Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Psalm 38 | Date: May 26, 2024 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

We’re continuing our expositions this morning from the book of Psalms. Today we look at Psalm 38. Psalm 38. We have a lament psalm here where David deals with the subject of his suffering: two kinds of suffering—deserved suffering and undeserved suffering, both.

Psalm 38. You’ll see in the superscript it is a psalm of David. For the memorial offering—that is a psalm of remembrance, depending on which version you have, how that’s translated—for remembrance. That’s the note mark of a lament psalm. It’s calling God to remember so as to ask him and petition him for help.

Verse 1: “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation. There is no 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 stink and fester because of my foolishness. I am utterly bowed down and prostrate. All the day I go about mourning, for my sides are filled with burning and there’s no soundness in my flesh. I’m feeble and crushed. I groan because of the tumult of my heart. O Lord, all my longing is before you. My sighing is not hidden from you. My heart throbs, my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off. Those who seek my life lay their snares. Those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long. But I am like a deaf man, I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth. I have become like a man who does not hear and in whose mouth there are no rebukes. But for you, O Lord, do I wait. It is you, O Lord, my God, who will answer. For I said, only let them not rejoice over me who boast against me when my foot slips. For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me. I confess my iniquity. I am sorry for my sin. But my foes are vigorous. They are mighty. And many are those who hate me wrongfully. Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good. Do not forsake me, O Lord. O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.”

And then there’s the postscript to the choirmaster, Jeduthun. Let’s bow together for prayer.

Our Father, we come to learn again from one of King David’s laments, the suffering that he endured. We pray that you will open our eyes and our hearts to it, that we may learn from it. Lord, we pray that the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts together will be acceptable to you. The hearts of your people will be encouraged and that you’ll be honored by it all. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

As I mentioned, the superscript tells us this is a psalm of David, a psalm for remembrance. That is, it’s a petition then to God to remember what he has said he would do for David, and he’s asking him then to intervene and to act on that previous commitment that was made. At the heart of every lament psalm is the petition. That’s why they’re called petition lament psalms, petitioning God to help in his time of suffering.

So it is a lament psalm, but it’s a particular kind of lament. We’ve seen a couple of these before. This is a penitential lament. So David is lamenting his suffering, but he’s also lamenting his sin, and he’s repenting of his sin and confessing his sin; and in this case, particularly, his suffering is due, at least in part, to his sin, and he confesses that. So we have about six, I think it is six penitential psalms in the Psalter, and this is one of them. Psalm 6 was another. Psalm 6, in fact, if you want to glance back at that, begins exactly the same way as Psalm 38. The first verse begins the same.

In this penitential psalm, David does not ask for forgiveness outright, but he does confess his sin and his wrongdoing. You’ll see that in verse 18, where he confesses it. And he asks in verse 21, “Do not forsake me, O Lord.” So he’s lamenting his sin and he’s lamenting his suffering.

And we have the typical components of a lament psalm that we’ve seen in our studies. We have in a lament psalm at the beginning a direct address to God with an initial petition. We have that in verse one: “O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger.” And then we have the lament itself, and that takes us verse two through verse 20: “Your arrows have sunk into me, your hand is pressed down on me,” and so on. And then in verse nine, and then again in verse 15, we have his expression of confidence or expression of trust in God. These are always one of the marks of the lament psalm. He doesn’t just simply complain. He expresses his trust and his confidence in God. And then in verses 21 and 22, he ends with a petition and an expression of trust and a hint of praise with that.

Now, the background of this psalm is not stated for us exactly. There is some sin in the background. We’re not told what it was. We don’t know what the setting is exactly. But David has evidently, in some way, transgressed God’s law and God now—and David knows it—God now has brought this suffering on him as a form of chastisement for what he has done, and David acknowledges that, and he depicts the suffering in some detail. It’s unrelenting, it’s severe, he can’t endure it any further, and we’ll see some of those descriptions of it as we go through.

By way of an overview of the psalm, you’ll notice at the beginning and at the end, he begins and he ends with a petition. Verse one: stop rebuking me, stop disciplining me. Don’t rebuke me in your anger. Then verses 21 and 22 end the same way. Different words, but the same in essence: Do not forsake me. Be not far from me. Make haste to help me. So he begins and he ends with this petition to God to stop this rebuking of him, although it is deserved, and to not forsake him and to bring help.

