6 beautiful psalms that teach us forgiveness

God created us to be in full relationship with Him. But time and time again, we build walls between us and our Heavenly Father. We disobey the rules God has given us, conveniently forgetting that when we sin, we don't just hurt someone else, we hurt God. A sin against another is a sin against God.

No sacrifice or good work on our part can possibly compensate for this transgression. But there is hope, because the Bible tells us that God loves us from a well so deep that its limits are endless. And when we sin, and we not only acknowledge that sin but sincerely repent and seek to do good, God forgives us. He washes us away and we can start over. In return, God tells us that we should do the same with others when they wrong us: forgive them in honor of the great gift our Father gives us.

The concept of forgiveness runs throughout the Bible, and especially in the Psalms, where David and the other psalmists implore forgiveness and teach us important lessons in the process.

So here are six psalms that teach us about forgiveness.

Key Verse: Psalm 32:5,“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and hid not my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.' And you have forgiven the guilt of my sin.”

Sin is defined as disobeying the commandments of God. When we lie to another human, or covet what they have, we are breaking God's command not to lie or covet or any other command that we are breaking. Not only does it harm another human, but more importantly, it harms God.

When we sin, the first step is to understand that our wrongdoings not only affect ourselves or the other person involved, but hurt God.

And by hurting God, it creates a boundary between us and our Creator. Understanding this helps us recognize the evil of our sin and opens our eyes to the wider impact of disobedience.

This is why the first step in forgiveness is to admit that we have sinned. Acknowledging it freely is important because it forces us to own up to our misbehavior.

Psalm 32 deals with this. He begins by noting how blessed someone who has been forgiven is and how unhappy the psalmist was when he "kept silent" (v. 3) and did not acknowledge his sin. But then, as he notes in our key verse, “I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you have forgiven the guilt of my sin” (v. 5).

Essentially, the psalmist confessed his wrongdoing to the Lord, and suddenly his burden was lifted. By admitting his sin, sincerely acknowledging it, and repenting, he received forgiveness. God restored her joy and became her refuge, her "hiding place" (v. 7).

This is what this psalm teaches us. When we confess our sin to the Lord and don't try to pretend it didn't happen or run from it, and when we turn our lives back to God's way, then God gives us a gift formidable in return: the freedom of forgiveness. .

And when someone else wrongs us, we should remember this gift we receive from God and strive to forgive him in return.

Key Verses: Psalm 40:2-3,“He brought me out of the slime, mud and mire; he put my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.”

Just as we have been forgiven for our sins, we are told to forgive others. After teaching the disciples the Lord's Prayer, Jesus emphasized the importance of forgiveness, noting, “For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14–15). And later, before sharing the parable of the ruthless servant, Jesus asked his disciple Peter, “Lord, how many times will I forgive my brother or my sister who has sinned against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times" (Matthew 18:21-22).

When God forgives us, we make a fresh start, a fresh start. This is what the psalmist David seems to mean in Psalm 40, which is both a psalm of praise and lamentation. Here David recalls a time when he was in deep anguish and weighed down with sin, waiting for God to deliver him. But then God lifted him up from “the slimy pit,” put his feet on firm ground, and put a new song in his mouth (vv. 2-3).