Suffering the Consequences

Sin and Repentance in Psalm 38

The Book of Psalms is perhaps the widest ranging component of the canon of Scripture. We turn to the Psalms to find encouragement and see the joy of the Lord reflected in the words of David, Asaph, and others. We mine these ancient hymns for truths about God’s character and lyric prophecies about the person and work of Christ. We look here to learn the “way of the righteous” (Ps. 1:6) and to see “who may abide in [God’s] tent? Who may dwell on [His] holy hill?” (Ps. 15:1). And, as we will examine here, we open this book to see the spiritual, physical, and emotional consequences of sin and the redemption God provides.

Psalm 38 opens with the wrath of God directed at David for an unspecified sin he has committed: “O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger” (verse 1). Presumably (as with Psalm 51 and possibly Psalm 32), this was written after his great sin of adultery with Bathsheba and arranging the murder of Uriah. Unlike the reflective and penitent tone of Psalm 51 and the joyfully forgiven tone of Psalm 32, Psalm 38 drips with guilt and anguish. From this, it seems that this psalm was written before the other two, just as the gravity of what he had done began to sink in for David.

David is quick to realize that he has justly earned God’s wrath by his sin, and is quick to tie the afflictions he lists to his actions, saying that they came upon him because of his sin (verse 3) and folly (verse 5).

He describes God’s chastisement as “arrows…sunk deep into me,” and as the hand of God pressing down on him (verse 2). He is apparently diseased and in physical pain, having “no soundness” in his flesh or health in his bones (verse 3), festering wounds (verse 5), and burning pain (verse 7). He is also under emotional and spiritual strain as a result of his sin, saying that his “iniquities are gone over [his] head,” weighing him down as a “heavy burden” (verse 4). He is “bent over and greatly bowed down,” in mourning (verse 6), numb, crushed, and groaning in agitation (verse 8).

These first 8 verses of the Psalm evocatively show the personal consequences of sin. Every believer is acquainted with the emotional weight of guilt from sin—before coming to Christ, with its hopelessness, and afterward, with the ache of grieving the Spirit. God uses our conscience to keep us from going on with life in the wake of unconfessed sin, and the weight of guilt is a necessary step on the road of repentance and forgiveness.

The second aspect, physical consequences, probably does not resonate as readily. Does God really use physical punishment for our sin? We are not told in the historic books about any disease being sent to David to move him to repentance, but we do know that the Lord struck his first child with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 12:15-22). Scripture is full of examples of the Lord’s dealing in this way. Haggai 1:9-12 describes how He sent economic hard times to Israel for directing their resources to personal gain instead of to the rebuilding of the temple. Deuteronomy 28:15-68 is a list of the promised curses to fall on the nation if they disobey the Lord (in contrast to the promised blessings for obedience). The ultimate physical result of sin is, of course, death, as promised in Genesis 2:17 and 3:19 and reiterated in Romans 6:23 and elsewhere.

If it seems capricious and spiteful for God to inflict disease and death as consequences of individual and corporate sin, we need to remember that He is absolutely holy and completely justified in punishing sin however He sees fit. However, He is also loving, and He uses many methods (including suffering) to draw us back to Him and spur us to righteousness. David clearly understood this in Psalm 38—he recognizes God’s wrath as the source of his affliction and turns to God for redemption. God sends chastisement because of His love. He knows the ways of our hearts (verse 9), and knows exactly how to draw us back to Him.

As the Psalm continues, we see that David’s sin has caused other problems. His strength and will to live have left him (verse 10), he is shunned by his friends and family (verse 11), and his enemies have renewed their attacks on him (verse 12). If verses 1-8 show God’s chastisement for sin, verses 10-12 show its “collateral damage”—the temporal consequences of our wrong choices that God allows to run their course. David’s loved ones are repulsed by his sin, and his enemies have found a new opportunity to exploit him at his point of weakness.

The effects of our sin go far beyond our own lives, and they can live on long after the offense is forgiven by God. Even the smallest transgressions can have ramifications for those close to us in terms of broken relationships, lost trust, and, in some cases, legal penalties. Our lives (indeed all of creation since the fall) are marked by the baggage of sin. Its power over us is broken by the blood of Christ at our salvation, but its earthly consequences spread like ripples until He returns to wipe it all away.

Verses 13-15 reach the heart of the matter as David hits “rock bottom” in his struggle: “But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; and I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth. Yes, I am like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no arguments. For I hope in You, O Lord; You will answer, O Lord my God.” He is saying that he cannot bear to hear any more about his sin and has no more excuses to offer. At the end of his rope, David lays himself before God, knowing that the Lord is his only hope. So also our guilt and the consequences of our sin should drive us to the feet of our Lord, laying aside our false justifications and throwing ourselves upon His mercy.

For the man of God in David’s day and for Christians in ours, there is one more area where sin brings destruction. Verses 16-20 are David’s prayer for the Lord to vindicate him before his enemies who have occasioned his fall into sin to mock the Lord. “Many are those who hate me wrongfully, and those who repay evil for good, they oppose me because I follow what is good” (vv. 19b-20). When we are identified with the Lord as His children, our actions reflect on our God. The sins of believers tarnish our witness of His name before a watching world, and we suffer the pain of bringing shame to the Lord’s reputation by our actions.

At the end of the Psalm, David openly cries to God from his distress: “Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, do not be far from me! Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!” (vv. 21-22). He knew that his guilt could not be absolved by anything he could do, and he beseeches the Lord to deal with him according to His mercy and not according to the just deserts of his sin.

The salvation David plead for is available to any who would believe now because of the precious blood of Christ spilled for us on Calvary. We can know forgiveness standing in the sacrifice of Jesus, relying on Him alone to count us clean and plead for mercy before the Father’s throne. In Christ, the eternal consequences of our sin are abolished. With that certain hope, we can live for Him in this life, even though our failings leave temporal consequences that hinder our walk. As Charles Wesley wrote, “He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free, His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.” The forgiveness of Christ leads us to continue on in His power and to forgive the sins of others when the consequences affect us.

As we learn from David’s example, let us be quick to listen to the Spirit’s conviction, quick to recognize the sin in our hearts, quick to repent, and quick to fly to the feet of the One who is our salvation.

Justin Lonas is the editor of Disciple Magazine.