Excessive Baggage
Psalm 38
My wife and I are fairly organized people. For example, when we go on vacation, we always make sure that we take EVERYTHING that we need (my wife especially makes sure of this). Getting everything into the car is sometimes a chore in itself, but when it comes to carrying everything into a motel or into the airport, and a few times THROUGH the airport, you find that you’re carrying far too much. Now the humorous part of this is when you get home and unpack and you find that you’ve carried things that you never even used! You come to the realization that you’ve subjected yourself to carrying baggage that you never had to carry.
Psalm 38: “O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me. 3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. 4 My guilt has overwhelmed me LIKE A BURDEN TOO HEAVY to bear. 5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. 6 I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. 7 My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. 8 I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. 9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. 10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. 11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.”
12 “Those who seek my life set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they plot deception. 13 I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, like a mute, who cannot open his mouth; 14 I have become like a man who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. 15 I wait for you, O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God. 16 For I said, "Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips." 17 For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me. 18 I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. 19 Many are those who are my vigorous enemies; those who hate me without reason are numerous. 20 Those who repay my good with evil slander me when I pursue what is good. 21 O Lord, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. 22 Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.”
In Psalm 38, David has been under a very heavy load: He is carrying far too much luggage. Take a moment to look at David’s Baggage! The burdens that he is bearing are considerably more than carrying a few extra carry-on bags or a bulky suitcase. He is carrying burdens of extreme anguish, the kind that break hearts but not backs! The heaviest is the Hand of God’s discipline coming down on him, not lovingly, but in anger and in wrath. And could you blame God for being angry.
What were the causes of David’s cumbersome condition? Verse 3 and 5 give these reasons: Because of MY SIN and because of YOUR(God’s) WRATH (vs. 3), because of MY FOOLISHNESS or sinful FOLLY (vs. 5). David knows how extreme his condition is but yet it is JUSTIFIED.
We hate to admit it, but misery is the natural consequence of SIN, no matter what sin it might be and the consequences are seen everywhere and affects everything. Am I saying that every illness is caused by sin? Indirectly, and sometimes DIRECTLY, illness is caused by SIN!
Think about it for a minute: There would be absolutely no illness in a sin-free world; the common cold would be very UNcommon because it wouldn’t exist. There would not be a need for police nor prisons, no judges, no judgments, no trials. (A lot of job security would be INSECURE.) There would be no America’s Most Wanted, no FBI’s top 10. There would be no disease, no assisted living homes, no hospice…I HAVE YET TO HEAR OF A PERSON WHO DIED OF GOOD HEALTH.
There would be no death There would be no natural disasters, no guilt, and imagine this no emotional baggage. No suffering from abuse, neglect, no inferiority complexes, no fears or phobias, no suffering on account of rape or any other sexual deviation. No mental illness. No excessive baggage to carry, to lug around for your whole life. SIN MESSES THINGS UP!
All the emotional traumas in the book are a result of sin, some of which you may have had nothing to do with, but YOU are the “bell-ho” onto whom the emotional baggage has been heaped. We are the recipients of collateral-baggage-damage. We may try to forget, try to forgive, try to move on, but let’s face it, we are all carrying baggage-burdens caused by the actions and sins which someone else inflicted upon us AS WELL AS THE SIN WHICH IS WITHIN US.
No matter who we are today, we are poor in some way, or lacking in some way. We are brokenhearted over something or someone. We may be captives to the memories of the past or the limited expectations of our futures. Unless we are willing to deal with the painful experiences that we own, the pain becomes like excessive baggage, wounding our hearts, effecting relationships with others…and minimizing our relationship with God.
It is no wonder that God abhors sin; He hates it with such a vengeance, a holy vengeance because, first of all, HE IS HOLY; It damages and breaks relationship with him. He knows the catastrophic results on us human beings.
We should have the same pure hatred toward sin, especially as you look at some of the excruciating language in Psalm 38: Physically, David has been PIERCED, he has no health in his body, no strength in his bones, he has festering wounds, bent over, searing back pain, heart palpitations.
That’s not all: He has become deaf, blind, mute, dizzy, faint. And emotionally, he has gone far beyond depression and exhaustion, he is suffering paralyzing guilt, and deathly afraid of the abandonment of God, Himself. “Enough already.”
