SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
2/4/2012 8:50:37 AM
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 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, because David was in pain that was a great pain, 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 or “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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