Why Bother to Confess Sin to God?

Have you ever had a time when you knew someone did something wrong and you really wanted them to tell you that they had done wrong? You saw them do it or you found out somehow, but it was important for you to know that they knew that it was wrong and that they came to you to ask for forgiveness. Why was it important for you to have them tell you? After all, you already knew what they did. Why was it important? Why is it still important today?

We have this same situation in Psalm 32, a psalm written by David. Many believe that David wrote this psalm thinking about his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. Here is what David writes in verse 5: I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden.  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. If God already knows that we have sinned, why is it important to confess that sin? I think it speaks to the importance of relationship. Just like a parent wants to hear the confession of a child, so God wants to hear our confession. We aren’t revealing any information to God…after all He’s omniscient. But we are revealing the relationship we have with Him, aren’t we? If we don’t bother to confess our sin, then aren’t we saying that we aren’t really interested in that relationship? Are we not communicating that the closeness of our relationship with God is not important to us?

God doesn’t desire that you confess your sin so that He knows what you’ve done…He already knows that. Rather, He desires that you confess your sin because He wants you to acknowledge that sin before Him to signify how important you consider the relationship. That’s why confession is important…so, do you have anything you want to say to Him???