Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
Psalm 38:1-4 NIV
or discipline me in your wrath.
Your arrows have pierced me,
and your hand has come down on me.
Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.
This may be a psalm that you have a hard time identifying with. All too often, we pass off our sins as inconsequential. So long as we are not killing, committing adultery, or some other ‘major’ infraction of our moral code, we feel good about ourselves.
But David is expressing something different here. We have no way of knowing what has brought him to this point. But what is obvious from this psalm is that David was broken and felt God’s judgment against his sin. His sin, and the consequences of that sin, were a heavy burden to him.
But David did not just wallow in despair. In Psalm 38:18, he confessed his sin to God. And in Psalm 38:21-22, he called on God for help and restoration. He knew his sin had separated him from God. And that repenting and turning to God was necessary for restoration.
Repenting of My Sin
And what was true for David 3000 years ago is still true for us today. Our sin creates a rift between God and us. And not just the big heinous sins. Sin is doing what I want rather than what God wants from me. And regardless of the size of my transgression, it is still a transgression.
Our sin should weigh heavily on us. Even the little ones. Even the ones that no one else knows about. And even those that don’t hurt anyone else. We should take sin in our lives seriously. Don’t just pass it off as having no consequence. Repent, commit yourself anew to God, and experience the joy of your salvation (Psa. 51:12).
