2/4/2012 8:50:37 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Psalm 38 A Penitent Psalm
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Psalm 38
Message of the verses: “This is one of the penitential psalms; it is full of grief and complaint from the beginning to the end. David’s sins and his afflictions are the cause of his grief and the matter of his complaints. It should seem he was now sick and in pain, which reminded him of his sins and helped to humble him for them; he was, at the same time, deserted by his friends and persecuted by his enemies; so that the psalm is calculated for the depth of distress and a complication of calamities.” (From Matthew Henry’s Commentary)
“This psalm was composed by David under some sore affliction, and when in great distress of mind by reason of sin, perhaps his sin with Bathsheba; and was written as a memorial of his sense of sin, of his great afflictions, and deliverance from them; and therefore is said to be "to bring to remembrance," or to refresh his memory with the said things. Kimchi and Ben Melech think the psalm was made for the sake of such as are in distress, to put them in mind and teach them how to pray.” (John Gill’s Commentary)
Dr. Wiersbe speaks of the similarity of this psalm with Psalms 8 and 32 in that they too are penitent psalms and says as John Gill that this psalm could be a result of the sin that David committed with Bathsheba, which is what Psalms 32 and 51 are about.
Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of his introduction writes the following: “When God’s people suffer the consequences of sin and feel the chastening hand of God, they must choose one of three responses.”
We Can Focus on Ourselves and Experience Sin’s Painfulness (vv. 1-8): “1 ¶ «A Psalm of David, for a memorial.» O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, And chasten me not in Your burning anger. 2 For Your arrows have sunk deep into me, And Your hand has pressed 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 are gone over my head; As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. 5 My wounds grow foul and fester Because of my folly. 6 I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long. 7 For my loins are filled with burning, And there is no soundness in my flesh. 8 I am benumbed and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart.”
John MacArthur writes on the title of Psalm 38 (“for a memorial”) these words, “Lit. ‘To cause to remember’ (cf. the title to Ps. 70). The psalmist either 1) reminds God of his plight so that He might act, or 2) reminds himself and the community of his historic predicament so that both he and they would fervently pray in similar contexts of acute suffering.”
In his commentary on this psalm John MacArthur states that the things that happened to David as recorded in this psalm are very similar to what happened to Job, but I think the exception is that the pain and suffering that David was going through was because of a sin that he committed and now the Lord is disciplining him. Dr. Wiersbe writes “If we don’t listen to the words of His heart, we will have to feel the weight of His hand.” “For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer (Psalm 32:4).”
In these verses we see what David was going through because the Lord was disciplining him, but we must remember the words of Proverbs 3:11-12: “11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof, 12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.” I am not going to post Hebrews 12:1-11 but these verses also speak of the loving discipline of the Lord on His children.
As we look at these verses we can conclude that this whole experience had become a burden too heavy for David to carry for David was in pain that was great, and David was at times too hot and then too cold probably because of a fever, he had wounds that were great, and he also was bent over when he walked, and these were just some of the things he was going through.
As I look at the things that David was going through and then compare them to what he describes in Psalm 32 I would have to say that this psalm is perhaps a psalm that goes into more detail of what David was suffering because of his sin with Bathsheba.
We will look at the rest of this psalm in the next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I look at this psalm I have to realize that I, like other believers in Jesus Christ have committed sins after being born from above and have gone through some discipline from the Lord, but the question that I would like to have answered is how do I realize that an illness of “accident” is discipline from the Lord. Paul writes in 1Cor. 11 that there were people in that church who had actually died because of not confessing their sins before taking communion and when you read that letter you will find that there was much going on in that church that Paul had to deal with. In the 9th chapter of John Jesus heals a man who was born blind and His disciples asked Him if that blind man had sinned or his parents and His response was that neither, but that the glory of the Lord would be seen through this blindness. After Jesus healed a man who had been sick for 38 years He said to him, “"Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.’” (John 5:14b)
My prayer is that when the Lord disciplines me that I will be able to understand that He is doing it and like David I will be reminded of any sin that has caused me to be disciplined and confess it to the Lord and also pray that I will not blame others for my sin, but be man enough to confess it to the Lord knowing that He will forgive me and then I can go on with my life.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Psalm 139:23-24 “23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
2. 5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test? 6 But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test. (2Cor. 13:5-6)
3. Philippians 4:11b “for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.”
2/4/2012 10:06:31 AM
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