May 12, 2014
Psalm 38:2-8
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
Friday, we started looking at Psalm 38:2 through 8 – a biblical statement of what sin will do in the believer’s life. We examined the first three verses of our scripture where it was presented that sin pierces us through, weighs us down, affects our physical health, and drowns us as if with a heavy weight tied around our necks! Here again is Psalm 38:2 through 8, and we will look more closely at verses 5 through 8:
…Your arrows pierce me deeply, and Your hand presses me down. There is
no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger, nor is there any 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 are foul and festering
because of my foolishness. I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go
mourning all the day long. For my loins are full of inflamation, and there is
no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because
of the turmoil of my heart.
Several things sin will do:
• Psalm 38:5 – “My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness.” In verse 3 David exclaimed, “There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your anger, nor is there any health in my bones because of my sin.” And as we saw in Proverbs 14:30, “A sound heart is life to the body, but envy [or any other persistent sin] is rottenness to the bones.” Here, David takes it deeper.
Remember, it was about a year from committing those sins to confession and repentance – a long, spiritually dry year – for this man called “…the sweet psalmist of Israel…” (II Samuel 23:1). David’s sweet life turned very sour as that year advanced! And his sin had an increasingly adverse physical effect on him! If sin “…is rottenness to the bones…,” it worked its way outward and seemed to produce wounds or sores on the king’s body! He probably consulted the court physicians to heal those sores, but they persisted and even got worse! They festered and became foul-smelling!
Remember also that there was no sickness or death in creation before sin entered into man’s experience (see Genesis 2:16 and 17). When God reverses the curse in the new heaven and the new earth – as it says in Revelation 21:4 – “…God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” So generally, sin causes disease and death! Specifically, persistent sin in a Christian’s life can produce physical maladies, and even death! But – as we have seen in David’s life, and other believers’ lives – such disease is allowed by God to bring His child back into fellowship with Him! (see I Corinthians 11:27 through 32 and Hebrews 12:1 through 13).
And, yes, sin is foolishness – as David rightly proclaimed! It makes no sense for the Christian to continue in sin and suffer spiritually, mentally and physically when God’s forgiveness and healing are so available in Jesus Christ!
• Psalm 38:6 – “I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day
long.” Isaiah 32:17 proclaims, “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.” Can it be any more plain?! If you analyze these two scriptures side by side – Psalm 38:6 and Isaiah 32:17 – which one will you choose?
We are righteous positionally the moment we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior! As it says in II Corinthians 5:17, He took our sins upon Himself, fully paying the price before the Father. And that price was death, both physically and spiritually. At the same time He made His own righteousness available to us. We – in the Lord Jesus Christ – are as righteous and accepted before the Father as is the Son Himself!
But there is another kind of righteousness to which we Christians are called – practical righteousness! We are to be more and more holy in our daily living as we mature in Christ. Both of these rigthteousnesses – manifested in and through us – produce in this life, here and now, “…peace… quietness and assurance forever.”
• Psalm 38:7 and 8 – “For my loins are full of inflamation, and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.” Again, David confesses to severe physical manifestations from his unconfessed and unforsaken sin. And while he was going through this dry time in his life, he probably reasoned he was getting away with those sins he had committed! But once Nathan the prophet confronted him (see II Samuel 12:1 through 15), the king starkly realized his broken fellowship with God and the resultant physical, mental and emotional maladies that followed.
A broken body, a heart in turmoil, and a dried up spirit! Is it worth it to try to hide our sins? Isn’t it so much better to confess them before God, to forsake them, and to be restored – as David pleaded in Psalm 51:12 – “…to…the joy of… [God’s] salvation…”?