Love Amidst Adversities – Psalm 38

“A Psalm of David. To bring to remembrance. O Lord do not rebuke me in Your wrath, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure! For Your arrows pierce me deeply, and Your hand presses me down. There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger, nor any health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head. Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness.” Psalm 38:1-5

Psalms 38 and 70 are titled, “Songs of Remembrance.” They were penned on a day of affliction. [1]

David asked the Lord not to rebuke or chasten him with hot displeasure! God’s arrows and hand had descended into him. The Hebrew word in Psalm 38:2 for “pierced” and “presses” is the same word [נָחַת] which means “to descend into.” Thus, there was no soundness in his flesh and no health in his bones. David compared his sin to a burden too heavy for him to carry. [2]

Proverbs 18:14 says, “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?”

David characterized his past foolishness as a foul and festering wound. Is there a medicine that heals wounds caused by foolish choices? The answer is faith in the Lamb of God Jesus Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

I am so glad that the Spirit of God, washed, sanctified and justified many Christians including myself in the Name of Jesus Christ from our past foolish choices.

In Romans 5:6-8, Paul wrote, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God loved us when we were without strength and ungodly, and He loves us NOW that we have received Him, believed in Him, and profess Him as our Lord and Savior.

When God the Holy Spirit takes aim at our foolish pride, His arrows hit their mark, go deep and the pain hurts, but when He does this it is to help us to grow in Christlikeness.

“I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are full of inflammation, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and severely broken. I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.” Psalm 38:6-8

“David bemoans himself because of his afflictions and gives ease to his grief by giving vent to it and pouring out his complaint before the Lord.” [3]

David, though a man of God and a prophet, was not exempt from illness. Sin left him feeling feeble and broken hearted. Unresolved sin had a crippling impact on his health.

“Lord, all my desire is before You. My sighing is not hidden from You. My heart pants, my strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.” Psalm 38:9-10

In Romans 8:26-27, Paul wrote, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

When I stop to pray and streams of prayers don’t come forth, I ask the Holy Spirit to help me to pray. “Be the wind in my sails!” “Stream Your prayers through me!” The Holy Spirit is the oil that the lamp of our soul needs to burn brightly for God and others.

“My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague, and my relatives stand afar off.” Psalm 38:11

David’s friends and relatives wanted nothing to do with him and his spiritual battles. Like the priest and Levite in Luke 10:31, they made a point of avoiding him.

Our adversities help us to discern between genuine and disingenuous friends. I like what Joseph Medlicott Scriven wrote in his hymn entitled, “What a Friend We have in Jesus.” The words of his third verse are: “Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge – take it to the Lord in prayer! Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer! In His arms He’ll take and shield you. You will find a solace there.” [4]

“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. But I, like a deaf man, do not hear. I am like a mute who does not open his mouth. Thus I am like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth is no response.” Psalm 38:12-14

David grieved that people sought to trap him. Talk of his demise was a popular conversation topic. He did not know what they would do next. His response to their chatter was to act as though he did not hear what they had said. He did not answer their false accusations and insults.

God’s Spirit helped David to be like Jesus. 1 Peter 2:22-23 speaks of Jesus: “He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.”

“For in You, O Lord, I hope. You will hear, O Lord my God. For I said, ‘Hear me, lest they rejoice over me, lest, when my foot slips, they exalt themselves against me.’ For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare my iniquity. I will be in anguish over my sin. But my enemies are vigorous, and they are strong. Those who hate me wrongfully have multiplied. Those also who render evil for good, they are my adversaries, because I follow what is good. Do not forsake me, O Lord. O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!” Psalm 38:15-22

David wanted to be honest and transparent about his past sins so as to magnify God’s grace and forgiveness, but his adversaries used his words against him. He intended to help them learn of the goodness and grace of God, but they responded with strong hatred toward him. So, rather than to appeal to any sense of decency that might be hidden in their hearts, David turned to the Lord, and cried, “O my God, be not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.”

In 1 Peter 4:19, the Apostle Peter wrote, “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”

I am so glad that David prayed, “Make haste to help me, O Lord” because so often I have felt my patience and endurance running thin amidst persecution. I wanted quick relief. The Lord lets us know through David that He accepts and responds to requests for urgent care.

Finally, in James 5:13-16, the Lord says, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Personal prayers, songs of praise, asking others to pray for you, anointing oil, faith, confession of sin to trustworthy friends and forgiveness from God... then more prayers... fervent prayers... these are means by which the Holy Spirit helps us to maintain love for God and love for people amidst adversity.


[1] Matthew Henry’s Commentary
[2] Brown-Driver-Briggs (Old Testament Hebrew-English Lexicon)
[3] Matthew Henry’s Commentary
[4] Hymnary.org