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Commentary on Psalms 38 verses 1–11
The title of this psalm is very observable; it is a psalm to bring to remembrance; the 70th psalm, which was likewise penned in a day of affliction, is so entitled. It is designed, 1. To bring to his own remembrance. We will suppose it penned when he was sick and in pain, and then it teaches us that times of sickness are times to bring to remembrance, to bring the sin to remembrance, for which God contended with us, to awaken our consciences to deal faithfully and plainly with us, and set our sins in order before us, for our humiliation. In a day of adversity consider. Or we may suppose it penned after his recovery, but designed as a record of the convictions he was under and the workings of his heart when he was in affliction, that upon every review of this psalm he might call to mind the good impressions then made upon him and make a fresh improvement of them. To the same purport was the writing of Hezekiah when he had been sick. 2. To put others in mind of the same things which he was himself mindful of, and to teach them what to think and what to say when they are sick and in affliction; let them think as he did, and speak as he did.
I. He deprecates the wrath of God and his displeasure in his affliction (Psa 38:1): O Lord! rebuke me not in thy wrath. With this same petition he began another prayer for the visitation of the sick, Psa 6:1. This was most upon his heart, and should be most upon ours when we are in affliction, that, however God rebukes and chastens us, it may not be in wrath and displeasure, for that will be wormwood and gall in the affliction and misery. Those that would escape the wrath of God must pray against that more than any outward affliction, and be content to bear any outward affliction while it comes from, and consists with, the love of God.
II. He bitterly laments the impressions of God's displeasure upon his soul (Psa 38:2): Thy arrows stick fast in me. Let Job's complaint (Job 7:4) expound this of David. By the arrows of the Almighty he means the terrors of God, which did set themselves in array against him. He was under a very melancholy frightful apprehension of the wrath of God against him for his sins, and thought he could look for nothing but judgment and fiery indignation to devour him. God's arrows, as they are sure to hit the mark, so they are sure to stick where they hit, to stick fast, till he is pleased to draw them out and to bind up with his comforts the wound he has made with his terrors. This will be the everlasting misery of the damned - the arrows of God's wrath will stick fast in them and the wound will be incurable. "Thy hand, thy heavy hand, presses me sore, and I am ready to sink under it; it not only lies hard upon me, but it lies long; and who knows the power of God's anger, the weight of his hand?" Sometimes God shot his arrows, and stretched forth his hand, for David (Psa 18:14), but now against him; so uncertain is the continuance of divine comforts, where yet the continuance of divine grace is assured. He complains of God's wrath as that which inflicted the bodily distemper he was under (Psa 38:3): There is no soundness in my flesh because of thy anger. The bitterness of it, infused in his mind, affected his body; but that was not the worst: it caused the disquietude of his heart, by reason of which he forgot the courage of a soldier, the dignity of a prince, and all the cheerfulness of the sweet psalmist of Israel, and roared terribly, Psa 38:8. Nothing will disquiet the heart of a good man so much as the sense of God's anger, which shows what a fearful thing it is to fall into his hands. The way to keep the heart quiet is to keep ourselves in the love of God and to do nothing to offend him.
III. He acknowledges his sin to be the procuring provoking cause of all his troubles, and groans more under the load of guilt than any other load, Psa 38:3. He complains that his flesh had no soundness, his bones had no rest, so great an agitation he was in. "It is because of thy anger; that kindles the fire which burns so fiercely;" but, in the next words, he justifies God herein, and takes all the blame upon himself: "It is because of my sin. I have deserved it, and so have brought it upon myself. My own iniquities do correct me." If our trouble be the fruit of God's anger, we may thank ourselves; it is our sin that is the cause of it. Are we restless? It is sin that makes us so. If there were not sin in our souls, there would be no pain in our bones, no illness in our bodies. It is sin therefore that this good man complains most of, 1. As a burden, a heavy burden (Psa 38:4): "My iniquities have gone over my head, as proud waters over a man that is sinking and drowning, or as a heavy burden upon my head, pressing me down more than I am able to bear or to bear up under." Note, Sin is a burden. The power of sin dwelling in us is a weight, Heb 12:1. All are clogged with it; it keeps men from soaring upward and pressing forward. All the saints are complaining of it as a body of death they are loaded with, Rom 7:24. The guilt of sin committed by us is a burden, a heavy burden; it is a burden to God (he is pressed under it, Amo 2:13), a burden to the whole creation, which groans under it, Rom 8:21, Rom 8:22. It will, first or last, be a burden to the sinner himself, either a burden of repentance when he is pricked to the heart for it, labours, and is heavy-laden, under it, or a burden of ruin when it sinks him to the lowest hell and will for ever detain him there; it will be a talent of lead upon him, Zac 5:8. Sinners are said to bear their iniquity. Threatenings are burdens. 2. As wounds, dangerous wounds (Psa 38:5): "My wounds stink and are corrupt (as wounds in the body rankle, and fester, and grow foul, for want of being dressed and looked after), and it is through my own foolishness." Sins are wounds (Gen 4:23), painful mortal wounds. Our wounds by sin are often in a bad condition, no care taken of them, no application made to them, and it is owing to the sinner's foolishness in not confessing sin, Psa 32:3, Psa 32:4. A slight sore, neglected, may prove of fatal consequence, and so may a slight sin slighted and left unrepented of.
