Confession Is Good For A Soul?

In Psalm 32, David rejoices over the forgiveness he received from God.  Part of that relief came right in the center of the Psalm, in verse 5 where he says he confessed his sin to God.  It is said that confession is good for the soul.  It is, but it can be hard on the one confessed to; that's just part of the consequences.

I bring this up because I confessed a sin to someone, and it hurt them deeply.  To be fair, they have not always responded this way, but things are hard for them right now, and their difficulty partly stems from me, even before the confession.

So, do I not confess because it hurts someone when I do?  That is a dangerous route for me.  My struggles thrive in secret, and even sometimes confession to another does not help bring them to light.  The pain caused when I confess is part of what I avoid through my compulsive behavior.  To not confess only strengthens the compulsion, even when I'm avoiding causing another pain. 

Another element here is that I must see the pain I cause others.  Without that, I can easily delude myself into believing I'm not hurting anyone but myself.  It's never been true.  I don't need to be compulsive to hurt someone, but I typically do when I am.  My compulsions are self-focused, self-delusional, and devoid of my Master.  They are dangerous for those reasons.  For those reasons I need to get out of my delusional selfishness and see these behaviors for what they really are, and what they really do.

I did, and it hurt me to hurt another.  It had to be done, to hurt them, in order to stop the hurting of them.  I can't allow the compulsion to thrive in secret expecting that they will not be hurt if I don't tell them.  There are many ways I have discovered that the pain I cause happens anyway.  I am not the same person when I am caught up in a compulsion (although I am finding that I can be a different person even without them). 

The basic truth here is that confession is good for both the soul confessing and the soul confessed to.  It may not feel good at first, but it helps stop the behavior that hurts, and what hurt was done can begin to heal.  It is scary, but it is necessary, and it is good for my soul.  Now I'm just waiting for the good feelings to catch up.