And then notice—this is a curious mark of this psalm—that he begins and he ends with this petition for God to help and to intervene and to stop rebuking, but he builds his case with a number of “for” statements, F-O-R, “for” statements. So notice verse 1 then: stop rebuking me, stop disciplining me. Verse 2: “For your arrows have sunk into me.” So he’s pleading his cause. Stop disciplining because this has happened and this has gone too far. Verse 5: “For my iniquities have gone over my head.” Verse 7: “For my sides are filled with burning.” Verse 15 also begins with the same word in the Hebrew; it’s not translated that way in our version: “For you, O Lord, do I wait.” Verse 16: “For I said, only let them not rejoice over me.” Again in verse 17: “For I am ready to fall.” So he’s building his case with God, reasoning with God: “Stop disciplining me, take away this affliction and this suffering that you’ve brought on me just as it is, but take it away because I can’t bear it any longer, it’s gone over my head,” and so on.

Deserved Sufferings

Now the important thing to notice then about the structure of the psalm is that in verses 1 to 8, he describes his deserved sufferings. Here is suffering that has come upon him that is the result and the consequence of his sin, and he recognizes that; he acknowledges that. So verses one to eight, he deals with his deserved sufferings. Then in verses nine to 16, he deals with his undeserved sufferings. Here we have sufferings that have come from his enemies, and David protests that that is undeserved and unfair. And then verses 17 to 20, he brings those two together and juxtaposes his deserved and undeserved suffering. And then in verses 21 and 22, he brings it to a conclusion. He’s still suffering, but he brings it now to an expression of confidence and trust in God: “Do not forsake me, O Lord. O God, be not far from me. Make haste to help.” And then the expression of trust: “O Lord, my salvation.”

All right then, verses 1 to 8. This is actually stanzas 1 and 2, verses 1 to 8. Here David describes his deserved sufferings. Let’s begin again with verses one to four: “Oh Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me. There’s no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation. There is no 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.”

So the initial petition in verse one is, in a sense of it is, stop rebuking me, stop correcting me. In a sense, as he goes through this, is “that’s enough.” Enough is enough. I understand why you’ve come and it’s just because of my sin. You’re righteous in doing it, but please stop. Stop this suffering, bring it to an end.

And then verse two, he describes the action that God has taken against David and he describes God as a distant archer who has taken his bow and he has shot an arrow at David and it’s landed on him and it’s made its hit. And then verse 2, the last part of the verse, he speaks of God’s hand pressing down on him. That’s an expression we found recently in Psalm 32: God’s hand heavy on me because of my sin, feeling the effects of God’s chastisement and the conviction of sin.

Verse 3 describes the consequences of all of this in David’s own body. And what he says here in verse 3, in essence, is, there’s not a place in my body that doesn’t hurt. “There’s no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation. There is no health in my bones because of my sin.” And all this leaves David, verse 4, in a place of absolute helplessness. He’s desperate. Verse 4: “my iniquities have gone over my head. Like a heavy burden, they’re too heavy for me.” It’s as though he’s drowning out in the deep, and wave after wave has come over his head, and finally it’s pulling him down, and it’s more than he can take.

So he’s under God’s discipline, and under this discipline he’s had some kind of bodily affliction, and he’s been reduced to nothing, and he’s completely helpless. He’s still clinging to God, but he’s trying by this lament to move God to pity. This is enough. And finally, the affliction seems to be too much, and he pleads in essence here, “Surely, Lord, enough is enough. The judgment, the chastisement for my sin is—it’s just. I get that, but enough is enough. I can’t take anymore. Don’t treat me like an enemy.”

Well, that’s verses 1 to 4. Then verses 5 to 8, he describes his afflictions in some kind of detail: “My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness. I’m utterly bowed down and prostrate. All day I go about mourning. My sides are filled with burning. There’s no soundness in my flesh. I’m feeble and crushed. I groan because of the tumult of my heart.”

So there’s some kind of sickness here. God’s discipline has left him with evidently some kind of rotting wounds in his flesh. Verse 5: some kind of bodily sores that stink and fester. Verse 6: he’s bent over, he’s laid out with constant searing pain, and that, he says, verse 6, is relentless, it’s all day, and so he spends his whole day as a mourner, mourning his sickness and his pain. Verse 7: the pain in his abdomen is extreme and it’s unrelenting. He’s filled with burning, he says. There’s not a spot of his body that feels well. And then verse 8, because of all of this, he’s just incapacitated. He’s left helpless. He can only groan: “I’m feeble and I’m crushed.” And the last part of verse 8, he’s audibly groaning in pain, and he’s weary and in desperation because he’s been rendered so helpless.

