Rev (Dr) Quek Suan Yew

Psalm 38 – Repentance! (Part 3 of 4)

Cry for Forgiveness (38:15-18) – The cry for forgiveness is always toward God in Christ. Repentance always drives the sinner closer to God through Christ. If that is not the case then there was no true repentance. Believers need to realize that every sin against another human being is a sin against God as well. It is true that there are sins that are against God only, such as the sin of idolatry and attacking the Word of God. But all sins committed against man are sins against God as well. That is why an apology to man whom we have sinned against is grossly insufficient. Sincere genuine repentance, i.e. pleading to God for forgiveness through Christ, is needful. Apologizing to man is only good to reconcile with man. But it is important to reconcile with God as well. This is true repentance. It must also be noted that when a sin is committed against another person, a sincere repentance to God without apologizing and making the necessary restitution to that person is not true repentance before God.

David cried to the LORD as his only hope to help him. He was really repentant of his sin against the LORD. The enemies took advantage of David’s pitiful state of self-retribution to hurt him so that he would sin again. If David did sin again, his witness for Christ would remain in tatters. David did not want that to happen. He asked the LORD for help. The emphasis is on the LORD himself. David did not turn to anyone else but the LORD as he wanted the LORD’s forgiveness and help. Using synthetic parallelism, David knew that the Lord his God would hear, i.e. answer him. The emphasis here is not just hearing but also answering. David used “adonay” which is “Lord” or master rather than “Jehovah” which points to the covenantal relationship. David wanted to emphasize the servant master relationship with God here. The reason is that David wanted forgiveness and help in order to continue to do God's will and work in his life. He acknowledged here by this usage of “adonay” that it was because of God’s will in his life (to be the next king of Israel) that he was suffering and being attacked by his enemies. It means that David wanted God's will to be accomplished in his life. This would thus glorify God. Based upon this very biblical reason, the LORD will surely help. He was not asking for help to fulfil his heart’s desire but the LORD’s.

Verse 16 (synthetic parallelism) – David elaborated on what He asked of the Lord in this verse. “Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.” David was thinking of the LORD’s honour and glory in his confession and request for help. He did not want the image of Christ in his life to be tarnished by his sin. The enemies would rejoice if they succeeded in their many incessant attacks. David said that if his foot slipped they would use his sin against him even more! Taunts and snares are dangerous and serious weapons employed by the enemies of believers to trick and frighten them into sinning against God. If they succeed, the witness of believers like David would be damaged, sometimes irreparably. David was at his weakest because he was dealing with a sin in his life. Before he could even settle it properly with his LORD, new attacks came. David did not desire his enemies to have the victory and the satisfaction that they had succeeded to cause him to sin as he was very concerned about the honour of Christ that he bore.

David’s enemies would magnify themselves against him, i.e. they would boast about what useless people believers were. They called themselves believers but they sinned so easily. The power of Christ in their lives was weak and powerless against their deception, threats and multiple attacks! The Name of Christ and the work of God in the believers’ lives would be maligned and the name of Christ would be dragged down the mud. David did not want that to happen. He pleaded with the LORD to intervene and help him as soon as possible. The reason for immediate need was explained by David in the next verse.

Verse 17 (synthetic parallelism) – David said, “For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.” The word “halt” means to limp. He felt crippled and not able to walk. David borrowed this term to describe his spiritual life. He felt weak to the point of inability, like a man about to suffer being crippled for life. David said that he was spiritually too weak to fight any more and needed God’s help to overcome this sense of total collapse in his life of witness for Christ. He did not want to fail his Lord again by sinning. But the enemies were not letting up in their assault on his soul! He was weakening, and he admitted it. He did not want to fall but he felt that if the Lord did not come soon to help him, he would collapse! He did not have any more strength to resist the devil as it were. The devil’s minions were relentless in their attacks and they were “winning” and they were whittling away layer by layer David’s spiritual strength and they were about to reach the core of David’s spiritual being or his soul. When doubts and fears and loneliness come together in times of a spiritual attack, the faith of the believer, including that of David’s, would be shaken to the core. This is inevitable. This is what every test and temptation is all about especially when the believer’s spiritual well-being would be at its weakest, in the midst of repentance and returning to the Lord in sincerity and before restoration finally comes and the guilt of sin is removed forever. David was experiencing such an attack.

The reason for this feeling of impending collapse is that the sorrow was non-stop. The emotional, mental, physical and spiritual torment was incessant and it was taking its toll on David regardless of how spiritually strong he was. His enemies’ were continuously chipping away at his spiritual armour, and they were on the brink of penetrating through his soul. David’s sorrow was as if the Lord had deserted him in time of need or of overwhelming guilt for failing the Lord, just as Peter did when he denied the Lord three times especially after boasting that he would not even though all the disciples would. These kinds of sorrows are the most painful and devastating to the soul of every believer who loves the Lord dearly. David did not want the Lord to be disappointed with him. When he fell into sin, he knew he disappointed the Lord. He felt angry with himself, and the continuous attacks of the enemies when he was already feeling so low and downcast about himself added to his sorrow exponentially. To collapse would mean that David would sin again! He did not want that to happen.

Verse 18 (synthetic parallelism) – David confessed sincerely and with all his heart that he had sinned against God. “For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.” There was no justification or any form of diminishing of his sin to be gained by blaming someone or his circumstances in life. He confessed that he had sinned against God. There was no excuse. He stood before the Lord and confessed that he was sorry for sinning against God. Such a confession is needful for the cleansing of sin and removal of guilt. These are the steps toward restoration to service and fellowship. David needed this forgiveness from the LORD as his enemies were taking advantage of his separation of fellowship from the Lord to cause him to sin further. David knew that the LORD would not hear his prayers for help if he regarded iniquity in his heart. Psalm 66:16-20 “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. 17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. “

All believers need to learn from David as he sincerely repented of his sin so that he could find strength from the Lord to not succumb to the taunting of his enemies that might cause him to sin again!

[To be continued]