Psalm 38 -- Three Responses To God's Chastening

“David’s sins had brought God’s chastening to his life … David doesn’t question the legitimacy of his suffering, for he admitted his sins, but he wonders why his suffering is so severe … David wanted God to remember to be merciful … For God to remember someone means that He begins to act on their behalf and meet some need,” my commentary said.

It also said, “When God’s people suffer the consequences of sin and feel the chastening hand of God, they must choose one of three responses:
    1)      We can focus on ourselves and experience sin’s painfulness;
    2)      We can focus on others and experience sin’s loneliness;
    3)      We can focus on the Lord and experience sin’s forgiveness.

I loved several truths that my commentary brought out:

“If we don’t listen to the words of His heart, we will feel the weight of His hand.”

“We are free to disobey the Lord, but we are not free to change the consequences.”

“David took his eyes off his own suffering and looked to the Lord, knowing that God saw his heart and knew all his longings.  God knows what we want, but He also knows what we need.  Then why pray?  Because God has commanded us to pray, and ‘you do not have because you do not ask (James 4:2).”  LET’S ASK!

“He wanted God to work so the enemy couldn’t use him as an excuse for sinning.  When they slandered David’s name, they also slandered the Lord, and David wanted to honor the Lord.”

“Confident that the Lord had forgiven him, he closed his prayer with three requests:  Be WITH me, Be NEAR me, and Be FOR me and HELP me.”

Father, I loved the truths You showed me this morning.  Please help me to quickly come to You in confession and repentance when I sin so that I won’t be separated from You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford