“For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (Psalm 32:3 ESV)

David described how he felt when he had unconfessed sin in his life. Keeping silent about the sin, he felt a sense of heaviness and separation from the Lord. He suffered a kind of spiritual arthritis in his bones, so that his prayers turned into groaning as he tried to bend his stiff knees before the Lord. Yet when he acknowledged his sin, the Lord forgave him. God’s steadfast love surrounded him. Why did he wait so long to confess? Why not admit the sin as soon as he felt the Spirit’s conviction? Why wait for the spiritual dryness and heaviness before crying out to the Lord?