Songs of Sorrow

Psalm 38-41

From our reading today I want to draw our attention to Psalm 38. There is a tendency I see today for some Christians to insist on pretending that life for faithful Christians is easy and everything goes well for you when you start to believe. This idea is called the Prosperity Gospel and has a plethora of problems that come with it. One of the most troubling issues for me is that it simply does not align with many people’s experiences. They are faithful Christians who believe in God and do their best to live according to His will. Despite that, these Christians experience suffering. They lose their jobs, their relationships are difficult, their health declines and fails. In the face of all of this, they turn to other Christians for support and sometimes the message is “you must not believe hard enough.”

Psalms like this one provide a resounding rebuke for that idea. David walked faithfully with God through much of his life, yet he writes in Psalm 38:3-5 things like “there is no soundness in my flesh” and “there is no health in my bones.” We live in a world that is broken by sin, and even as faithful Christians who have been fully redeemed by Jesus we still suffer from the consequences from that. These verses give us permission to lament, to feel sadness and sorrow and frustration, and to express those feelings to God. Because we share David’s confidence in Psalm 38:15, that God will answer us. One day we will live in a perfect new creation where our suffering and loss and pain is forgotten. So we are free to bring our hurt and our negative feelings to God, and we are reminded to look to His promise to bring us through it all.

Today’s B.I.B.L.E. Takeaways:

Blessings from God

God will answer His people, and promises us something better.

Instructions for Us

These verses give us permission to bring our pain and hurt before our heavenly Father.

Biblical Connections

This story does not directly connect with other parts of the Bible, other than being part of a continuous story.

Laborious Understandings

Nothing in these verses strikes me as particularly difficult to deal with.

Enjoyable Passages

Psalm 38:15 is a powerful verse worth keeping on our hearts and in our minds.

Topics to Pray About:

• Thank God for being there to hear our complaints and our sadness
• Confess to God the times that you forget the promises that He has made to you
• Ask for God to give you peace and hope, no matter what life throws at you

In His Service,

J. LeBorious