IV. He bemoans himself because of his afflictions, and gives ease to his grief by giving vent to it and pouring out his complaint before the Lord.
1.He was troubled in mind, his conscience was pained, and he had no rest in his own spirit; and a wounded spirit who can bear? He was troubled, or distorted, bowed down greatly, and went mourning all the day long, Psa 38:6. He was always pensive and melancholy, which made him a burden and terror to himself. His spirit was feeble and sorely broken, and his heart disquieted, Psa 38:8. Herein David, in his sufferings, was a type of Christ, who, being in his agony, cried out, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful. This is a sorer affliction than any other in this world; whatever God is pleased to lay upon us, we have no reason to complain as long as he preserves to us the use of our reason and the peace of our consciences.
2.He was sick and weak in body; his loins were filled with a loathsome disease, some swelling, or ulcer, or inflammation (some think a plague-sore, such as Hezekiah's boil), and there was no soundness in his flesh, but, like Job, he was all over distempered. See (1.) What vile bodies these are which we carry about with us, what grievous diseases they are liable to, and what an offence and grievance they may soon be made by some diseases to the souls that animate them, as they always are a cloud and cog. (2.) That the bodies both of the greatest and of the best of men have in them the same seeds of diseases that the bodies of others have, and are liable to the same disasters. David himself, though so great a prince and so great a saint, was not exempt from the most grievous diseases: there was no soundness even in his flesh. Probably this was after his sin in the matter of Uriah, and thus did he smart in his flesh for his fleshly lusts. When, at any time, we are distempered in our bodies, we ought to remember how God has been dishonoured in and by our bodies. He was feeble and sorely broken, Psa 38:8. His heart panted, and was in a continual palpitation, Psa 38:10. His strength and limbs failed him. As for the light of his eyes, that had gone from him, either with much weeping or by a defluxion of rheum upon them, or perhaps through the lowness of his spirits and the frequent returns of fainting. Note, Sickness will tame the strongest body and the stoutest spirit. David was famed for his courage and great exploits; and yet, when God contended with him by bodily sickness and the impressions of his wrath upon his mind, his hair is cut, his heart fails him, and he becomes weak as water. Therefore let not the strong man glory in his strength, nor any man set grief at defiance, however it may be thought at a distance.
3.His friends were unkind to him (Psa 38:11): My lovers (such as had been merry with him in the day of his mirth) now stand aloof from my sore; they would not sympathize with him in his griefs, nor so much as come within hearing of his complaints, but, like the priest and Levite (Luk 10:31), passed on the other side. Even his kinsmen, that were bound to him by blood and alliance, stood afar off. See what little reason we have to trust in man or to wonder if we disappointed in our expectations of kindness from men. Adversity tries friendship, and separates between the precious and the vile. It is our wisdom to make sure a friend in heaven, who will not stand aloof from our sore and from whose love no tribulation nor distress shall be able to separate us. David, in his troubles, was a type of Christ in his agony, Christ, on his cross, feeble and sorely broken, and then deserted by his friends and kinsmen, who beheld afar off.
V. In the midst of his complaints, he comforts himself with the cognizance God graciously took both of his griefs and of his prayers (Psa 38:9): "Lord, all my desire is before thee. Thou knowest what I want and what I would have: My groaning is not hidden from thee. Thou knowest the burdens I groan under and the blessings I groan after." The groanings which cannot be uttered are not hidden from him that searches the heart and knows what is the mind of the Spirit, Rom 8:26, Rom 8:27.
In singing this, and praying it over, whatever burden lies upon our spirits, we would by faith cast it upon God, and all our care concerning it, and then be easy.
