Floods

    Psalm 32:6
    Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You at a time that You may be found. When great floodwaters come they will not reach him.
"Therefore" points us back to the previous verses and thoughts. Our previous meditations focused on the fact that David is now free from guilt related to his great sin. Need a review? (Psalm 32:1-5)

David presses on in the rest of the chapter as he both revels in his new freedom and the ramifications of his new condition. In our verse for today he is focused on prayer. As a a result of our previous "struggles," let me (David) encourage everyone who is propelled by faith to keep a prayer routine. Pray when the Lord is available.

This might seem a little odd to say, since the Lord is available all the time to hear us. But it seems that David may have a different idea in mind. When we are "away" from the Lord, either through deliberate rebellion or inadvertent neglect, we are not so inclined to pray. So His "inaccessibility"  is driven by our state of fellowship of lack thereof. For instance, Peter says our prayers are hindered when we are not living in right relation to our wives. (1 Peter 3:7)

The interpretation of that will be left to the individual to sort out. Regardless of how it happens, the result is a failure to "find" God in our prayers. On the contrary, when we are in touch with Him, even great "floodwaters" will not reach us.

Looking back again at David's context, these floodwaters are very likely those of guilt. There is a condition known as "survivors' guilt" where an innocent person feels guilty at having escaped some terrible event in which others were injured or died. If "innocent" people are overwhelmed by guilt, surely the guilty also face such overwhelming emotional tides. (Of course, I would not know personally, since I am so close to perfect. ED note: Nope.)

Satan likes nothing better than to paralyze God's people with fake and false guilt. "How can you work for or even speak about God after what you did? Just keep your lip buttoned."

David stole another man's wife. He committed adultery. He conspired to cover it up, going so far as to attempt to entice the wronged man to believe that the newly conceived child was his own. Then David conspired to murder the husband. And he carried out the homicide. Then he further covered it up.

Do not believe for a second that Satan was willing to let him forget it. Before he repented, the Holy Spirit was after him day and night. That pretty much translates to 24/7. Once David was forgiven, Satan began to torment him with the horror of what he had done. Just as there is a remedy for real guilt, remorse and repentance, there is a remedy for false guilt. David unveils it. "Pray." Paul said to "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Holman says, "Pray constantly."

I am told that in Greek, this is the shortest verse in the Bible. It doesn't need much explanation. (So I won't.) David's only addition was to do it before the flood comes. We might use the little Dutch boy approach to floods, but if we have to build the dike before we can stick our finger into the hole, "we in trouble."

"Therefore," since we have had the real guilt removed by the Lord, all we need to do is keep in touch–in the good times. And when the "bad" times come, "great floodwaters," the dike will hold.

The floods will not reach us. Guilt is defeated by the barrier of forgiveness and faith.

"...let everyone who is faithful pray....