Year 8, Day 181: Psalms 38-39

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Psalm 38 gives us a psalmist in a low spot in their life.  Clearly the psalmist is feeling attacked, perhaps entrapped, and certainly a bit on the helpless side.  In the midst of his pain, the psalmist asked not to be rebuked by God.

I’m not sure about anyone else, but I’ve been there.  I know the feeling well when something goes wrong and I realize my mistakes.  There is a sense of hopelessness when I recognize just how poorly I’ve acted or spoken.  Sometimes the feeling comes when I’ve been selfish and evil; sometimes those feelings come when I’ve been clueless about what I’ve been doing.  This feeling can come when I have been both intentionally and unintentionally involved in wrongdoing.

In that context, there is something I love about what the psalmist never does.  He never makes excuses.  He never tries to deny his involvement.  He never tries to pin it off on someone else and give away the blame.  The psalmist looks to God and acknowledges his wrongdoing.  He owns that his unhealthy life is due to his own sin.  He acknowledges that he is drowning in his own iniquities.  He confesses his sin.

This is maturity in action.  Everyone makes mistakes; some mistakes are intentional and others are not.  Everyone has sin in their life.  Everyone gets caught.  How we recognize maturity is when someone owns their error instead of trying to circumvent it.  That is what this psalm has for us today.

We can’t possibly know the whole context of the psalms and why they were written.  Psalm 39 seems to be about a time when David said something he shouldn’t have.  Now he is dealing with the consequences of his indiscretion.

What is the error about which David is guilty?  He tried to hold his tongue, but as he did his anger got the best of him.  In his anger, he lashed out with his tongue.  He said something he shouldn’t have said.  Now he is paying the price for it, because his enemies have gathered around.  As with the earlier psalm, I know that feeling, too.

Look at when the knowledge of his sin takes David.  David tells the Lord that his hope is in Him.  Redemption lies with God.  There’s no need to hide from our sin or place the blame on other people.  The reality is that the quickest way through our sin and into restoration is through acknowledgement and ownership of our misdeeds and turning to the Lord for redemption.  Our hope is in the Lord, not ourselves!  When we try to blame other people or try to hide from our sin, all we do is run from the possibility of redemption!

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