Psalm 38

Psalm 38:1 (NIV2011) 1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Psalm 38:2 (NIV2011) 2  Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. Psalm 38:3 (NIV2011) 3  Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. Psalm 38:4 (NIV2011) 4  My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. Psalm 38:5 (NIV2011) 5  My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.

We suffer because of one of three reasons.

We bring it on ourselves.          

We are driving 120 mph and can't negotiate a curve.           We cause a problem in our body because of our actions. Smoking, alcohol, drugs to name a few.           God did not cause these problems but he did say he would be with you if you only turn to  Him. Lean on Him.

We are part of this world.          

God is not sitting in heaven saying "I think I will give Ralph some Covid 19"          

"I think I will have a tornado go through his back yard"          

These things affect the Good, the bad, and the ugly!          

When I was a child it was polio,  

           Undulant fever, Flu, TB, There was a time when "The common cold" was very deadly.

We are disciplined by God.          

How is God's discipline different from any of the above things we are dealing with? They aren't!                God has promised to be with us.                

God wants us to lean on him.          

How do I recognize God's Discipline?               

Examine my life against God's pattern.  

              Repent.  

              Trust God through the trial.

2 Peter 2:4-9

4  For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; 5  if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6  if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7  and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8  (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

James 1:2-5 (NIV2011) 2  Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

James 1:12 (NIV2011) 12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

How is Jesus able to help us?      Hebrews explains. Talking about Jesus.

Hebrews 2:17-18 (NIV2011) 17  For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Psalm 38:6 (NIV2011) 6  I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. Psalm 38:7 (NIV2011) 7  My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. Psalm 38:8 (NIV2011) 8  I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. Psalm 38:9 (NIV2011) 9  All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. Psalm 38:10 (NIV2011) 10  My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. Psalm 38:11 (NIV2011) 11  My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away. Psalm 38:12 (NIV2011) 12  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. Psalm 38:13 (NIV2011) 13  I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak; Psalm 38:14 (NIV2011) 14  I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. Psalm 38:15 (NIV2011) 15 LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God. Psalm 38:16 (NIV2011) 16  For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.” Psalm 38:17 (NIV2011) 17  For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me. Psalm 38:18 (NIV2011) 18 I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. Psalm 38:19 (NIV2011) 19  Many have become my enemies without cause; those who hate me without reason are numerous. Psalm 38:20 (NIV2011) 20  Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good. Psalm 38:21 (NIV2011) 21 LORD, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. Psalm 38:22 (NIV2011) 22  Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.

Psalm of unjustly accused

Psalm 17:2 (NIV2011) 2  Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right. Psalm 22:21 (NIV2011) 21  Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. Psalm 35:8 (NIV2011) 8  may ruin overtake them by surprise— may the net they hid entangle them, may they fall into the pit, to their ruin. Psalm 55:9 (NIV2011) 9  Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words, for I see violence and strife in the city.

In Psalm 38, however, we have a different prayer.

Enemies are mentioned, but not as the cause of the psalmist's distress.

They do seem to take delight in his misfortune, and so he voices the prayer, "Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips" (38:16).

But he does not cite them as responsible for his miserable condition.

In the psalms of the unjustly accused one finds declarations of innocence, but not in Psalm 38.

Here no attempt is made at self-justification because the writer knows himself to be a sinner.

Psalm 38:3 Psalm 38:5

Some in Israel believed that all suffering is punishment for sin.      I do not agree.  see notes at beginning of chapter     

You must determine if God is disciplining you.     

You know your heart - God knows your heart           God and you are the only two that know if God is disciplining you!

He lays no claim to being an innocent sufferer and would place the blame for his condition on no one else, much less upon the Lord by asking, "Why do I suffer?"     

He accepts his punishment as justly deserved.

Still, sinner that he is, he prays, not out of audacity, but with a contrite heart, and out of necessity. Consider his condition.     

His body is ravaged with disease;

pain and misery beset him, and     

his mind is burdened by a sense of God's displeasure.     

He knows that what he has done is an offense to God.     

Now he finds himself stricken by the hand of God,     

condemned by his own conscience,     

rejected by his near kin and by his friends,     

ridiculed by enemies.     

He is in the depths of depression, and

most depressing of all is the consciousness that he has brought it all upon himself by his own sin.

What hope remains for one in his condition?     

Hope in God's unfailing goodness and mercy!       

He may despair of himself but     

He does not despair of God.

The penitent sinner may have hesitated, but now he will present himself at the feet of him who is not only a righteous judge, but also a merciful savior.

College Press NIV Commentary, The - Psalms Volume 1.