Now, we expect in some of this in poetry to have some kind of overstatements, to speak in figurative language at times. But how do you take all of this, even if we take this in a figurative way that’s somehow symbolic, even if it’s overstated in some respects as to what he’s actually suffering? You still are meant to be left with the impression that he’s been reduced to nothing. The suffering is severe and there’s nothing he can do about it, and he’s been rendered helpless for it.

Now he acknowledges—and we need to notice this—he acknowledges God’s justice in this. This is because of his sin. Verse three: “all this is because of my sin.” Verse five: “this is because of my foolishness.” In verse one, he says it is God’s discipline in wrath. And in verse three, it’s God’s indignation for something that David has done. So in verses 1 to 8, David is lamenting his situation, hoping by this to move God to pity and to end the discipline and to bring it to a close.

Undeserved Sufferings

That then brings us to verses 9 through 16. And here he deals with his undeserved suffering. But here now in verses 9 to 16, David deals with his undeserved sufferings: “O Lord, all my longing is before you. My sighing is not hidden from you. My heart throbs, my strength fails me, and the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me. My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague, and my nearest kin stand far off. Those who seek my life lay their snares. Those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long.”

Here he addresses God as “Lord,” you’ll see in lowercase. Adonai is God as his sovereign master, and David as his servant, his slave. But he’s appealing to him as to gain pity still. Earlier, he is acknowledging that his suffering was in God’s justice, but still he’s looking for pity. “My sighing is not hidden from you,” verse 9. You know that I’m suffering. You know how badly I’m suffering. You see it. He’s calling God’s attention to it.

Then verse 10, he says, “my heart is palpitating, it’s throbbing.” And the physical sufferings now, plus the anxiety of what’s going on that he’ll tell us in the next verses, have taken an emotional toll on him. And so his heart is racing. And in fact, verse 10, the last part of the verse, he’s about to die: “The light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.” So David, it seems, is at the end of it. His suffering is severe.

And then, verses 11 and 12, yet another level of suffering comes into the picture. There’s a plot of treason afoot. And they want to take advantage of David at his weakest moment. Verse 11, his friends are not rallying to his defense: “My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague. My nearest kin stand far off.” In fact, that’s an oxymoron, an intended play on words at the end of verse 10. My near ones stand far away. Those that I expected would help, those who are closest to me, aren’t there to help me.

And then verse 12, we come to the halfway point of the psalm. The focus shifts to the greater tragedy of his enemies who seek to hasten his death. We have enemies who want him dead, presumably for some kind of self-advancement in the kingdom. So they’re trying, it seems, to discredit him, to dethrone him. There’s this plot afoot to make this the end for David. And that, he says, is going on all the day long.

Complicating all of this, of course—and we need to keep this in mind—is that if David is stripped of his royal position, if he dies or if he’s dethroned some other way by this plot against him, if that is successful, God’s promise to David fails. And so he’s petitioning God now, not just for his pity, but now he’s petitioning God on the grounds of what is right. He’s petitioning him for justice. His enemies want him dead, presumably for some self-advancement of their own. If they succeed, God’s promise to David fails. And this is often, as we’ve seen, David’s frustration in his suffering. It seems that his circumstances belie God’s promise. And what we’ve seen before is that through all of this, David is being driven to trust. God’s promises are one thing. The reality of my life seems to be something very different. God, if you let this go, then your promise fails.

And then verses 13 to 16, he describes his helpless condition with respect to his enemies: “I’m like a deaf man. Verse 13, I do not hear. Like a mute man who does not open his mouth, I become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth there is no rebukes. But for you, O Lord, do I wait. It is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. For I said, only let them not rejoice over me, who boast against me when my foot slips.”

So in verses 13 and 14, this business of David being deaf and mute—he’s evidently in such a condition or such a position with regard to things, he’s unable to answer adequately his enemies in their attempted treachery against him. He’s not able to prosecute his accusers while they plot and scheme. He’s evidently been so disabled and/or so discredited already that he’s unable to speak in his own defense. He’s like a deaf man who doesn’t matter what he hears. It’s like a mute man who can’t speak. And so he’s been reduced to complete desperation physically because of that and because of the advantage of the situation that his enemies have taken against him. Enemies evidently in the palace, in his cabinet perhaps. They’ve taken advantage of it and now he is undermined and been discredited and he is not in a position to be able to speak for himself.

