1O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot
displeasure!
2For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.
3There is no soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones Because of my sin.
4For my iniquities have gone over my head;
Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5My wounds are foul and festering
Because of my foolishness.
6I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day long.
7For my loins are full of inflammation,
And there is no soundness in
my flesh.
8I am feeble and severely broken;
I groan because of the turmoil
of my heart.
9Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden
from You.
10My heart pants, my strength fails me;
As for the light of my eyes,
it also has gone from me.
11My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague,
And my relatives stand afar
off.
12Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;
Those who seek my hurt speak
of destruction,
And plan deception all the day
long.
13But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute who does
not open his mouth.
14Thus I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth is no
response.
15For in You, O Lord, I hope;
You will hear, O Lord my God.
16For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me,
Lest, when my foot slips, they
exalt themselves against me.”
17For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually
before me.
18For I will declare my iniquity;
I will be in anguish over my
sin.
19But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;
And those who hate me
wrongfully have multiplied.
20Those also who render evil for good,
They are my adversaries,
because I follow what is good.
21Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, be not far from me!
22Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!
Preamble: Psalm 38 is so passionately and intimately written that it deserves everyone’s consideration and contemplation, whether a brand-new creation in Christ, or someone who has walked and lived many years with the Lord Jesus. At its core is an honest plea for God’s mercy, coming from a broken man who knows the depths of his own sin, and because of it is now in great despair. Therefore, it is not pretentious, nor self-justifying, but it is truthful, needful, helpful, because it reveals a man who does not turn away from God when he has failed Him, rather He turns to Him, and lays it all out before Him. How one then views this Psalm, and those who lean on it, will say a lot about them.
Commentary
Vs
1
“O Lord,
do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!”
Is this not every remorseful sinner’s fear, that the Lord will unleash His just wrath upon them for what they have done. For when He judges who can stand? The plea prayed here then is not done as a trivial thing, for anyone who knows the Lord, knows that if He judges in wrath (which is different than anger) we would be consumed, and that His chastisement if done unchecked would leave one utterly ruined.
Vs. 2-3 2For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.
3There is no soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones Because of my sin.
David now speaks of his plight, which does not come from others (at least not the origins of it) but from his own sin, which must have been very severe given the metaphors he uses to describe the Lord’s chastening him. Saying the Lord’s arrows now pierce him deeply, clearly indicating that this is no light chastisement that he is now enduring. And so, the seriousness of his sin he is now fully aware of. Indeed, the Lord has even raised His own hand against him, and He now presses him down so that he cannot rise. In other words, he cannot then simply walk away from what He has done, he must now face it all, all that it has done to others, and all that it is now doing to him! And with all of this pressing down on him, David’s flesh has lost its soundness, because the Lord is angry with him for what he has done. For the Lord can love us, and He can also be angry with us, just ask any sound parent, for these are not mutally exclusive from each other. Therefore, David’s health and vitality has departed from him because of his sin. Therefore, in acknowledging all these things David is taking ownership of his plight and circumstances, for he knows that this is his rightful due before the Lord.
Vs. 4-8 4For my iniquities have gone over my head;
Like a heavy burden they are
too heavy for me.
5My wounds are foul and festering
Because of my foolishness.
6I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly;
I go mourning all the day
long.
7For my loins are full of inflammation,
And there is no soundness in
my flesh.
8I am feeble and severely broken;
I groan because of the turmoil
of my heart.
David now acknowledges to the Lord that the iniquities he let pile up in his life have now gone over his head, and like a heavy burden he can no longer bear them, neither bear the consequences, much less the shame and guilt of them all. For sin always has that way with us when we look the other way and say, some other day I’ll deal with this. And so now he has wounds that are foul and festering, because as he admits, this happened because of his own foolishness; of his either willfully engaging in them, or not taking the consequences of them serious from the start. And so now he is troubled and bowed down greatly, his loins are full of inflammation, and his once healthy body has thus become feeble and severely broken, even his heart has lost its joy, for his once cheerful countenance and laughter have now been turned into mourning and despair, turmoil then is what now fills his heart. Morally and emotionally conflicted, physically broken and afflicted, this is all so very sad because David is a man after God’s heart. For David was never defiant and rebellious, he was not a man who mocked the way of righteousness; indeed, he sought it, and stood up for it. But as it so often happens, when men rise to power, they soon forget that it's not they themselves who has established them, but the Lord, and when a man forgets that he becomes susceptible to engage in all kinds of lusts and temptations and foolishness (consider Prov. 5; 14:13). For when a man leads himself, he is always misled.
