Week 16 Psalm 38
Let’s say I’ve got a State of Mental & Spiritual Health & Wellbeing Index. Let’s say the scale registers a 10 (for positive wellbeing) and a 1 (for negative wellbeing). If I was assessing psalm 38 on that scale I’d rate it near the bottom – maybe a 2.
There are a couple of things going on with David.
On one hand he’s loaded down thinking about his own moral guilt & inadequacy. He says:
• there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin
• my guilt has overwhelmed me
• I groan in anguish of heart
• I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.
So David is facing an internal dilemma – a crushing sense of guilt that he can’t get rid of.
But then there’s a second thing going on – his relationships with people:
• My friends and companions avoid me
• Those who want to kill me set their traps (and) talk of my ruin.
However (and it’s a pretty big however) in spite of his adverse circumstances David takes the high road as best he can:
• All my longings lie open before you, Lord
• Lord, I wait for you
• I seek only to do what is good.
I’d give David high marks for doing what he can do in the face of his bad fortunes. So I’m surprised that by the end of the psalm – and this makes it an oddity – there’s no obvious resolution. David is left hanging.
Note: quotes from Psalm 38:3 4 8 18 11 12 9 15 20 (NIV)