Psalm 38: Sickness And Suffering Brought On By Sin Series

Even if the immoral person somehow manages to evade disease, God has other weapons for those who break His laws. Some of them are psychological. The anguish they ultimately cause to the mind is no less real than the physical ravages in the body. Probably the illustration which most of us would be familiar with is the abortion of millions of unborn babies every year. I have heard women say that they regret aborting their child and it has weighed heavily on their conscience ever since. What a terrible burden for anyone to bear!

Now, there is forgiveness with God, as David discovered. However, before God showed him that, He allowed him to suffer: “There is no soundness in my flesh,” David wailed, “because of thine anger.” It is not likely that David had contracted venereal disease. His affliction was much more dramatic than that. The point here was that David was suffering, not only from divine anger but also from daily anguish, and all as a result of his immorality. That was the consequence of sin.

4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

“For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” He hadn’t thought of that, either, when he had cultivated his intimacy with Bathsheba. The word he uses for “inequities” brings out all the wrong and crookedness of sin. There is no excusing his iniquities—he is thoroughly convicted of them. Like gigantic waves, they have dashed over him. Like an enormous weight, they have broken his strength. The word he uses for all these inequities going over his head reminds us of the eastern porters. You can see them in an eastern city staggering along under loads so vast and heavy you are astonished that they can bear them. Their spindly legs seem as though they must snap under the strain. This is how his sin now seemed to David.

David was drowning in a sea of suffering (see 42:7; 69:2, 14; 88:16; 124:4; 130:1-2), and the whole experience became a burden too heavy for him to carry. Notice that the central point of his distress is his sin. It is his inequity that is too heavy for him. His real ailment is spiritual; the wounds that grow foul and fester may be the consequence of his wrongdoing. This man whom God dearly loved could not carry his sin. You and I cannot carry our burdens either, and we definitely cannot carry the burden of sin. We must give that burden to God.

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December 18, 2014

Tom Lowe

Title: PSALM 38: Sickness and Suffering Brought on by Sin.

A psalm of David.

Part 1 David’s Sin (verses 1-4)

Part 2 DAVID’S SUFFERING (verses 5-8)

Part 3 David’s Sorrow (verses 9-14)

Part 4 David’s Supplication (verses 15-22)

Psalm 38 (KJV)