Who is helping David to carry all of this excess baggage? Who helps carry all this stuff? It becomes overwhelming sometimes. Not friends. Not family, according to our scripture. Sometimes it’s too much for them to handle. I know some folks who find it very difficult to visit sick people; it isn’t because they don’t have concern or compassion, but it’s hard to see people suffer.
Even though “misery may like company”, in David’s case, the company will NOT be HIS friends; they’re staying far away. Verse 11 says “my friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds.” What are friends for, right? Sometimes even friends will leave you to suffer alone when you need them the most, but God won’t.
Certainly DAVID’S enemies will not help; they are doing what you would expect enemies to do: hoping that David will not recover, in fact they are trying to see to it that he doesn’t improve. They plot deception all day long, scripture tells us. Kick him when he’s down, maybe he won’t get up again. No mercy at all! No grace. Typical behavior from the enemies of God and his children.
Even though David seems mighty close to the breaking point, you have to admire the glimpses of hope that still remain: “Lord, do not rebuke me or discipline me in your anger and wrath.” David is still HANGING ON to God’s MERCY. He knows that he is STILL receiving MERCY because, even in this horrible situation, he still has life.
In verse 9 he says, “All of my longings lie open before you, O Lord (You still know my heart, and it’s still for you, Lord); my sighing is not hidden from you.” Now the word for “sighing” is much heavier than that. It is actually “GROANING”, and it’s an expression, not only of physical pain, but of heart-wrenching grief.
God may be allowing this to happen, it may be his will, BUT HE DOESN’T TURN AWAY FROM HIS CHILDREN, and David knows this. This is the hope that he is holding onto and this hope keeps him going: THERE IS hope in knowing God cares; “O Lord, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. 22 Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior.”
Do you see the picture here that God is developing? I want to throw some words from this passage and see if you can put the divine puzzle together: pierced, bones, burden, wounds, his back is filled with searing pain, he is crushed, his strength fails, those who seek my life, plot, his mouth can offer no reply, my God, enemies, forsake me.
It is exactly in times like this that God’s GRACE is maximized and magnified. It is at times like this that we really see how great He is, how absolutely amazing his GRACE really is.
You must remember that the Lord Jesus Christ was abandoned by his closest of friends. Jesus’ enemies skillfully planned to take him down, but not without his own knowledge, and not without God’s approval. He was pierced for our sins, his bones were not broken but He was bent over with the burden of sin, but not His own sins, our own sins. He was wounded for our transgressions.
His back was seared with the pain of the scourging, FOR US. He was crushed in his death. His strength failed when he gave up His Spirit on the cross. ALL of Jesus’ Divine and Perfect Goodness was repaid with evil, over and over again until it ended on a cross. He opened not his mouth against his accusers. And it was on the cross at Calvary that Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was forsaken by God, His Father, so that we never will be forsaken. All that God despises was put upon Jesus and the burden was extremely excessive.
David is a picture for us of Christ, a type of Christ, pointing to the supreme sacrifice that Christ would someday make…for us. It is in the ugliest times of our lives that GOD’S SAVING GRACE is revealed, it’s uncovered for us. The last verse says it all: Come quickly to help me, O Lord my SAVIOR. That word for “Savior” is actually SALVATION in the Hebrew. Jesus carried all of the weight of sin so that we don’t have to carry any of the burdens of sin.
So what baggage are you carrying today? You don’t have to carry it any longer. Don’t take your bags to check out or the lost and found. Don’t lug them around only to find later that you’ve been dragging so much extra stuff. Only take what you really need. Take your sin-baggage to Jesus. You can trade in your sin-burden for freedom.
Jesus said in Luke 4:18: The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel (this GOOD NEWS) to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, (those with hearts which are broken from carrying hurts that they don’t have to carry), to proclaim liberty to the captives (in Jesus’ name you are FREE from things that are restraining you) and recovery of sight to the blind, (so you see that HE is the one to free you), to set at liberty those who are oppressed (bent over from the burden).
Jesus says in Matt 11: 28: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
The Greek word for REST is “Anapauo”. The definition of this word is “to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or labor in order to RECOVER and collect his strength, to give REST, REFRESH, to keep quiet, calm, and patient expectation. That is exactly what Jesus offers. Exchange all of your Excess (ive) baggage for his REST. Don’t hold onto them. You don’t need them, and he has already taken care of them.
Matthew 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
