READ Psalm 38:1–8. 1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 Your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down on me. 3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. 4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. 5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. 6 I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning. 7 My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. 8 I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.
COMPOUND SUFFERING. Here there is guilt (verse 4) as well as sickness (verse 5). The illness is linked to the psalmist’s sin in some way, either as the physical effects of a tortured conscience or as the result of some foolish behavior or as a messenger sent to humble the psalmist and bring him to his senses about the way he is living. This illness in turn has isolated him from friends and given his opponents an opportunity to move against him (see verses 11–12). So he is suffering from guilt, bodily pain, and injustice. Suffering often comes in such overwhelmingly complex compounds that the only solution is to simply call out to God himself to forgive, protect, and heal.
Prayer: Lord, sometimes there’s nothing to do but cry to you. I can feel so overwhelmed by the complexity of my troubles. Some are my fault, some are not—I feel angry and guilty and overwhelmed by it all. I confess my sin and my helplessness. Help me! Amen.