Psalm 32: Clear Message of God's Forgiveness

I find the psalms helpful in revealing how Old Testament believers' viewed spiritual things. I've previously posted about how, while some psalms seems to refer to the grave being the end of life, others clearly talk about eternal life. We've also discussed how sometimes the psalmist sounds like he is bragging about his good deeds while other psalms clearly show a reliance on God to forgive sins. Psalm 32 is another of these psalms that shows trust in God to forgive sins. In fact, the People's Bible calls Psalm 32 "one of the clearest statements of the doctrines of repentance, justification, and forgiveness in the Old Testament." It also says, "Paul quotes these verses in Romans 4:6-8 to show that the doctrine of salvation was the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament."

I am still a little stumped about how exactly Old Testament believers gained this understanding of God's forgiveness. We have a very clear directive in the New Testament. However I can't remember God telling any of his people early on in the Old Testament, "When you sin repent and turn to me and I will forgive you." But I suppose what other choice did they have? God was their Creator. God demanded they didn't sin. Who else could they turn to but to God, and he had proven himself again and again to be merciful.