Confession is WORSHIP 

By: Carole L. Haines 

Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. 
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” 
    And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude 

⁶ Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, 
    that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment. 
7 For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. 
    You surround me with songs of victory. Interlude 

⁸ The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. 
    I will advise you and watch over you. (Psalm 32:5-8 NLT) 

 Someone had hurt me so badly, it felt like such a betrayal. I happened to be talking to another person and their name came up. She had hurt this person too. Before I knew it, we were gossiping about how deeply this person hurt us. God convicted me of this sin as I lay in my bed that night tossing and turning. O, I tried to justify it as “just venting.” God was having none of that slather. God wanted me to confess the full truth, I HAD GOSSIPED!  He wanted me to acknowledge the truth and stop watering it down or trying to minimize it. The Scriptures put the conviction right, and I bowed to God’s righteous decree. 

Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. 
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” 
    And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.  

I looked up the word “confession” in Hebrew and here is what I found. 

Yadah, yaw-daw’; a primitive root;   
literally, to use (i.e. hold out) the hand; physically, 
to throw (a stone, an arrow) at or away; especially to revere or worship (with extended hands); praise, (give) thankful, or thanksgiving). 

Sounds like Worship in a good Church Service today. Contrast that with the alternative definition given: 
To intensively, to bemoan (by wringing the hands):—cast (out), (make) confess(-ion),  
(Blue Letter Bible, Strong’s Concordance) 

Confession is holding out the hand in praise OR in agreement with God about sin. Just as we extend our hands to worship as an offering, God wants us to extend our hands in admitting our sins as He call them. Not some watered down, self-justifying version of it. God wants us to speak the full truth about our sin and extend our hands in agreement with Him. It made me realize that confession is a form of worship. The obedience of agreeing with God about sin is WORSHIP. What an honor to be able to confess to God directly. Because of Jesus, pir mediator between God and mankind; we can now come boldly to God and be forgiven when we sin. Ponder the wonder of that as I close us by considering this familiar verse of Scripture: 

⁵ This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; ⁷ but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. 

(1John 1:5-10 NASB) 
 Confession is truly worship and we must never take it lightly. God sure takes it seriously. We come before Him in Worship, including our confession.