Psalm 38
1. This psalm consists of a prayer (verse 1), followed by a series of laments (verses 2-20). It then concludes with another prayer (21-22). John MacArthur outlines the psalm in this way: I. Introductory Prayer (1-2), II. First Onslaught: The Enemy Within (verses 3-10), III. Second Onslaught: The Enemy Without (11-20), IV. Concluding Prayers (verses 21-22). (The MacArthur Study Bible, page 763)
2. In the opening prayer, David is asking for God to be merciful. While David knows he deserves punishment from time-to-time, he also seems to understand that God often shows mercy by not punishing too harshly.
3. David admits in verse 3 that he has sinned, but he also shows the type of punishment he is suffering because he has sinned: “There is no health in my bones because of my sin.” When I sin, does it ever “bother” me that much?
4. Verse 4 has David stating that the weight of sin is more than he can bear. This shows the heart of David. While he made mistakes, he knew he was wrong and it truly affected him adversely.
5. Verses 5-8 show how the guilt of sinning has continually grown for David. It is, as we might say, eating away at him. It is obvious, though, that it is not because David has been caught. It is because he knows the things he has done are sinful.
6. Verse 9 states that David knows that God is aware of what is going on. All is open to God.
7. In verse 12, David–once again–shows that he is being pursued by evil folks. However, no where does he use this as an excuse for his sins. I believe he is saying this because he knows that he is in a vulnerable position.
8. Verses 13-15 show us how to react to the accusations of evil people. David simply chose, as Jesus later would, to not answer. Rather, we need to trust God even in hard times.
9. Finally, in verse 18, David simply confesses that he has done wrong. Often we talk about how hard our suffering is because of sin, but we fail to ever confess the wrongdoing.
10. At the end of the psalm (verses 21-22), David again takes a moment to pray to God for help in this hard time. When we have sinned, we are extra vulnerable to sinning again. We need to pray to God for help at those times.