(Verse 6.) I am afflicted and bowed down by miseries until the end; I go about in sorrow all day long. Until what end does he say he is bowed down? Is it the legitimate end of repentance? Or moreover, so that we may understand it mystically, until Christ, who is the end of the Law; who allowed himself to be scourged, allowed his body to be stoned to death? But those wounds emitted no smell of repentance, but rather the fragrance of all grace. Finally, death did not consume Him, as it does with other men; rather, the fountain of eternal life gushed forth, as Scripture teaches us, saying: 'With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation' (Isaiah 12:3). Therefore, water sprang forth from His wound, so that we might drink salvation. All sinners of the earth will drink, so that they may cast off their sins. Consider each detail. Christ was afflicted with miseries in order to make blessed those who were in misery. Let no one call him who is just miserable, for he himself said: You will make no one miserable (Isaiah 33:1). He was bent down so that we could be raised up; he was sad so that we could be made joyful; as it is written: For if I cause you sorrow, who then will make me glad, unless the one who is made sad by me (2 Corinthians 2:2). Therefore, whoever is made sad by the Lord Jesus Christ, he himself makes Christ glad; and he himself is made joyful by Christ. Therefore, we also recognize that we must not be satisfied with superficiality. Let us bend until the end, that is, not only having faith in Christ, but also enduring our sufferings, and let us rejoice in our sufferings, just as Christ rejoiced in his sufferings. He took them upon himself for his servants, so let us undergo them for the Lord. This, therefore, is the end. 'I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, which is the Church, of which I have become a minister' (Colossians 1:24). We see what we must undertake, who have taken up the priestly ministry; that we ought to endure courageously not only the afflictions of the body for ourselves, but also for the Church of the Lord. But David added the afflictions of the soul.
And who observed and noticed the cause of his groaning? "All my desire is before You" [Psalm 38:9]. For it is not before men who cannot see the heart, but it is before You that all my desire is open! Let your desire be before Him; and "the Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you." [Matthew 6:6] For it is your heart's desire that is your prayer; and if your desire continues uninterrupted, your prayer continues also. For not without a meaning did the Apostle say, "Pray without ceasing." [1 Thessalonians 5:17] Are we to be "without ceasing" bending the knee, prostrating the body, or lifting up our hands, that he says, "Pray without ceasing"? Or if it is in this sense that we say that we "pray," this, I believe, we cannot do "without ceasing." There is another inward kind of prayer without ceasing, which is the desire of the heart. Whatever else you are doing, if you do but long for that Sabbath, you do not cease to pray. If you would never cease to pray, never cease to long after it. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer. You will be ceasing to speak, if you cease to long for it. Who are those who have ceased to speak? They of whom it is said, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." [Matthew 24:12] The freezing of charity is the silence of the heart; the burning of charity is the cry of the heart. If love continues still you are still lifting up your voice; if you are always lifting up your voice, you are always longing after something; if always longing for something absent, you are calling "the Sabbath rest to remembrance." And it is important you should understand too before whom the "roaring of your heart" is open. Now then consider what sort of desires those should be, that are before the eyes of God. Should it be the desire for the death of our enemy? A thing which men flatter themselves they lawfully wish for? For sometimes we pray for what we ought not. Let us consider what they flatter themselves they pray for lawfully! For they pray that some person may die, and his inheritance come to them. But let those too, who pray for the death of their enemies, hear the Lord saying, "Pray for your enemies." [Matthew 5:44] Let them not pray for this, that their enemies may die; but rather pray for this, that they may be reclaimed; then will their enemies be dead; for from the time that they are reclaimed, henceforth they will be enemies no longer. "And all my desire is before You." What if we suppose that our desire is before Him, and that yet that very "groaning" is not before Him? How can that be, since our desire itself finds its expression in "groaning"? Therefore follows, "And my groaning is not hid from You."
From You indeed it is not hid; but from many men it is hid. The servant of God sometimes seems to be saying in humility, "And my groaning is not hid from You." Sometimes also he seems to smile. Is then that longing dead in his heart? If however there is the desire within, there is the "groaning" also. It does not always find its way to the ears of man; but it never ceases to sound in the ears of God.
