Psalm 38:1-8 - April 30, 2009

Ps 38:1-8 A psalm of David. A petition.
"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." NIV

This passage is filled with opportunities for theological disagreement. What means will God use to correct or punish? Is all sickness from the devil? These and many other issues can become the source of controversy depending upon how we read this passage but a few issues are very clearly presented in the principles of these verses. God will rebuke and he can either do it in anger or in love. God will discipline in the same fashion and God will confront sin in our lives through resisting us in various forms. David makes these things very clear in just a few short sentences. God desires to turn us from destructive ways and so He will lift His hand in opposition to us to turn us from those things that separate us from receiving His love.
In this season of his life David is experiencing much affliction as a bi-product of his sin. He has been touched by the arrow of God that has pierced his heart. He is feeling the weight of God’s hand upon him. What is essential is that we connect with David’s description of how these things have manifested themselves in his life. David speaks of God’s arrow, God’s hand and God’s wrath but then he goes on to describe what he is experiencing. Sickness, overwhelming guilt, being brought down, mourning, filled with anguish of heart this is David’s description of God’s dealings. This passage is a gift to us to help us recognize when God is pressing us to bring us to repentance. God’s discipline is never intended to destroy us. It is rather intended to turn us to Him and to train us in righteousness. Heb 12:5-7, 11 give us a clear theology for God’s discipline; “And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.’ 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons… 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.“
David has recorded for us a firsthand account of the inner workings of God’s discipline. I believe that many of us undergo the discipline of God for prolonged seasons that could have been greatly shortened but we have not understood that what is taking place in our lives is a discipline from God to correct or rebuke us. For a season I was having dreams where a well known American television minister named Rod Parsley was talking with me telling me things that I was doing wrong in my church services. At first I was confused about the dreams and so I shared them with my team of elders. One of them laughed and said, “That one’s easy, he’s the ‘Rod of Correction’.” When David prayed in verse one he asked the Lord not to rebuke him in His anger. As I considered my experience I realized that this was the fulfillment of that principle. The Lord was rebuking me but in a gentle tone, a humorous tone.
Paul was a tremendous example of the Lord’s hand of discipline. He ministered as a Father to the churches that he oversaw and was not afraid to bring the Lord’s correction to them. He would confront sin, correct error and praise a right life. In 1 Cor 4:20 Paul demonstrates the distinction between gentleness and strong correction, “What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?” There is a significant contrast between how God addresses those who humbly desire to receive His adjustments, and how He confronts those who must be first broken before they can receive the truths that God desires to impart to shape their lives. Keeping our hearts aware of the inner workings of God’s Spirit in our inner being is an important part of our relationship with God. He will be faithful to deal with us to bring us to maturity but our own sensitivity and responsiveness to His hand can greatly improve the nature of the process.