And so verses 15 and 16, he says—and this brings us to the heart of the psalm—”For you, O Lord, do I wait. It is you, O Lord my God, who will answer for me.” He’s so weak. He’s so helpless. He’s unable to speak for himself. Only God now can do it for him. He has no one to testify on his behalf. His near ones are far away. Everyone’s abandoned him. He’s not able to speak. He can’t take up his own cause. And now, there’s only one hope left, and that is that God will intervene and speak on his behalf.

So the Lord has severely wounded David for some unspecified sin. David’s enemies are using this affliction to their own advantage to discredit him. Verse 12: there’s some kind of treachery of some sort going on. So he’s a leader under attack, and he’s under attack at his weakest moment. Some evidently want to see him dead, and that in order to advance their own cause. And now David is reduced to waiting simply to see if God will intervene. Or to put it this way, David is left to wait for God to intervene—the God, that is, who has brought this chastisement upon him in the first place.

Deserved And Undeserved Suffering

So then for recap: verses 1 to 8, David’s deserved suffering gives way to verses 9 to 16, his undeserved suffering from his enemies. Verses 1 to 8, he’s trying to move God to pity. Now in verses 9 to 16, he’s trying to move God to do what is right. Fulfill your promise. What they’ve done is not right. And they must be stopped.

That brings us to verses 17 to 20, and here he brings these two kinds of suffering together. He accepts his chastisement as deserved, but he protests this attack from those who would discredit him as something that’s undeserved. Verse 17: “For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me. I confess my iniquity, I am sorry for my sin. But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty, and many are those who hate me wrongfully. Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good.”

Again in verse 17, there’s a bit of a play on words: “I’m ready to fall.” He’s not just saying, “I’m about to fall.” He’s, “I’m ready to fall.” And the word here actually doesn’t make great English, but it could be very well translated, “I have been established to fall.” Play on words. In other words, we would say, “I’ve been set up to get knocked down.” God, you have—you’ve set me up for this moment. You’ve brought me into this weakest point of my life where I’m helpless. And you’ve set me up for them to take over and knock me down. You have set me up so that I would be knocked down. The physical sufferings that you’ve brought have given way to this treacherous plot, and now I’m on the brink and set up to fall.

Last part of verse 17, verse 18, he acknowledges that his sin has brought on all this: “My pain is ever before me. I confess my iniquity. I’m sorry for my sin.” He seems here to fear that the very worst is about to come as a result of what he himself has brought on himself because of his sin.

And yet, verses 19 and 20, he insists that these plots against him are undeserved: “Many are those who hate me wrongfully. Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good.” So he’s saying here, in essence, “Yes, I’ve sinned against you and I deserve the chastisement that I’ve received. But what these people have done is wrong. I have sought to lead them faithfully. I’ve always led with the good of the kingdom in mind. And their accusations against me are unfair and unjust. The affliction that I have is because of my sin, but this—this is just not right.” And so again, he’s appealing to God’s justice to intervene.

Conclusion

And so, verses 21 and 22, he concludes—he’s still suffering, but he concludes with a petition, an expression of confidence, and a hint of praise. Verse 21: “Do not forsake me, O Lord. O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.”

So he’s pleading here for God’s promised intervention. Verse 21: God seems distant, but he calls on God to come at last to his defense. Don’t forsake me forever. Verse 22: do it quickly. Make haste to help me. This is an emergency situation. I’m about to fall off.

And then he concludes, “O Lord, my salvation.” And there’s his statement of trust. Still he’s clinging to God in trust that God will intervene. He’s not lost faith. He’s still clinging to God’s promise. It’s not over yet. It seems like it’s about to be. But still he offers this hint of praise. Oh God, my salvation. It’s not the triumphant kind of praise that we often find in the lament psalms. But still he is looking to God as the God of his salvation. It’s a plea of faith. God will intervene as he must.

And in fact, the postscript to the choirmaster, to Jeduthun, indicates that David expects this to be sung by the congregation as well, and that in itself seems to anticipate the deliverance that he’s pleading for. That Israel sang David’s song tells us itself that David’s deliverance did in fact come. We’re not given the historical situation, but we’re left to infer that.

