are 52, 58, 59, 69, 109, and 137. They must be understood as the prayers of the godly in a day of great apostasy and violence. The Spirit of God prays through them for the destruction of the wicked. To see a conflict here with Jesus' teaching of love and forgiveness is to misunderstand God's holiness when His grace in Christ has been rejected.