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SUMMARY
Psalm 38:9 serves as a profound declaration of the psalmist's complete vulnerability and unwavering trust in God's intimate knowledge of his suffering. Amidst deep physical and emotional distress, the psalmist expresses his absolute confidence that every unspoken desire and inarticulate groan is fully perceived, understood, and acknowledged by the Lord, affirming God's compassionate omniscience even when human words fail. This verse pivots from a detailed lament to an affirmation of divine awareness, setting the stage for a plea rooted in God's perfect understanding.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalm 38:9 masterfully employs Parallelism, specifically Synonymous Parallelism, where the second half of the verse reiterates and reinforces the meaning of the first half using different but closely related terms. "All my desire" is paralleled by "my groaning," both referring to the psalmist's inner state of profound longing and distress. Similarly, "is before thee" is paralleled by "is not hid from thee," both emphasizing God's complete, intimate, and inescapable knowledge. This repetition serves to intensify the core message: God knows the psalmist's deepest, unuttered pain with perfect clarity. The verse also utilizes Hyperbole or Totality through phrases like "all my desire" and "is not hid," further emphasizing the comprehensive nature of God's awareness and the psalmist's complete transparency. As part of a penitential psalm, the verse functions as a form of Lament and Confession, as the psalmist lays bare his inner turmoil and vulnerability before God.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalm 38:9 profoundly speaks to the very nature of God's omniscience, His compassionate attentiveness, and His immanent presence in human suffering. It reveals a God who is not distant or unaware but intimately present and perfectly perceptive of the deepest recesses of the human heart—even those feelings and longings that defy articulation. This verse invites believers to a radical honesty and vulnerability in their prayer life, assuring them that no pain is too small, no desire too obscure, and no groan too inarticulate for God to comprehend fully. It underscores the biblical truth that God knows us more intimately than we know ourselves, offering immense comfort and validating the full spectrum of human emotion in His presence. This divine knowledge forms the bedrock of trust, encouraging us to cast all our anxieties upon Him, knowing He cares deeply and understands perfectly.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalm 38:9 offers timeless encouragement and profound comfort for believers navigating the complexities of suffering, sin, and emotional distress. It provides a powerful assurance that our God is not only aware of our spoken prayers but is also intimately acquainted with our unspoken longings and the inarticulate cries of our hearts. In moments of overwhelming grief, anxiety, physical pain, or spiritual desolation, when words fail and all we can manage is a sigh, a tear, or a groan, this verse reminds us that we are still fully heard and understood by our compassionate Creator. It challenges us to cultivate a prayer life marked by radical honesty, where we lay bare our true selves—our deepest desires, fears, weaknesses, and even our despair—before God, trusting in His perfect knowledge and boundless empathy. This truth liberates us from the burden of having to articulate perfectly or perform in prayer, inviting us instead into a relationship of vulnerable authenticity with the One who truly sees, truly knows, and truly cares.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Is "desire" in this verse always positive, or can it refer to sinful cravings?
Answer: The Hebrew word for "desire" (ta'avah) can indeed carry both positive and negative connotations in the Old Testament, referring to legitimate longings or sinful cravings. However, in the context of Psalm 38, a penitential psalm where the psalmist is confessing sin and seeking relief from profound suffering, "all my desire" most likely refers to his deepest, legitimate yearnings for healing, restoration, deliverance from his adversaries, and renewed fellowship with God. It encompasses his entire inner longing for alleviation from his distress and for God's merciful intervention, which are righteous desires. The psalmist is laying bare his entire inner being, including his profound need for God's intervention, not illicit cravings.
How can God "know" my groaning if it's unspoken and inarticulate?
Answer: God's knowledge is not limited by human forms of communication or articulation. As an omniscient and omnipresent being, God perceives not only our words but also our thoughts, intentions, and the deepest stirrings of our spirit. Our "groaning" represents an emotional or physical anguish so profound that words cannot adequately express it. God's omniscience means He understands the root cause and full depth of this inarticulate cry, even perceiving the spiritual burdens that lead to such expressions. This concept is beautifully echoed in the New Testament, where the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with "groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26), demonstrating that divine understanding transcends human language and reaches into the very depths of our being.
Does this verse mean I don't need to pray verbally, since God already knows my desires and groanings?
Answer: While Psalm 38:9 profoundly assures us of God's intimate knowledge of our unspoken states and inarticulate pains, it does not negate the importance of verbal prayer. Instead, it complements and enriches our understanding of prayer. Verbal prayer is an essential act of worship, submission, and active engagement with God. It is how we express our faith, align our wills with His, and participate in our covenant relationship. This verse offers immense comfort for those times when words fail—when our pain is too great to articulate, when we are overwhelmed, or when we simply don't know how to pray. It assures us that even in those moments of silence or inarticulate anguish, God is still fully present, hearing, and understanding. It encourages authenticity in prayer, whether spoken or unspoken, fostering a relationship where we can bring our whole selves before Him.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalm 38:9 finds its ultimate fulfillment and deepest meaning in the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. The psalmist's experience of profound suffering, the weight of sin, and the cries of his inarticulate groaning are all perfectly understood and ultimately addressed by our Savior. Jesus, being fully God, perfectly embodies the omniscience described in the verse; He "knew what was in man" (John 2:24-25), discerning the deepest desires and hidden sorrows of those He encountered. More profoundly, as fully human, Jesus himself experienced the depths of human suffering and "groaning." In Gethsemane, He was "sorrowful and deeply distressed" (Matthew 26:37), His anguish so great that He sweat drops of blood, a silent, visceral groan before His Father. At the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus "groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (John 11:33), demonstrating His profound empathy for human grief and the effects of sin. He is our ultimate High Priest, one who can "sympathize with our weaknesses, having been in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Through His atoning sacrifice on the cross, Jesus bore the full weight of our sins, addressing the very root cause of the psalmist's distress and offering true healing, forgiveness, and restoration. Now, through Christ, we have bold access to the Father (Hebrews 4:16), and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with "groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26-27), ensuring that our deepest desires and unarticulated pains are not only known but also perfectly presented before God according to His will. In Christ, the promise that our groaning is "not hid from thee" is eternally secured and compassionately fulfilled.