November 27, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Distraught

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Holy God, I ask today that I may see more clearly Your presence in my world.

Read Psalm 38:1-22

[1] A psalm of David. A petition. LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. [2] Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. [3] Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. [4] My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. [5] My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. [6] I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. [7] My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. [8] I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. [9] All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. [10] My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. [11] My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away. [12] Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie. [13] I am like the deaf, who cannot hear, like the mute, who cannot speak; [14] I have become like one who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. [15] LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God. [16] For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.” [17] For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me. [18] I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. [19] Many have become my enemies without cause; those who hate me without reason are numerous. [20] Those who repay my good with evil lodge accusations against me, though I seek only to do what is good. [21] LORD, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. [22] Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

Sin has its seasons. When we sow sin in our lives we enjoy its pleasure for a season. Unfortunately, sowing is followed by the season of reaping, and that brings pain. The psalmist (David) is reaping the pain of sin in his life.

 

I read this psalm slowly, allowing myself to be soaked by this deluge of desperation. How different from the serene, comprehensive confidence of Psalm 37 and the calculating matter-of-factness of reading in Proverbs! If I am passing through sunny times, I give thanks. If I am myself distraught, I follow this psalm’s thread towards the exit from my labyrinth.
I count the over 50 references to “I,” “me” and “my.” I note the references to the Lord; and also references to other people—lively, vigorous enemies (19) and also, more disappointingly, peers, friends and neighbors (11) who stand aloof. I go through the psalm again, noting the words which show how the psalmist’s whole life aches—flesh, bones, wounds, back, desire, groans, heart, strength.
I read the psalm again, noting the words like “because” and “for,” by which the psalmist seeks an explanation for his condition. On the one hand his sins are like an overwhelming flood, an intolerable load; on the other hand is God’s anger, his arrows, his heavy hand, his indignation. From the psalmist’s rotting, septic flesh right into his guilty heart, here is a person in desperate trouble. Unlike some other psalms, there is in this psalm no clear emerging from the tunnel of suffering into bright sunlight. However, we can trace how, like a hand-held compass trembling northwards, the psalmist starts by looking to God (1,2), returns again in verse 9 and determines not to criticize his friends or enemies even when they talk big against him (12–16), but to wait for God’s answer (15; I remember Jesus’ greater silence; 1 Pet. 2:23). And finally, like Peter, the psalmist takes his eyes off the wind and waves and cries, “Lord, save me!” (Matt. 14:30).

I read this psalm slowly, allowing myself to be soaked by this deluge of desperation. How different from the serene, comprehensive confidence of Psalm 37 and the calculating matter-of-factness of reading in Proverbs! If I am passing through sunny times, I give thanks. If I am myself distraught, I follow this psalm’s thread towards the exit from my labyrinth.

I count the over 50 references to “I,” “me” and “my.” I note the references to the Lord; and also references to other people—lively, vigorous enemies (19) and also, more disappointingly, peers, friends and neighbors (11) who stand aloof. I go through the psalm again, noting the words which show how the psalmist’s whole life aches—flesh, bones, wounds, back, desire, groans, heart, strength.

I read the psalm again, noting the words like “because” and “for,” by which the psalmist seeks an explanation for his condition. On the one hand his sins are like an overwhelming flood, an intolerable load; on the other hand is God’s anger, his arrows, his heavy hand, his indignation. From the psalmist’s rotting, septic flesh right into his guilty heart, here is a person in desperate trouble. Unlike some other psalms, there is in this psalm no clear emerging from the tunnel of suffering into bright sunlight. However, we can trace how, like a hand-held compass trembling northwards, the psalmist starts by looking to God (1,2), returns again in verse 9 and determines not to criticize his friends or enemies even when they talk big against him (12–16), but to wait for God’s answer (15; I remember Jesus’ greater silence; 1 Pet. 2:23). And finally, like Peter, the psalmist takes his eyes off the wind and waves and cries, “Lord, save me!” (Matt. 14:30).

 

Apply

What season is it in relation to sin in your life? Be honest!

Closing prayer

Holy Spirit, bring to my awareness any unconfessed sin in my life. Give me the grace to agree with You about it and to turn from it.

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