All right, so we’ve worked our way through the psalm. Now what do we learn from this kind of a psalm? And I’d like to point out three things.

Number one, we have to bring up this question—I’m sure it’s been in some of your minds at least—regarding the relationship between suffering, including sickness, and sin. What do we learn from this about the relationship of suffering, including sickness, and sin? We know, of course, if you’ve read the Bible at all, beginning at the very beginning, we know that all suffering is the result of sin. We learned that in Genesis chapter 3. From Genesis chapter 3 onward, every scrap of suffering, whether it is what we call natural evil or moral evil that has come upon us, suffering or sickness of any kind, traces back ultimately to the rebellion of humanity against God in the garden and the consequent judgment of God against sin and his curse that he has placed upon humanity and upon the created order.

Paul deals with that in Romans chapter 8. We find it lamented all through the book of Ecclesiastes. We live under a curse. We live under suffering. And Paul looks forward to the day when this curse will be lifted and that sickness and that suffering will be gone forever. And David understood evidently rightly that this specific sickness of his was due specifically to a sin that he had committed. So this suffering was due to his sin and God had brought this in consequence of what David had done. God was chastising David for it and David knew it and he confesses that. We find that in Psalm 6. We find it in other psalms as well. He describes it here in more graphic terms than he does in the other places. We find it in other places in the Scriptures as well. But here is an instance where a specific suffering is due to a specific sin.

And that raises the question then: should we view our sickness and our suffering as God’s chastisement for our sin? Well, those of you who have been around church for a while know that at least part of the answer is found in the book of Job. And Job is given in large part to tell us that not necessarily. Sickness can be very undeserved. And in fact, the lesson of Job is that suffering often comes to the righteous precisely because they are righteous. It is not God’s chastisement, but they’ve been caught up in something bigger than the spiritual warfare that has come. And even here in Psalm 38, there is such a thing as undeserved suffering.

And yet, the possibility remains. Here in Psalm 38, back in Psalm 6, we find the same in other places. And lest you think this is just an Old Testament thing, we have it in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 as well, where Paul talks about the abuse that has been going on in the church of Corinth with regard to the Lord’s Supper. And he says, because of that, because of that behavior, many of you are weak and sick, and many of you have died.

So we see that suffering and sickness is and may be one tool that God may use to correct us because of our sin, to mature us, to teach us. And we should never—there’s a whole theology of sickness that would be worth exploring and expanding on at some point—but at least we learned this here: that never in our sickness and in our suffering should we just assume, “Nah, couldn’t be my sin.” It just may be that God is pursuing us in some way.

And so we’re left to ask ourselves the question: when we suffer and when we have sickness of whatever kind, is there some specific sin that I have cherished? Some area of neglect that God has seen fit to chastise me because of it? Those questions are often hard to answer with any certainty. There’s always sin in the background somewhere. But in any case, we must know that God does use these occasions of suffering to bring us at least to reflect on the question and to remind ourselves of, one, our dependence upon God—dependent upon him for every moment of health, and we ought to praise him for every moment of health that we have. But two, these are to remind us of our accountability to God at all times; that God as our Father may bring chastisement to teach us how to live more faithfully to him.

And in our suffering, there at least is a call to prayer and a reminder that we are to be faithful and obedient to God and that God does in fact notice how we live. And in every event then in our sickness and suffering, we ought to ask: How can I respond to this faithfully? How can I glorify God in this? And how can I learn from this to be more faithful and obedient? And we should keep in mind that there is a way to suffer faithfully and there’s a way to suffer unfaithfully. David here has not lost faith. He’s looking to God and it’s severe as it is.

So one, a lesson on the relationship of sickness or suffering to sin.

Number two, David and Jesus. We’ve seen all through our studies in the psalms that there is a royal orientation to the psalms. The psalms focus not on us individually so much as they focus on David the king. Now there’s overlap in that because David is not only the king who represents the greater king to come, but David is one of us as well; and so it has the dual role. But we’ve seen time and again that there is a David typology in that broad patterns are found in the Psalter and the life of David where David prefigures the life of Jesus. And we’ve seen in broad ways how the suffering of the king prefigures the suffering of the King. We’ve seen that time and again in the Psalter and the New Testament writers pick it up that way and show us to read the psalms that way.

