PSALM 38:5-8

Let us turn our attention this week to Psalm 38 which by its title is a Psalm calling the past to remembrance.  There can be no true repentance unless God corners us with the sins of our past.  We want to look at verses 5-8, which say, “My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.”  I have entitled this section “A Remembrance Of David’s Trial”.

            The picture of verses 5-8 some believe is a picture of David’s soul under the conviction of sin, while others believe it is a picture of the outward consequences of sin.  I personally believe it may be a picture of both.  Let us be assured sin will take its toll upon the inward as well as the outward man.

            In verse 5 we see first ‘The Defilement Of Sin’s Smell’.  David tells us that the “…wounds stink and are corrupt…” The word ‘wounds’ means a burning intense fierce heat or to blaze with fever.  The word ‘stink’ has the idea of an offensive, abhorred, loathsome, and odious smell.  The word ‘corrupt’ means openly flowing causing one to pine away.  This disease some believe to be something on the order of leprosy or a sexually transmitted disease.  Let us not fail to see the picture of our soul before God in the same state.  The smell of our soul in sin is certainly a stench in the nostrils of our God.  David says all of this has come because of his ‘foolishness’. The word means silliness and to become a perversed fool of a man. The consequences of sin lie solely at the door of the one who has committed the sin.  Let us not blame the consequences of our sin on something or somebody outside of ourselves. If you do there will be no remedy for that sin.  “Wherever God intends to reveal His Son with power, wherever He intends to make the gospel to be a joyful sound, He makes the conscience feel and groan under the weight of sin.” (Spurgeon)

            In verse 6 we are confronted with ‘The Depression Of Sin’s Sense’.  David uses three descriptive words to describe the sense of his sin.  He said he was ‘troubled’, ‘bowed down’, and in ‘mourning’ all the day.  The word ‘troubled’ means to be made crooked because of doing wickedly and perversed wrong.  Oh how our God can stump the best with a crooked way that cannot be made straight except by a supernatural work of God.  My how the Lord stepped in and made crooked so many of David’s relationships before his very eyes.  David said he was ‘bowed down’ which means to be depressed or crouched down in humiliation.  Let us be assured sin will not leave us up.  David also says he was in ‘mourning’. This gives the indication of being under a dark black cloud.  The whole picture is of one who is weary of life, yet afraid to die.  Sin is certainly leaving its mark upon the people of this world.  The sad thing is that very few ever connect the dots.  There is often, not always, great connection between sin and the physical, emotional, and mental well being of an individual.

            Let us look in verse 7 at ‘The Disorder Of Sin’s Soundness’.  David tells us that sin has affected the soundness of his loins and flesh.  The ‘loins’ is the fat that swells and inflames around the heart or kidney cutting off the life.  The ‘flesh’ is the word for the outward private parts that are used in the creation of life or the pudenda of a man.

            David says his inward man is full of a ‘loathsome disease’ and there is no ‘soundness’ in his outward man.  Sin has a death grip upon both his outward and inward man.  Sin in its smaller form should not be taken lightly or overlooked in the life.

            In verse 8 let us see ‘The Dread Of Sins Sound’.  David says there is a constant roar coming from him.  The reason is because he is ‘feeble’, ‘broken’, and ‘disquieted in his heart’.  The word ‘roar’ means a loud continual moan.  Oh how this must have been a great uneasiness to others who lived in the palace.  David says the reason for the roar was because he was ‘feeble’ and ‘broken’.  These words indicate being sluggish or faint because of a total physical and mental breakdown.  He also says he is ‘disquieted’ in his heart.  There was no peace because of a tangled snarl of confusion in his thoughts, feelings, and doings.  If this picture were to be painted today before our eyes it will not be a work of art to be envied but to turn from in horror.  If this is the potential effect of sin let us run and cut out the least evidence of its presence in our life.