Gosh, reading through Psalm 38 makes my head swim. David was facing so many things. I can’t relate to most of his experience.

• Feels rebuked by God
• Feels chastened
• God’s arrows have sunk deep

• God’s hand presses down on him
• His health is deteriorating
• He’s overwhelmed by guilt
• His physical wounds aren’t healing
• His back is killing him

• His heart races
• His strength is failing him
• The light in his eyes has gone out
• His friends and family are avoiding him
• Some seek to take his life
• Some plot against him
• He is disoriented, tone deaf, speechless
• He is in constant pain
• His enemies are vigorous and numerous

There are at least a dozen things in this psalm that I don’t seem to be facing. Which makes me wonder if there’s anything for me in this psalm.

O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me. Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away. Those who seek my life set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they plot deception. I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, like a mute, who cannot open his mouth; I have become like a man who does not hear, whose mouth can offer no reply. I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God. For I said, “Do not let them gloat or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.” For I am about to fall, and my pain is ever with me. I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. Many are those who are my vigorous enemies; those who hate me without reason are numerous. Those who repay my good with evil slander me when I pursue what is good. O LORD, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Savior. — Psalm 38

Maybe this is the beauty of taking time to reflect instead of rushing ahead to the next page-turn. As I look deeper, I do see myself here and there…

• My sighing is not hidden from God – I sigh, others hurt me, I get disappointed in myself
• I feel the weight of my sin
• I sometimes feel the anger of God
• My heart gets agitated — I’m not exempt from anxiety
• I’ve felt opposition — not so long ago people vigorously opposed the residential development we envisioned in Arizona
• Going back a few years, my childhood school experience could be summarized as a struggle with, “Those who repay my good with evil slander when I pursue what is good.”
• And, of course, I certainly have the same hope and confidence David declares in verse 15: “I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God.”

One thing I’m learning as I reflect on these psalms is “It’s not all about me.” Which means learning not to presume that someone else may not be facing some (or heaven forbid all) of these trials. One of my pastors used to remind us, “If you aren’t facing these things, then just wait. This too shall pass.” In which case I will be right there with David, crying out, “Come quickly to help me, O Lord, my Savior!”