Psalm 38 -- What David Knew

David’s thoughts are troubled, and I found that I had to really dig around to order them and see everything he was facing. First, he’d sinned:  “I confess my guilt; I am troubled by my sin.”

Second, he recognized that he was suffering both physical and spiritual consequences from his sin:  “My guilt has overwhelmed me; like a load it weighs me down … Even my bones are not healthy because of my sin … I moan from the pain  I feel…”

David knows God has every right to punish him for his sin:  “Lord, don’t correct me when You are angry.  Don’t punish me when You are furious.  Your arrows have wounded me and Your hand has come down on me … My heart pounds and my strength is gone.”

David knows that his sin nature is known to God and that sin separates him from God:  “I am like a deaf man; I cannot hear.  Like a mute, I cannot speak.  I am like a person who does not hear, who has no answer to give … Lord, You know EVERYTHING I want (his sinful desires??); my cries are not hidden from You … Lord, don’t leave me; my God, don’t go away.”

Yet he also knows he has to cry out to God for help – he can’t do it himself:  “Quickly come and help me, my Lord and Savior … I trust you, Lord.  You will answer, my Lord and God.”

The man after God’s own heart was just like us.  Yet God loved him and drew him back to Himself when David sinned, even using discipline to do it.  So we should know what David knew:  God already knows both our propensity to sin and the things that tempt us most.  He made us.  So He’s not surprised by our sin.  Disappointed, but not surprised.  And he wants us back when we do sin.  What a loving God!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford