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Psalms

Psalm 38

By Pastor Doug
A memorial to the pain of sin.

A Psalm of David. To bring to remembrance.


 


Or another way of saying it might be 'a memorial.'  This Psalm is a memorial to the pain that is caused by sin.  This Psalm is David's memorial to the affects of sin on a life.  It's a memorial to our sinful nature. 


 


This Psalm is categorized as a Psalm of penitence.  David is repentant in response to the chastising of the Lord.  But most of all, David doesn't want all that he is living through to go to waste.  He doesn't want to forget how easy it was to fall to sin and how awful the affects of that sin are on his life.  It was so bad, it was worthy of a memorial so it would never be forgotten.


 


 1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
         Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
 2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
         And Your hand presses me down.
We should never forget that sin brings the wrath of God.  Not because he is mean and he's just waiting to lower the boom on us but because he is a loving God.  He gave us free will.  He allows us to sin and he allows us to love Him and seek Him.  But we can't love Him and sin without His correction.


 


Sin displeases the Lord.  He will chasten us.  This is the correction of a loving father.  His arrows will pierce deeply getting our attention and causing us pain and His hand will press us down.  He will let us know that He is displeased.  That is worth remembering.


         
 3 There is no soundness in my flesh
         Because of Your anger,
         Nor any health in my bones
         Because of my sin.
 4 For my iniquities have gone over my head;
         Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
 5 My wounds are foul and festering
         Because of my foolishness.
Sin quickly takes its toll on our body.  David realizes that there was no soundness in his body and he knows it is because of sin.  He doesn't make excuses or disregard the obvious.  The soundness of his body was gone.  This soundness is a well rounded life; completeness or continuity of mind and body.  David was being crushed under the weight of his sin.  He came to know that his foolishness caused wounds that were foul and festering.  He didn't want to forget that.


 


 6 I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly;
         I go mourning all the day long.
 7 For my loins are full of inflammation,
         And there is no soundness in my flesh.
 8 I am feeble and severely broken;
         I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.
The trouble sin brought to David's life bowed him and tried to break him.  It brought mourning into his life.  It was constant and relentless all day long.  We can all relate to the feeling of feebleness and feeling broken.  The groaning that comes from the turmoil of your heart rises from deep within you.  It's like that inward groaning that is trying to relieve or release the pain or pressure but there is no relief.


 


 9 Lord, all my desire is before You;
         And my sighing is not hidden from You.
 10 My heart pants, my strength fails me;
         As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.
We have an amazing ability to forget all the incredible things the Lord has done for us.  Like Peter we can be walking on water one minute, only to be drowning the next.  We also have the unique ability to forget what sin has done to us in the past.  We've all been lured into sin in the past and we paid dearly.  Then, a short time later, we are tempted again.  Somehow, we think we are smarter and this time will be different.  This time I won't let it capture me.  I'll stay in control of it this time.


 


James 1:15 says that each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.


 


Our desire convinces us we can just get a little taste of it then back off.  When we do that we've fallen victim of a short memory.  The next thing we know we're swimming in sin.  While sin appears to us like a warm embrace from a close friend, it quickly revelas itself as the grip of cold black death.  It appears to offer freedom only to enslave you.


 


 11 My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague,
         And my relatives stand afar off.
 12 Those also who seek my life lay snares for me;
         Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction,
         And plan deception all the day long.
This almost sounds like Job.  Everyone is keeping their distance.  They are treating him like a leper.  It's as if they don't want to catch what he has except everyone has already caught it.  We all have that sinful nature from birth.  Maybe these people kept their distance because they didn't want to be reminded of the ravages of sin.  They didn't want to be reminded of the cost.  Others may keep their distance as an act of religion, standing aloof with a self righteous attitude or with indignation towards the one that is suffering from sin.


 


As the Psalmist is suffering from the ailments of sin, he is also now abandoned by those he thought would never leave his side.  If the pain and suffering from sin weren't enough, sin also brings loneliness and isolation.  In those times when there is no one to encourage, strengthen or stand by you, the enemy moves in and lays his snares.


 


 13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
         And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
 14 Thus I am like a man who does not hear,
         And in whose mouth is no response.
This is a picture of a suffering servant.  He's not listening to the taunts of the enemy and not answering.  He closes his ears and his mouth.  After all, what could be said, what could be done?  Could he complain to God?  Should he complain to God?  Does God not continually warn us about sin and give us power over it?  Yet we fail, and we fall.


 


 15 For in You, O LORD, I hope;
         You will hear, O Lord my God.
 16 For I said, "Hear me, lest they rejoice over me,
         Lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me."
David doesn't come to the Lord with a complaint but he brings his faith to Him saying Lord, in you alone I find hope.  Without you Lord, I will fall to the enemy.  Save me Lord, for without you I have no hope.


 


 17 For I am ready to fall,
         And my sorrow is continually before me.
Sin will bring us down.  The sorrow of sin won't just go away.  It is continually before us.


 


 18 For I will declare my iniquity;
         I will be in anguish over my sin.
Sin should drive us to our knees before the Lord.  Confess it, declare the iniquity before God.  He already knows it anyway.  Pour your anguish out before Him and be done with it.


 


19But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong;
         And those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied.
 20 Those also who render evil for good,
         They are my adversaries, because I follow what is good.
While David was weak and ill from his sin, he saw his wicked enemies strong and growing in numbers.  They seemed to be thriving in wickedness while David was broken, hurting and weak.  It didn't seem right to David and it doesn't seem right to us.  Many times it feels like no good deed goes unpunished.  We see the wicked cruising through life while those seeking after the Lord suffer with their sin but it really doesn't matter.  It doesn't change anything.  Regardless of what other wicked men do, my sin is still my sin.  I must confess it before the Lord and not be tempted to justify it by the sins of other men.


 


 21 Do not forsake me, O LORD;
         O my God, be not far from me!
 22 Make haste to help me,
         O Lord, my salvation!


This is where we need to end up when we are dealing with sin, making our personal plea before the Lord.  Come near me Lord, don't forsake me, God.  Help me!  He sees our heart change to one of repentance.  He hears our cry and answers us.


 


What does God do with our sin?  In John 1, John the Baptist saw Jesus and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  Jesus Christ came for the forgiveness of sin.  In Hebrews 10:17, the writer quotes Jeremiah 34, speaking of the New covenant.  God said, I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.  Isn't that interesting, David writes a Psalm to memorialize his sin and repentance, yet once the sin is forgiven, God will remember them no more.


 


We could go on, there are many other verse of how God deals with our sin.  God washes sin away….. Isaiah 1:18.  He blots them out……. Isaiah 43:35.  He wipes them out like a cloud……...Isaiah 44:22  He pardons them ……Isaiah 55:7.  And in Micah 7:19…. He buries them in the depths of the sea.  I guess my favorite is 1 John 1:8-9……. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.


 


The first step toward remedy from the ravages of sin is we have to be honest about it.  We have to not deceive ourselves.  If we say we have not sin, truth is not in us.  We've all sinned, we should never forget that.  We don't have to memorialize our specific sins but we must remember we have that nature within us.  We can't flirt with it or toy with it.  We shouldn't joke around about it.


 


Our nature is like the needle on a compass that always points north.  Left alone, unchecked, we will find ourselves being drawn back to sin.  We have to constantly crucify those desires and not let them conceive.  We must constantly correct our course.