David Boudia almost did not make it to the Olympic finals.  He had a poor preliminary round in the 10 meter diving competition, and just barely qualified to go to the final round.  But fortunately, under the Olympic diving rules, his preliminary scores were all erased when he came to the finals.  He was able to start anew, and with a “clean slate”, he won the gold medal!

David Boudia’s experience of having his poor scores erased is a good analogy of the forgiveness that Psalm 32 tells us that God gives us when we confess our sins.  Notice in  verses 1 & 2 that there are 3 expressions which indicate what God does with confessed sin:

— “forgiven”: when a debt is forgiven, you do not owe anything any more!

— “covered”: when a stain is covered, you cannot see it any longer!

— not “imputed”: it is not counted against you — like how David Boudia’s poor qualifying scores were not “counted against” him.

What Christians need to truly grasp is that when we confess our sins to God, these three things happen to our sins – the very ones the devil may use to trouble our minds.  But as this scripture makes clear, when our sins are brought under the blood of Jesus, there is no place for lingering guilt regarding confessed sin.   Those sins are “forgiven”; “covered”; “not imputed.”  They no longer exist in the accounting of God!