Finding the way to spiritual health (Psalm 32)

A former work colleague was in a high-pressure job and would tell anyone who cared to listen that she could only cope because she had a strategy of ‘wellness’, a term used nowadays to express the state of well-being that extends from the physical to the mental- emotional, as well as the spiritual, and encompasses our whole being. She went to the gym several times a week, practised yoga and meditation to feel centred, used aromatherapy to release stress from her job and sought out opportunities to deal with feelings of guilt and shame through counselling. Although not everyone pursues well-being in such an active way, Western cultures have shifted away from asking ‘How can I be a good person?’ to ‘How can I feel well in myself?’. Considering the resources available to us in this direction, we might wonder how effective these methods are given the astonishing rate of people who are stressed and unhappy.

The psalmist’s answer for being ‘happy’

The psalmist’s answer to what makes for a ‘happy’ person takes us in a different direction. The Hebrew for ‘blessed’ means something like ‘truly happy’, a state that goes deeper than the temporary joys and pleasures that arise from our circumstances. He is, in fact, mapping out the way to spiritual health that impacts our whole life. Using the format of a wisdom psalm (i.e. teaching deductively about how to live wisely, like Proverbs does), the psalmist describes two types of people or situation (Ps 32:1-2, 3-4).[1] The difference hinges on how we deal with sin. This, for many, is a surprising conclusion because sin seems such an old-fashioned word and one that has largely disappeared from our vocabularies, even in the church. Politicians and public figures talk about committing ‘an error in judgment’ or admit to ‘a mistake’ and sin as an offence against God no longer features in Western thinking. In other words, sin has become largely invisible to us and, even for Christians, it is hard not to lose sensitivity in this direction when so much of what the Bible considers wrong is seen as simply normal behaviour.

Yet, we cannot avoid living in a moral universe. God has created us with a conscience and while it may become blunted, feelings of guilt, even remorse, bubble under the surface without us fully understanding or realising what is going on.[2] In fact, long before the holistic approaches of today, the ancient Israelites saw an intrinsic connection between body and spirit, so that suppressing sin was expressed in physicality: in a body wasted away (Ps 32:3), in an oppressive quality to life (God’s heavy hand of disapproval) and a draining away of vitality (Ps 32:4; Robert Alter translates it as ‘My sap turned to summer dust’).[3] We may try to treat our disease with techniques of wellness, but we cannot eradicate the problem because we are only dealing with the symptoms, not the root cause.

Relationship with God

At heart, the question of forgiveness for sin is about the relationship with God and unless it is restored and flourishing, we will never be truly happy. While it is tempting to minimise and excuse our sin, it is paradoxically those who do not cover up but acknowledge it to God (Ps 32:5) who will find their sins covered and forgiven (Ps 32:1; same Hebrew word for ‘to cover/hide’ in both verses). As in human relationships like marriage and friendship, so with God, admitting wrongdoing and finding forgiveness are necessary for establishing trust as a foundation of an honest relationship. It is only then that we can meet with the Lord in prayer and build a relationship that will endure even when life’s troubles threaten to flood and overwhelm us (Ps 32:6). It is in that deepening connection that we learn to discern God’s will, to respond to His promptings and the counsel of His eyes (Ps 32:8) rather than needing to be hemmed in by circumstances like dumb animals that are prodded and pushed by bit and bridle (Ps 32:9). May we become people who seek true spiritual health and flourishing in the whole of life through a deepening and honest relationship with God that seeks His guidance on how to live and finds joy and refuge in Him.

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[1] A similar wisdom psalm is Psalm 1 that contrasts the righteous with the wicked.

[2] Francis Spufford describes these feelings that he experienced before his conversion from a non-religious background (see esp. Ch.2, ‘A Crack in Everything’). He argues that his is not an isolated experience but present in secular people and that the Christian message that explains the spiritual reality behind it therefore makes surprising emotional sense. Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense (London: Faber and Faber, 2012).

[3] Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary (New York: Norton, 2007), 111.

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