The Ruinous Effects of Sin - a study of the penitential Psalm 38
- mww
- Jul 23
- 18 min read
Sin wounds. God restores.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Psalm 38
Sin affects every part of us—body, mind, emotions, and spirit—and disrupts our relationship with God. In Psalm 38, David describes how this can feel like physical and emotional ruin. But God’s discipline is never without purpose, and our repentance is always met with forgiveness. True healing begins the moment we confess our sin and turn back to God.
So I confess my iniquity; I am anxious because of my sin. (38:18)
Getting Started: Things to Think About
What Ruins Your Day?
Today's psalm is very serious -- too serious to just jump into (imo). So, I propose to ease into it. Hopefully one of these ideas will spark your own creativity.
What tends to ruin your day? It doesn't have to be something serious. It might be something simple like "I forgot to take my allergy medication" or "I slept through my alarm". Something that, when it happens, it just throws everything off (and your day might spiral from there).
[And yes, Sunday School lifers, I most certainly hope that some of you will truthfully say "when I forget to pray" or "when I skip my morning Bible reading". You know where this is going!]
For me, it often starts with not sleeping well. It amazes me the connection between "sleep" and "how my day goes". A long time ago, a hurtful word from someone would also ruin the rest of my day. But I finally heeded my own advice -- don't give another person the power to ruin your day. Find your joy in the Lord. And I've realized it really is that simple.
In this week's psalm, the psalmist (David) is talking about the destructive power of sin -- not just the external consequences of sin, but also how it affects the sinner in a deep, internal way.
So, yes, you should add "unconfessed sin" to your list of things that will ruin your day.
Internal Warning Lights
All of our cars have warning lights (the driver of this car apparently forgot to put his seatbelt on). When they don't work right, we call them "idiot lights". But I tend to pay attention to any warning lights on my dash. How about you personally? What are the signs you look for that something's wrong inside?
We all have an acquaintance with a biological or neurological disorder, like a serious allergy, or migraines, or seizures, etc. I am always amazed at how well they know their own body (or their kids') -- they know exactly when a fit or a reaction is coming on, and they know everything they can do to minimize it, and they jump right to action without any hesitation.
But what about when it's emotional or spiritual? What are your warning signs when something is wrong spiritually? (And yes, this can be connected to the first part with disorders like depression or bipolar. Later, I'll mention the connection God created in us between mind/body/spirit.)
And more importantly for this week's Bible study, when you notice a "spiritual warning light", how do you react? What do you do? Do you take it as seriously as when you feel a migraine coming on?
In this week's psalm, David talks about the ruinous effects of sin in his life, and he very urgently cries out to God for mercy and deliverance.
The Expensive Paperweight
We all have that expensive item that has broken or shut down. At that point, we can only treat it as a paperweight or a dust-catcher. This is your object lesson time -- bring in something you use that requires very specific parameters to work properly. Here are two from my work:
Wireless Microphone. It's a wonderful, valuable tool. When the batteries are dead, the thing is worthless. When you forget to turn it on, it's worthless. When you don't have it set to the right frequency, it's worthless.
Wireless Thermostat. Even more wonderful and valuable. But if it dies, the whole HVAC system is worthless. When the Wi-Fi goes out, it loses a lot of value. If you set the clock wrong, the whole schedule is worthless -- even counterproductive.
In this week's psalm, David is looking at his life like that tool that's become a paperweight. His sin has gotten between himself and God, and that has sucked the purpose and power out of pretty much everything in his life, from his leadership to his very health. Just like I have to make sure my mic and receiver are on the same frequency for the mic to do its job, David needed to "get on the same frequency with God" (? something like that?) for his life to accomplish anything good.
This Week's Big Idea: Being Human
The Connection between Mind, Body, and Spirit
This is one of those big-picture topics that you might not realize the Bible has fully and thoroughly addressed. "Anthropology" began as the study of the biblical Doctrine of Mankind. Why? Because God created humans. In His image. He created us out of the "dust of the earth" and the "breath of His nostrils". There's a part of us that is "earthly" and a part of us that is "heavenly". We are not the result of some inscrutable evolutionary process but the direct creative act of God.
