Psalm 38 from the Singer of Sacred Songs

Let’s reflect on Psalm 38 together a little bit this morning from the singer of sacred songs, the psalmist.

Let’s hear what he is praying and see where it may allow us to find a deeper place of prayer.

“O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; *
do not punish me in your wrath.
For your arrows have already pierced me, *
and your hand presses hard upon me.
There is no health in my flesh,
because of your indignation; *
there is no soundness in my body, because of my sin.
For my iniquities overwhelm me; *
like a heavy burden they are too much for me to bear.
My wounds stink and fester *
by reason of my foolishness.
I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; *
I go about in mourning all the day long.
My loins are filled with searing pain; *
there is no health in my body.
I am utterly numb and crushed; *
I wail, because of the groaning of my heart.
O Lord, you know all my desires, *
and my sighing is not hidden from you.
My heart is pounding, my strength has failed me, *
and the brightness of my eyes is gone from me.
My friends and companions draw back from my affliction; *
my neighbors stand afar off.
Those who seek after my life lay snares for me; *
those who strive to hurt me speak of my ruin
and plot treachery all the day long.
But I am like the deaf who do not hear, *
like those who are mute and who do not open their mouth.
I have become like one who does not hear *
and from whose mouth comes no defense.
For in you, O Lord, have I fixed my hope; *
you will answer me, O Lord my God.
For I said, “Do not let them rejoice at my expense, *
those who gloat over me when my foot slips.”
Truly, I am on the verge of falling, *
and my pain is always with me.
I will confess my iniquity *
and be sorry for my sin.
Those who are my enemies without cause are mighty, *
and many in number are those who wrongfully hate me.
Those who repay evil for good slander me, *
because I follow the course that is right.
O Lord, do not forsake me; *
be not far from me, O my God.
Make haste to help me, *
O Lord of my salvation.”

At the end of the psalm, the singer turns and begins to pray slightly differently from a place of hope, a desire for release and relief, a place where he is asking for help and even retribution against his enemies.

I often quote Pogo looks in the. Water and sees a reflection of himself thinking it is someone else, fierce and mighty and ready for battle. He says “we have met the enemy and he is us.”

I understand that my worst enemies are within, and I think the psalmist must understand that in his isolation. He begins with his own sense of his own failure and his own sin and his. He has a sense of being separate, being thrown out, being alienated from God and from himself and then from others He is alone. He is deaf and mute.

He is unaware and people are unaware of him, but then those who are aware of him, are antagonistic against him, or at least he senses that he feels their antagonism. He feels that they’re plotting against him everywhere around him, and within him there’s a sense of isolation and alienation.

It manifests itself in physical symptoms, emotional symptoms, mental symptoms. He is over whelmed by. The things in his life that have brought him to this place — To the place where he is worried about the anger of God.

Now why is that? It is because he is intensely aware of the holiness of God and the purity of God and the might of God. He is not a man who is living in unawareness of God and he is holding his own life up to the standard of God. That standard is, by the way, not a bad thing, but by comparison, our level of failure is profound. It is overwhelming.

The singer says. “For in you, O Lord, I fixed my hope.”

I fixed my hope. I have driven it into the ground.

“You will answer me. Oh, Lord, my God.”

This is a confidence that he comes to God with. I have driven the stake of hope into the ground that you God, are my God. You will answer me?

He’s honest. This is the prayer of an honest man. This is a prayer of a man who is authentic and real and real about himself and pulling no punches that he’s.

His OK-ness comes from God and any enemies that he may have are not given the opportunity to gloat over him.

I made mistakes in recording this. I left all my mistakes in the recording, because if we’re not human, we’re nothing. If we’re not human before God, who mix up words or lose our place in our own thought process? How are we going to be able to talk about confessing our iniquities?

And about our sin, how are we going to be real with God? How are we going to let it hang all before God and before humanity?

We are not finished products. And so he says. I will confess my iniquity and be sorry for my sin.

Here is his prayer. Here is his conclusion. Here is what he longs for. Here is what he hopes for. It is expressed in four lines. “O Lord, do not forsake me. Be not far from me. Oh my God. Make haste to help me. O Lord of my salvation.”

If you could pray those four lines today in the light of all that went before in that same level of honesty and pouring out your soul before God, you would have really prayed something powerful.

Somewhere between lament and desperation, somewhere between confession of our sin and confession, of our confidence and faith in God.

You come to those last four lines and repeat them in your soul to God. Here, you meet God. Suddenly the alienation dissolves. The sense of isolation is nullified. You know that you are neither deaf nor mute. When you speak to God, God hears, and when God speaks to your soul, you hear through the still small voice.

God says, “You were my child. I love you. I’m with you.”

May the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and be gracious unto you and give you peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.