Vs. 9-11 9Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden
from You.
10My heart pants, my strength fails me;
As for the light of my eyes,
it also has gone from me.
11My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague,
And my relatives stand afar
off.
In the midst of his despair David again turns his face to the Lord, who knows all his desire, (as He knows ours) He knows his heart. And David also knows that the Lord knows his sighing, it is not hidden from Him. Thus, David is now leaning on the Lord's tender mercies and compassions to heal and restore him. For David’s once sound (i.e., peaceful) heart now pants (i.e., pounds, racing inside him). And as for his strength; which he so often relied upon to lift himself up out of trouble; it now fails him. Even the light of his eyes which once sparkled with life is now gone. As for his loved ones, friends, and relatives they all see what is happening to him, and yet instead of comforting or consoling him, they all just stand afar off, for they don’t want to get involved with him when he is plagued like this. No one then is going to come to his aid or help, for they have all effectively written him off!
Vs. 12-14 12Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;
Those who seek my hurt speak
of destruction,
And plan deception all the day
long.
13But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute who does
not open his mouth.
14Thus I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth is no
response.
Worse yet, while he is in this weakened state, David’s enemies now feel utterly emboldened, and so they begin to lay snares to take away his life. So sure, are they of his demise that they now even speak openly of his demise and destruction, even while within earshot of him (vs. 12). Yet David retains his composure and remains silent, pretending that he does not hear and does not know, for to rebuke them now might mean that God will not (vs. 13-14). And what can a man say to such people that would change them? It is like trying to negotiate and reason with a shark before it attacks.
Vs. 15-17 15For in You, O Lord, I hope;
You will hear, O Lord my God.
16For I said, “Hear me, lest they rejoice over me,
Lest, when my foot slips, they
exalt themselves against me.”
17For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually
before me.
Therefore, Davids's hope is never found in the people around him, (in trying to build up allies to himself), but only in the Lord. For even in his darkest times, he remains sure of the Lord’s faithfulness. Therefore, he asks the Lord not to let his enemies rejoice over him, not to let them see him fall down, lest they exalt themselves against him. For they are so cruel that they would exude and delight themselves in nothing more than to see his downfall and ruin. Indeed, they can hardly wait to exalt themselves against them. Truly then such people are deserving of all the calamity and troubles that the Lord has reserved for them! Now if you want a Biblical example of such evil people and the Lord’s response to them, consider the Edomites who exalted themselves and rejoiced at Israel’s own downfall when God was chastening them. Therefore, do not be like them lest you end up like them, for as God deals with nations so He deals with individuals (Consider Psalm 137:7; Ezekiel 25:12-14; 35:1-15; Obadiah 10-14 etc.).
Vs. 18 “For I will declare my iniquity;
I will be in anguish over my
sin.”
David then was not trying to conceal his iniquity, he was not trying to excuse his sin, indeed he was greatly remorseful about his transgression. For he was grieved by his own sin and what it had done, therefore he would receive the Lord’s mercies, just as you will if you are remorseful about yours.
Vs. 19-20 19But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;
And those who hate me
wrongfully have multiplied.
20Those also who render evil for good,
They are my adversaries,
because I follow what is good.
In contrast to David’s humility and brokenness before the Lord was his enemies who felt no remorse for all the troubles, grief, and pain they had caused him. Indeed, even while he was in such a terrible state, they were now multiplying themselves against him, and this without any just cause. Even when he did good towards them, they only quickly forgot it, or outright dismissed it, so that they could continue on in their evil ways towards him. And why were they doing this to him? Because he followed what was good, and they didn't, and they couldn’t stand it, couldn’t stand to see him succeed in ways that they were not. Therefore, the more David did what was good and right in the sight of God the more they hated him, for the wicked will always hate the righteous (Pr. 29:27; John 15:18; 17:13; 1 John 3:13-15).
Vs. 21-22 21Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, be not far from me!
22Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!
Therefore, in a final appeal David in all faith and trust now asks the Lord not to forsake him, not to be far from him, to make haste and help him, because He is our salvation!
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.
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