Lord Do Not Rebuke Me in Your Anger: Psalm 38 (the Seven Penitential Psalms)

Psalm 38:title–22 (NIV)

A psalm of David. A petition.

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 want to kill me 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;

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.

When we read Psalm 32 we explored the experience of having been forgiven and set free. Psalm 38 takes us back into the same territory that Psalm 6 put us in, even beginning with the same words. Repentance is cyclical. Sometimes we buckle under the weight of our sins, sometimes we know fully the joy of being forgiven.

But this Psalm speaks more explicitly about how sin stands behind his calamity. The psalmist knows that his peculiar suffering is caused by his sin [Note: Suffering doesn’t always have sin as a direct cause, other psalms explore the suffering of the righteous].  He speaks of God’s wrath, his guilt, his sinful folly, his sin and iniquity. His sin has caused him to suffer and his health to falter.  He longs for forgiveness, healing and restoration but he experiences none.  And he feels isolated and alone. Even the good that he offers others is repaid harshly.

David (presumably the author of this Psalm) suffered for his sin.  He knew that God was right to be angry with him. He had disobeyed God’s law and misused his power when he took Bathsheba and had Uriah the Hittite killed in battle (more about this when we discuss Psalm 51).  He sinned when he trusted in his army instead of God. At times his anger burned hot and he acted rashly. When he was older he failed to address the sins of his sons Amnon (who raped his half sister Tamar) and Absalom (who avenged Tamar and forcibly wrested the Kingdom from David’s hands for a time).  I think he had difficulty confronting his sons because he was guilty of the same sins. A little leniency from David meant that he reaped the whirlwind and many whom he called friends and allies betrayed him.

We do not know the occasion of this Psalm (or even if   the superscription ‘of David’ means that he  wrote this psalm). But we’ve experienced this. Have you held on to Sin in your heart and seen it poison everything in your life? Have you been bitter against someone who betrayed you and abused your trust?  You were justified in your anger but when bitterness grew in you, you were the one who suffered.  All your relationships were poisoned and you felt isolated and alone.

How about lust? Are you tempted to treat others as objects to be used for your own satisfaction? Or greed? Are you constantly reaching for just a little more and find yourself consumed by your own consumption? Does your pride prevent you from turning to God or others for the help you desperately need?And the list can go on. I know it because I am sinner too and in my own way have suffered what the Psalmist describes.

But the Psalmist knows more than the weight of his sin. He knows that hope for forgiveness and restoration are found in God. He lays his soul bare and cries, ” Lord, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.” His own actions may have caused his suffering and isolation. His health deteriorated because of anxiety and guilt over what he had done. But he knows that he can do nothing to aleviate his condition. If there is freedom and life and hope, it will come when the God of salvation draws near.

May we also look to the Savior of our souls to free us from the sin that entangles us.  Teach us Lord to turn our hearts to you.