Now, David suffers unjustly; Jesus suffered unjustly. And even when David suffers deservedly because of his sin, in a way that prefigures Jesus also, who came to bear the sin of his people and suffered for it. There are a number of correspondences that we might draw. Bruce Waltke has these; I thought I’d just read some to you: Both David and Jesus suffered under divine wrath and punishment for sin—David for his own sin, Christ for the sins of others. Both were opposed by enemies and abandoned by those who were close to them. Both endured false accusations by those who were seeking to discredit them. Both were silent in their respective kangaroo courts. Both pursued the good of others and yet were repaid with evil. Both plea for God not to forsake them as they face their imminent death. The confidence of both David and Jesus in God remained despite God’s displeasure being expressed. With both, God used the schemes of their enemies to bring deliverance; and for both, God’s justice demanded their vindication, and both were vindicated.

So yet again in David’s life and experience we see glimpses of that greater David that he foreshadows. And we not only learn from David here how to suffer faithfully, but we also see in David a glimpse of a future king who would by his suffering bring deliverance to others.

One more observation then from this psalm and then we’re done. And that is, we ought to take careful notice, I think, of David’s desperate faith. I’ll put it that way: David’s desperate faith. I say it that way because it’s a common feature of the psalms, and it’s a common feature of experiences in the Old Testament we see over and again.

David here has been brought to complete helplessness. He’s at his end. Physically, politically, he has no standing. He’s at his wit’s end. He’s at the end of his health. He has nothing he can do to help himself. There’s no way out of his problem that he can do. The only hope that he has is that God will intervene. And David, as far as he is concerned, is absolutely desperate. Now these are the circumstances of God’s people often in the Old Testament. We find it in the Psalter as well. We find it, for example, in Exodus chapter 15. Remember Moses, as he had brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, and now he’s standing at the Red Sea and the armies of the Egyptians are behind him. “What am I going to do now?” Moses, Israel—they’re desperate. There’s no means of help at all unless God intervenes.

We found the same in Psalm 4, you remember, in David’s experience when there was this drought in Israel, and David is being discredited because of his lack of leadership, as though he were responsible for this. And he’s losing ground again from evidently cabinet members who are turning against him. We see it in Psalm 6, where we saw David at imminent death. Again, he was sick, and he’s helpless against the plots against him. We find it in other places in Israel’s history. 2 Chronicles 14, King Asa, for example, and the great army of the Ethiopians coming against him, and there’s absolutely nothing he can do. The turning moment of that battle, you remember, was in the tent beforehand, when Asa cries out to God for help.

And we have the Sennacherib, or Hezekiah, with Sennacherib’s armies of Assyria, overwhelming against them, standing outside of Jerusalem, holding Jerusalem under siege. And they’re desperate, and they’ve been brought to an end of themselves, and finally they cry to God for help, put it all in his hands, and he intervenes.

Now, on one level, all of that, like we see here in Psalm 38, where David is desperate, at the end of himself, with no ability to help at all—on one level, what we have here is a model of faith to follow. God will do all he promised. Don’t give up on that, and God is always deserving of our trust. But on another level, it seems to me all of this should remind us that this is where God found us in the first place. On the day we first met God, as it were, we’d come to an acknowledgment of our sin. We’d come to recognize that we were helpless. We saw that we were guilty before God, deserving of his condemnation. We saw that we were unable completely to do anything to help ourselves out of this dilemma.

And what we saw then was like David in his desperate situation. In our desperation, we saw that there was nowhere to turn except to the God whose justice demands our condemnation in the first place. And on that first day when we met God, we went to God out of absolute desperation, recognizing our condemned status, recognizing our sin. And we go to the God whose law condemned us and asked for mercy and said, “Lord, you’ve given us your son and you’ve promised that if we come through him, you will have us.”

And that was just the first day. And every day since we’ve learned—but we learned that day that we can cast all of our care upon him. He has rescued us from the very worst and most desperate situation imaginable. And we have learned that first day and every day since then that this is a God who can be trusted, this is a God who’s deserving of our trust, this is a God who loves us, and this is a God who will do everything that he has promised. David, in a sense then, as these other examples that I’ve given, foreshadows for us what saving faith is. That day, learning to trust God to save us out of the very worst situation possible, we learn that God is a God who can be trusted in every situation in life. Amen. Let’s pray.

Our Father, we thank you for your Word. We’re thankful for the instruction you give us to learn to live for you daily. Lord, forgive us for our sin. Forgive us for our faithlessness. We look to you for our help, and we pray that we will learn that you are a God who can be trusted. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.