Having spoken of God's providence in thwarting the contrary and hostile plans of the surrounding nations and of firmly establishing his own good purposes for his people, the writer naturally turns to God's special care of these people, which is what the next stanza (vv. 12-19) explicitly describes.

Verse 3 encourages us to sing a “new song" to God. That is an unusual thing to say, and there have been various explanations of what the author meant by "new." At one point Alexander Maclaren suggested that it might be that this is the first psalm like this in the Psalter.¹ Others suggest that the psalm is a new telling of Genesis 1 and Exodus 15, which are echoed in the psalm's main section. It is more likely, however, that "new song" simply means that every praise song should emerge from a fresh awareness of God's grace.

In Psalm 51, after David has confessed his sin and asked God to forgive him, he says "Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you" (v. 13). We find the same thing in the third stanza of Psalm 33 (vv. 6, 7), because, having experienced the forgiveness of God, David next and naturally turns to others, exclaiming, "Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found" (v. 6). He wants everyone to experience the joy he has found as the result of his confession.

Yesterday we concluded by looking at the first word that describes God’s action toward our sin when we confess it, which is that he forgives it.

The second word that describes what God does with our sin is "covers." It is a strong religious term taken from the imagery of the Day of Atonement. On the Day of Atonement the high priest of Israel took blood from an animal that had been sacrificed in the courtyard of the temple and carried it into the Most Holy Place where it was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.