Encouragement: Written to get God’s attention.

Today I bring you encouragement from Psalm 38:1-22

38:1 A psalm of David, written to get God’s attention.
O Lord, do not continue to rebuke me in your anger!
Do not continue to punish me in your raging fury!
2 For your arrows pierce me,
and your hand presses me down.
3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment;
I am deprived of health because of my sin.
4 For my sins overwhelm me;
like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.
5 My wounds are infected and starting to smell,
because of my foolish sins.
6 I am dazed and completely humiliated;
all day long I walk around mourning.
7 For I am overcome with shame
and my whole body is sick.
8 I am numb with pain and severely battered;
I groan loudly because of the anxiety I feel.
9 O Lord, you understand my heart’s desire;
my groaning is not hidden from you.
10 My heart beats quickly;
my strength leaves me;
I can hardly see.
11 Because of my condition, even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance;
my neighbors stand far away.
12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me;
those who want to harm me speak destructive words;
all day long they say deceitful things.
13 But I am like a deaf man – I hear nothing;
I am like a mute who cannot speak.
14 I am like a man who cannot hear
and is incapable of arguing his defense.
15 Yet I wait for you, O Lord!
You will respond, O Lord, my God!
16 I have prayed for deliverance, because otherwise they will gloat over me;
when my foot slips they will arrogantly taunt me.
17 For I am about to stumble,
and I am in constant pain.
18 Yes, I confess my wrongdoing,
and I am concerned about my sins.
19 But those who are my enemies for no reason are numerous;
those who hate me without cause outnumber me.
20 They repay me evil for the good I have done;
though I have tried to do good to them, they hurl accusations at me.
21 Do not abandon me, O Lord!
My God, do not remain far away from me!
22 Hurry and help me, O Lord, my deliverer!

Biblical Studies Press. (2006; 2006). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Ps 38:1-22). Biblical Studies Press.

"A Psalm of David, written to get God’s attention." It is so comforting that we are not the first to walk this path. Sometimes life can weigh heavy on our hearts and make us lose confidence in everything we have come to know about God.

We may slip slowly in our faith as we face the challenges of this messy world we live in. First we praise on in the glory of our previous celebrations in what God has done for us. But then suddenly we awake to strong feelings of failure in our ability to in our own strength just having the faith to move forward.

We then start to say in our hearts as David said.
"O Lord, do not continue to rebuke me in your anger!
Do not continue to punish me in your raging fury!
For your arrows pierce me,and your hand presses me down.
My whole body is sick because of your judgment;
I am deprived of health because of my sin.
For my sins overwhelm me; like a heavy load,
they are too much for me to bear."

It is a great comfort that someone of the magnitude of David would have this experience also.

But we can not stay here and wallow in the depth of the situation, but we must follow David's guidance

"Yet I wait for you, O Lord!
You will respond, O Lord, my God!
I have prayed for deliverance,
because otherwise they will gloat over me;
when my foot slips they will arrogantly taunt me.
For I am about to stumble,
and I am in constant pain.

Yes, I confess my wrongdoing,
and I am concerned about my sins."

So often this sinful world will try to convince us that once we know God, everything will be perfect. Nothing can be further from the truth. We only need to look at the stories of David and other stars of God in the old testament and then carry forward and look at the apostles of the new testament. All of them faced struggles beyond what their own strength could endure. Yet they all had the confidence that God heard them and would attend to them. They all seemed to have courage to wait on God.

In our walk we have to promise that God will never leave us or forsake us.
We have eternal life, and God has a plan for us and He is using us for His glory. It might be hard for us to see this as we walk our path with Jesus at our side, but we must walk forward confidently trusting in His knowledge and faithfulness. We will stumble and fall and get dirty, God is looking for us to have the trust in Him to stand up, dust ourselves off and keep following Him.

The closing words of this Psalm are difficult for David as he did not have the promise that came so clearly with Jesus, that God would never leave us or forsake us. But David still had the confidence to say

"Do not abandon me, O Lord!
My God, do not remain far away from me!
Hurry and help me,
O Lord, my deliverer!"

Note that even though David was feeling abandoned, he still claimed God as "MY GOD" "MY DELIVERER"

So when you are on the floor, dirty, cut, and your heart is in pain. Get up dust yourself off and reach out and claim God as "MY GOD" and "MY DELIVERER" and trust Him knowing that He does have a plan for your life.

Amen

Music Encouragement: Chris Tomlin - My Deliverer