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Psalm 38

A Penitent Sufferer’s Plea for Healing

A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.

1

O L ord, do not rebuke me in your anger,

or discipline me in your wrath.

2

For your arrows have sunk into me,

and your hand has come down on me.

 

3

There is no soundness in my flesh

because of your indignation;

there is no health in my bones

because of my sin.

4

For my iniquities have gone over my head;

they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.

 

5

My wounds grow foul and fester

because of my foolishness;

6

I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;

all day long I go around mourning.

7

For my loins are filled with burning,

and there is no soundness in my flesh.

8

I am utterly spent and crushed;

I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

 

9

O Lord, all my longing is known to you;

my sighing is not hidden from you.

10

My heart throbs, my strength fails me;

as for the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.

11

My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction,

and my neighbors stand far off.

 

12

Those who seek my life lay their snares;

those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin,

and meditate treachery all day long.

 

13

But I am like the deaf, I do not hear;

like the mute, who cannot speak.

14

Truly, I am like one who does not hear,

and in whose mouth is no retort.

 

15

But it is for you, O L ord, that I wait;

it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

16

For I pray, “Only do not let them rejoice over me,

those who boast against me when my foot slips.”

 

17

For I am ready to fall,

and my pain is ever with me.

18

I confess my iniquity;

I am sorry for my sin.

19

Those who are my foes without cause are mighty,

and many are those who hate me wrongfully.

20

Those who render me evil for good

are my adversaries because I follow after good.

 

21

Do not forsake me, O L ord;

O my God, do not be far from me;

22

make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation.


9 O Lord! thou knowest all my desire. He adds this, not so much in respect of God, as to strengthen himself in the hope of obtaining some alleviation of his trouble, and thus to animate himself to persevering prayer. It may be explained in a twofold sense, either as denoting his confident assurance that his prayers and groanings were heard by the Lord, or a simple declaration that he had poured out before God all his cares and troubles; but the meaning is substantially the same: for as long as men entertain any doubt whether their groanings have come up before God, they are kept in constant disquietude and dread, which so fetters and holds captive their minds, that they cannot elevate their souls to God. On the contrary, a firm persuasion that our groanings do not vanish away in their ascent to God, but that he graciously hears them, and familiarly listens to them, produces promptitude and alacrity in engaging in prayer. It might, therefore, prove no small ground of encouragement to David, that he approached God, not with a doubting and trembling heart, but strengthened and encouraged by the assurance of which we have spoken, and of which he himself speaks in another place, that his tears were laid up in God’s bottle, (Psalm 56:8.) In order that we may obtain access to God, we must believe that he is “a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” as the apostle states in his Epistle to the Hebrews, (Hebrews 11:6.) But I rather approve of the other interpretation, That David here declares that he had disburdened all his sorrows into the bosom of God. The reason why the greater part of men derive no profit from complaining grievously in their sorrow is, that they direct not their prayers and sighs to God. David, then, in order to encourage himself in the assured conviction that God will be his deliverer, says, that he had always been a witness of his sorrows, and was well acquainted with them, because he had neither indulged in a fretful spirit, nor poured out into the air his complaints and howlings as the unbelieving are wont to do, but had spread out before God himself all the desires of his heart.

10 My heart hath turned round The verb which David here uses signifies to travel or wander hither and thither; but here it is taken for the agitation or disquietude which distress of heart engenders when we know not what to do. According as men are disquieted in mind, so do they turn themselves on all sides, and so their heart may be said to turn round, or to run to and fro. But since faith, when it has once brought us into obedience to God, holds our minds fixed on his word, it might here be asked by way of objection, How it is that the heart of David was so affected by disquietude and trouble? To this I answer, That although he continued to walk in the ways of God, while he was sustained by the promises of God, yet he was not altogether exempted from human infirmity. And, indeed, it will always happen, that as soon as we fall into some danger, our flesh will suggest to us various shifts and devices, and lead us into many errors in search of counsel; so that even the most confident would fail and go astray, unless he laid upon himself the same restraint by which David was preserved and kept in subjection, namely, by keeping all his thoughts shut up within the limits of God’s word. Nay, even in the prayers which we offer up when our minds are at ease, we experience too well how easily our minds are carried away, and wander after vain and frivolous thoughts, and how difficult it is to keep them uninterruptedly attentive and fixed with the same degree of intensity upon the object of our desire. If this happen when we are not exercised by any severe trial, what will be the case when we are agitated by violent storms and tempests which threaten a thousand deaths, and when there is no way to escape them? It is, therefore, no great wonder if they carried away the heart of David, so that it was subject to various emotions amidst such tempestuous agitations. He adds, that his strength had failed him, as if he had compared himself to a dead man. What he adds concerning the light of his eyes some understand as if he had said, that he was so much oppressed with despair on all sides, that no counsel or foresight was left to him. The more simple meaning, however, is, that the light of life was taken away from him, because in it the energy of the soul principally shows itself.

11 My friends and my companions stand away from my sore Here David enumerates other circumstances to show the aggravated character of his misery, that he might excite the compassion of God. One of these is, that he finds no help or solace among men. In saying that his friends stand away from him, he means, that they cease from performing any of the offices of humanity towards him. This might happen either from pride or fear. If they withdrew from this poor afflicted man because they despised him, they were cruel and proud; and if they refused him their assistance for fear of being brought into odium, it was most unpardonable cowardice. But in the meantime, it augmented not a little the calamity of David, that even his friends and kinsfolk dared not to show any token of compassion towards him. It is, indeed, a very sore trial, when a man, who has had a great number of friends, comes to be abandoned by them all.


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