Psalm 38 - Day 38

A psalm of David. A petition.

^[a]1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
   or discipline me in your wrath.
² Your arrows have pierced me,
   and your hand has come down on me.
³ Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
   there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
⁴ My guilt has overwhelmed me
   like a burden too heavy to bear.

⁵ My wounds fester and are loathsome
   because of my sinful folly.
⁶ I am bowed down and brought very low;
   all day long I go about mourning.
⁷ My back is filled with searing pain;
   there is no health in my body.
⁸ I am feeble and utterly crushed;
   I groan in anguish of heart.

⁹ All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
   my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰ My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
   even the light has gone from my eyes.
¹¹ My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
   my neighbors stay far away.
¹² Those who seek my life set their traps,
   those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
   all day long they scheme and lie.

¹³ I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,
   like the mute, who cannot speak;
¹⁴ I have become like one who does not hear,
   whose mouth can offer no reply.
¹⁵ LORD, I wait for you;
   you will answer, Lord my God.
¹⁶ For I said, “Do not let them gloat
   or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”

¹⁷ For I am about to fall,
   and my pain is ever with me.
¹⁸ I confess my iniquity;
   I am troubled by my sin.
¹⁹ Many have become my enemies without cause^[b];
   those who hate me without reason are numerous.
²⁰ Those who repay my good with evil
   lodge accusations against me,
   though I seek only to do what is good.

²¹ LORD, do not forsake me;
   do not be far from me, my God.
²² Come quickly to help me,
   my Lord and my Savior.

Sin is such a hard thing to come to grasp. We hate it and try to avoid it at all costs but yet sometimes we are drawn to it. We are so fortunate to have the mercy of God with us! Thank goodness He knows we will fall and fall again and He still forgives and forgives again.

Matthew Henry says this, "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. But a sense of guilt is too heavy to bear; and would sink men into despair and ruin, unless removed by the pardoning mercy of God. If there were not sin in our souls, there would be no pain in our bones, no illness in our bodies. The guilt of sin is a burden to the whole creation, which groans under it. It will be a burden to the sinners themselves, when they are heavy-laden under it, or a burden of ruin, when it sinks them to hell. When we perceive our true condition, the Good Physician will be valued, sought, and obeyed. Yet many let their wounds rankle, because they delay to go to their merciful Friend. When, at any time, we are distempered in our bodies, we ought to remember how God has been dishonored in and by our bodies. The groanings which cannot be uttered are not hid from Him that searches the heart, and knows the mind of the Spirit. David, in his troubles, was a type of Christ in his agonies, of Christ on his cross, suffering and deserted."

God is much easier to forgive us than we are our brothers. We like to hold grudges and anger to "make us feel better" when it really makes matters worse. I pray I will be able to let go and move on. What do you pray for?