Lenten Meditation Day 9

Lenten Meditation Day 9

Psalm 38

A Penitent Sufferer’s Plea for Healing

A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.

¹ O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger,
    or discipline me in your wrath.
² For your arrows have sunk into me,
    and your hand has come down on me.

³ There is no soundness in my flesh
    because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
    because of my sin.

⁴ For my iniquities have gone over my head;
    they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.

⁵ My wounds grow foul and fester
    because of my foolishness;
⁶ I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;
    all day long I go around mourning.
⁷ For my loins are filled with burning,
    and there is no soundness in my flesh.
⁸ I am utterly spent and crushed;
    I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

⁹ O Lord, all my longing is known to you;
    my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰ My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
    as for the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.
¹¹ My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction,
    and my neighbors stand far off.

¹² Those who seek my life lay their snares;
    those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin,
    and meditate treachery all day long.

¹³ But I am like the deaf, I do not hear;
    like the mute, who cannot speak.
¹⁴ Truly, I am like one who does not hear,
    and in whose mouth is no retort.

¹⁵ But it is for you, O Lord, that I wait;
    it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
¹⁶ For I pray, “Only do not let them rejoice over me,
    those who boast against me when my foot slips.”

¹⁷ For I am ready to fall,
    and my pain is ever with me.
¹⁸ I confess my iniquity;
    I am sorry for my sin.
¹⁹ Those who are my foes without cause^[a] are mighty,
    and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
²⁰ Those who render me evil for good
    are my adversaries because I follow after good.

²¹ Do not forsake me, O Lord;
    O my God, do not be far from me;
²² make haste to help me,
    O Lord, my salvation.