May 14, 2014
Psalm 38:15-22
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
I will finish up Praying for Forgiveness today. And David still has some important things to say here. Although Psalm 38 is the last of the three psalms we are examining concerning David’s sin with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband Uriah to try to cover up the resulting pregnancy, I believe that this psalm should be first – just after Nathan the prophet confronted the king in II Samuel 12, and before David prayed and penned his deep prayer of confession and repentance – Psalm 51. Here is Psalm 38:15 through 22:
…in You, O LORD, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God. For I said, “Hear
me, lest they rejoice over me, lest, when my foot slips, they magnify them-
selves against me. For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually be-
fore me. I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin. But my
enemies are vigorous, and they are strong; and those who hate me wrongfully
have multiplied. They also who render evil for good, they are my adversaries,
because I follow what is good. Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, be
not far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!
Apparently, David was realizing his sinful actions were resulting not only in physical sickness (see the last two blogs), but that the prophecy of Nathan in II Samuel 12:10 through 12 was beginning to play out:
Thus says the LORD…“Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your
house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the
Hittite to be your wife…. Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from
your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to
your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of the sun. For
you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.”
If, indeed, this psalm was written before the other two, then the full-blown rebellion of his son Absalom had not yet happened (see II Samuel 13 though 18). But apparently there were enough rumblings in the kingdom that King David recognized his sin was precipitating the fulfillment of the dire prophecy.
But I want to concentrate on David’s faith. Verse 17 of our scripture points out the end result of all sin – “For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me…” – continual sorrow and ruin! James said it this way in James 1:14 and 15: “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” And David finally realized that!
Be aware of the consequences of sin!!! Is it worth it?!!
But this sinful king of Israel is still called in I Samuel 13:14 and in Acts 13:22, “…a man after…[God’s] own heart….” Why? Because – although he was a great sinner, he still had a great faith in God, and he greatly confessed and repented of his sin! Look at what he wrote in verses 15 and 18 or this psalm: “…in You, O LORD, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God ….I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin.” David had faith that God would hear him and forgive him when he turned to the Lord in confession and repentance! He proclaimed this in Psalm 103:12 when he wrote of the result of his turning back to God: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Check out the six Forgiven and Free! blogs from April 3 through 15, 2013 – especially Forgiven and Free! – II).
This, I believe, is one of the biggest problems facing Christians today – we may mouth that our sin is forgiven by God, but somehow we will not forgive ourselves! Consider this: If an adulterer, a murderer, a liar, a sin-coverer can be so totally Forgiven and Free as to be declared “…a man after…[God’s] own heart…,” why not you and me? Yes, we are to “… declare [our] iniquity…” unto Him, and to be “…in anguish over…[our] sin.” That is the kind of heart God is looking for in His children when they do wrong! But don’t stop there! Continue with what David said, “…in You, O LORD, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God.” God will not only hear, but – because of the full payment for sin by Jesus’ blood shed on the cross – He will so forgive us that we no longer carry our sins at all!
So let the burden go!
Thus ends this series – Praying for Forgiveness!