Our New Number - Psalm 38

Psalm 38

 ¹ 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.

Heather talked to Kiersten today and received our new number - our new number is 38.  With a new number comes a new reflection in the Psalms.  Psalm 38 is not the typical Psalm that you would go to for encouragement.  But through God's mercy, I have been encouraged today as I reflected on this Psalm.   

There is much dealing with sin in Psalm 38 that is very sobering.  It is a reflection of how God could ultimately deal with our sin and how David felt before God because of his sin.  David uses imagery of anger, arrows, and being crushed in light of his sin.  That is a proper feeling about sin in light of standing before a holy and just God. 

However, I am thankful that because of the work of Christ, and His work alone, I stand blameless before God's throne.  I am wrapped in the robes of Christ's righteousness, and because of His mediation I have nothing to fear. 

And not only am I free from His wrath, I am welcomed as a child.  Welcomed as an adopted child who was far off, an alien and a stranger, one who was brought near by a loving Father.  One who has been brought into a relationship as a son where love rules.  I am thankful for His adoption of me into His Father/son relationship.

The Psalm also touches on waiting and pleading for God to not be far away (vs 15, 21).  Our family continues to be in the midst of waiting and we know that we are not waiting on a number, but are waiting on God.  It is His perfect timing that will bring our little one home.  It is His loving purposes that are being accomplished even today as His plan moves forward step by step.  Yet, knowing that, we still plead for God to not be far from us.  We plead, as in verse 22, that God would make haste to help us.  We know many things in our heads, and yet our heart yearns for the next step.  But God is sufficient for us today as He will be sufficient for us in the day we bring her home. 

I am thankful for Psalm 38 today.  I am thankful that He caused my eyes to turn to Him.  I am thankful that our hope is in God.