Psalm 38: Remember that You are Dust,
And to Dust You Shall Return.
A Psalm of David. To bring to remembrance.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; and I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
“‘A Psalm of David. To bring to remembrance,’ in Hebrew frequently associated with the name of the Lord; ie, to remind the psalmist and the worshipper (and Jehovah!) of His loving-kindness in the forgiveness of sins.” (The Agora Bible Commentary) “That by reviewing this Psalm afterwards he might call to mind his former danger and misery, and God’s wonderful mercy in delivering him from them; which we are very apt to forget; and that others also might remember and consider what God had done to him, first in chastening, and then in restoring him, and might make use of his example for their benefit.” (Matthew Poole)
No situation is given, but “this… appropriately recited by the Church on Ash Wednesday.... suits well the time of Absalom's conspiracy...” (The Pulpit Comm.)— which he felt might be attributed to his sins against Bathsheba and Uriah. His inward trials “were represented by language, taken from enfeebling and loathsome sickness.” (Thomas Scott)
“O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath (destruction), nor chasten me in Your hot (fiery) displeasure!’ He was sensible that he was suffering under the displeasure of God; and he prays that the chastisement may be in mercy, and not in judgment.” (Adam Clarke) “This and the following clause are the same as in Psalm 6:1, only instead of wrath there it is anger... ‘For Your arrows’ i.e. thy judgments inflicted upon my outward and inward man, oft compared to arrows, as Deuteronomy 32:23 Psalms 7:13 45:5 91:5...- “‘pierce me deeply.’.. [The words] with which as a Father the Lord rebuked him; and which were sharp and cutting, entered into him and abode with him.” (John Gill) "And Your hand presses me down."
And David knew by experience that sins is a “dire malady, which affected his whole frame in the most distressing manner.” (Thomas Scott) “‘Mine iniquities are gone over mine head’ - He represents himself as one sinking in deep waters, or as one oppressed by a burden to which his strength was unequal.” (Adam Clarke) “‘My wounds’—better, stripes, as in LXX— ‘are foul and festering.’ Both words denote suppuration; the first in reference to the offensive smell [to himself and to God), the second of the discharge of matter; the whole passage recalls Isaiah 1:6, ‘From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil [of the Spirit).’” (C. J. Ellicott)— “‘because of my foolishness’— that gave place to my own lusts, than to the will of God.” (Geneva Study Bible)
“’ I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly;’ etc. I am altogether afflicted, and full of distress.” (Adam Clarke) "'All day long"- There is no reprieve. ”’For my loins are full of inflammation.’ The loins are the seat of strength. His exhaustion left him only the power to groan.” (John Trapp) “‘and there is no soundness in my flesh.’ It cannot be trusted for remedy.
“‘I am feeble and severely broken;’ I groan— roar, like a bear or a lion, through extreme pain and misery— ‘because of the turmoil of my heart;’ by reason of the disquietness of my heart; for the great anxiety and torment of my mind, caused by the deep sense of my sins, and of God’s wrath… ‘Lord, all my desire is before You; and my sighing is not hidden from You.’ I do not utter all these complaints, nor roar out, that thou mayst hear and know them, for thou hearest and knowest even my lowest groans; yea, mine inward desires, and all my necessities. And therefore, I pray thee, pity and deliver me, as I trust thou wilt do.
‘My heart pants, or, goes round; wanders hither and thither, as the word signifies; is perplexed and tossed with many and various thoughts, not knowing what to do, nor whither to go.” (Matthew Poole)
“‘As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me,’ that is Your Spirit. 'My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague, and my relatives stand afar off.’ He had no communion with God, nor men.
Lo another class of people sought his very life. They did not wish the recovery of the king to his former glorious state. These spoke of destruction in the Judgment and planned deception in his presence all day. They, like Shimei the son of Gera, came out cursing continuously as they came, throwing “'stones at David and at all the servants of King David,' even the stones of their words. And all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. Also Shimei said thus when he cursed: ‘Come out! Come out! You bloodthirsty man, you rogue!’” (2 Samuel 16:11-12) And king David, “saw this bitter experience as a well-deserved retribution from God.” (The Agora Bible Commentary)
One "said to the king, 'Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.'" But David here declared: "And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth."(38:13b) Then David said to Abishai and all his servants, 'Behold, my own son, my own flesh and blood, seeks my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him curse me, for the LORD has told him so.'" (2 Sam 16:11)
14 Thus I am like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth is no response. 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.” 17 For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me.?18 For I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin. 19 But 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. 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!
He was like a man who could not hear from God and who had no response to men. But David still looked to Messiah for relief in his impaired state. “We see that there is no return to the decimated landscape of self-reliance. We can only look ahead at the Man standing on the horizon. We know that our lives depend entirely on catching up with Him, but the distance seems impossible to traverse. ‘Lord, don’t leave me behind.’ Wait! No, don’t’ wait. I can’t get there. Come back! Come back for me. Give me your hand so that I can hold tight. Travel light. It’s so much easier to hold on to His hand when you aren’t trying to carry the bags too.” ("Left Behind" by Skip Moen)
Guide me by Your Spirit. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.