Psalm 38 contains references like those found in Psalm 32: depicting the effects of sin and the pain a believer feels under God’s conviction. It’s possible this passage was composed in response to David’s sin with Bathsheba. Nothing will disquiet the heart of a good man so much as the sense of God’s anger. The way to keep the heart quiet, is to keep ourselves in the love of God. This is one of the penitential psalms; it is full of grief and complaint from the beginning to the end. David is rehearsing the fact that his sin has caused God to single him out. As a result, David is suffering physically and emotionally.
It reads in Psalm 38:1-22 NIV
{A psalm of David. A petition}
Lord do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away. Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie. I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak; I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God. For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.” For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me. I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. Many have become my enemies without cause; those who hate me without reason are numerous. Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good. Lord do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.

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