Thus, if we want to know about being human, our first resource needs to be the Bible. (I'm going to lean on the very strong biblical summary by MacDonald in the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology: "Mankind, Doctrine of.")
The most common words in the Old Testament to describe people (or "personhood") are nephesh ("soul" or "life"), ruach ("spirit" or the eternal part of us), and basar ("flesh" or "body"). "Heart" (lev) is also used regularly in the Bible to describe what we would describe today by both "heart" (emotions) and "mind" (psyche or intellect).
But there's an awful lot of overlap between those fields of meaning in the Hebrew usage. Why? Because "Hebrew psychology does not divide up human nature into mutually exclusive parts". We are one person made up of an earthly part and a heavenly part.
In the New Testament, Jesus cites Deuteronomy 6 when He tells the Pharisees to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matt 22:37; Luke the physician adds "and all your strength" in a related exchange; Luke 10:37). Jesus is not saying that there are four different us-es that all inhabit the same space, and we need to all work together. (And notice, all you trichotomists, that Jesus did not say "spirit" and "soul".) Rather, He's saying that being human means living in a push-and-pull of our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our souls. Or more to the point that Paul will emphasize,
our physical needs and desires, (body/strength)
our emotions, (heart)
our thoughts, (mind) and
our spiritual relationship with God (spirit/soul).
All of those things are true of us. All of those things are a part of us. Any when we neglect any part of that, our whole self suffers.
Now I'm moving beyond the dictionary article to more of an application to this week's passage.
You should not need me to tell you that when your body is sick or injured, it affects your emotions and your thinking.
If you are suffering from depression or any kind of emotional or mood condition, it affects your physical health and your mental health.
And finally, when your mind isn't right -- through injury, substance abuse, or disorder -- if affects your body and your emotions.
Right? You don't need me to tell you that.
You'll notice I didn't mention your relationship with God in that section. Why? Because in my anecdotal observations, it seems that a lot of people forget that part. They worry about their diet and exercise and mental health, and don't pay enough attention to their spiritual health.
In this week's psalm, David is basically going to yell at us to pay attention to our spiritual health. And by that I mean our relationship with God. When we're not right with God, it affects everything about us. People will try to ignore that (or to fill their brokenness with all manner of destructive behaviors or substances), but our well-being begins with our right relationship with God.
It's great to know that as Christians, we have a direct path to a right relationship with God.
Sin and Our Right Relationship with God
You might interject, "Wait -- I thought Christians had a right relationship with God, no questions asked." And I think I get what you're saying: in Jesus, our salvation is secure. If we come to faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, our relationship with God is repaired, and our eternal salvation is eternally secure.
But let me just say like I did a few weeks ago: Romans 6.
In the Old Testament, God calls the people's sin a "barrier" between them and God (Isa 59:2). Paul takes that and wraps it into a massive argument from Romans 6-8 to conclude, "Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." (Rom 8:8)
But we still sin, right? (And you'd better say "right".)
This is where we again need to distinguish between our eternal salvation and our earthly life. Or as Paul would say, "having the Spirit" versus "being filled with the Spirit". Our sin cannot cancel our salvation any more than our righteousness can earn it. But our sin can separate us from the "abundant life" God has for us now in Jesus Christ.
Unconfessed sin is at odds with the Holy Spirit within us. We can think of it like a toxin or a virus -- a sickness in our soul. It has the same effects on our whole self as any other sickness, injury, or pain.
In theory, it should be the easiest of all of them to deal with --
8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1)
Jesus Christ paid the price for every sin ever committed or will be committed (and infinitely more). All we have to do to be fully restored to God is repent. That means confess our sins to God and turn from them. And the blood of Jesus will cover us (spiritually) and restore us.
It's that simple.
So, why do we have such a hard time with maintaining our spiritual health? That might be a question to work through as a group.
Does God "Punish" Us or "Discipline" Us in Our Sin?
I recently said that I prefer to say that God "holds His people accountable" rather than "punishes us". My reasoning is entirely connotative -- I tend to associate the word "punishment" with something entirely punitive. The less emotional term for me is "accountability" -- being held accountable is reasonable, appropriate, and with clear purpose.
That said, it would be fully appropriate to say that God punishes sin. God's activity is never over-emotional, reckless, unreasonable, or without purpose. He always does what is right.
In this week's psalm, David says that God has dealt with him "in wrath". That sounds like punishment to me. BUT it is completely in line with how God told the people He would deal with sin. Holding them accountable includes punishment.
But God's punishment (of His people) is never purely punitive. You might remember these lines from Psalm 106:
40 Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his own inheritance. 41 He handed them over to the nations; those who hated them ruled over them. 42 Their enemies oppressed them, and they were subdued under their power. 43 He rescued them many times, but they continued to rebel deliberately and were beaten down by their iniquity.
44 When he heard their cry, he took note of their distress, 45 remembered his covenant with them, and relented according to the abundance of his faithful love. 46 He caused them to be pitied before all their captors.
47 Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, so that we may give thanks to your holy name and rejoice in your praise.
When God's people suffer punishment, eventually they cry out in repentance. And God always remembers His covenant. Punishment for sin leads to repentance.
"Punishment" is an appropriate term for how God deals with sin, but for me personally, the phrase "hold accountable" better helps me understand what is going on when God's people (Christians) suffer consequences from sin.
Where We Are in Psalms: The Penitential Psalms
Look! Another category of psalms! This is a small group: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. And this group packs a punch. The structure is simple:
David acknowledges having sinned
David describes the toll that sin has taken
David confesses his sin to God
David cries out for mercy and deliverance
So, that's pretty simple. The psalmist has sinned, has been held accountable, has repented, and cries out for forgiveness.
Why would this be an appropriate element for a prayer book?
The Importance of Confession and Repentance
We've talked about this topic recently. (Romans 6!) Paul thought that some Christians didn't take their sin very seriously because they believed God had to forgive them, so what's the big deal? (Or to really sound spiritual, the more they sinned, the more gracious they made God look.)
Today, I wonder if our desire for privacy has accomplished the same end. We don't want to put somebody else on the spot and/or we don't want people speculating about our spiritual health, so we all just agree not to talk about the confession of sin publicly.
I do understand that, and I have seen the excesses of going the other way, but confession must be a central part of the Christian life. Not the ritual of going to a priest! But going straight to God -- 1 John 1:9.
If your group comes away from this psalm with a renewed commitment to their relationship with God, this will be a fantastic Bible study.
The ACTS Prayer
I've shared this common prayer strategy --
[A] Adoration (of God)
[C] Confession (of sin)
[T] Thanksgiving (for our blessings)
[S] Supplication (concerns and requests)
The order of the prayer is very intentional. And notice that confession is second in order. A good and common model for prayer includes confession!
Psalm 38
Psalm 38 is titled "A Petition"; it literally means "to cause to remember", so we can think of this psalm as "David's call to get God's attention". Perhaps David fears that God may have "forgotten" that He has been dealing very harshly with David because of sin, and he really wants God to "ease up".
So, everybody wants to know, what sin did David commit this time?
He doesn't say. Psalm 51 specifically mentions the sin with Bathsheba, but Psalm 38 is not so specific. Now, note that David is quite clear that he has sinned. He deserves the punishment he is getting from God. This would suggest a psalm from later in his life. But no details are given.
"Sin" or "Sickness"?
Some biblical scholars have argued that the psalmist in Psalm 38 is just sick. Very sick. The psalmist drew his own conclusion that his sickness was the result of his sin, but the psalmist might have been wrong.
Two things about this:
The Lifeway material rightly points out that not all sickness is a result of sin (see: the man born blind in John 9; or, the book of Job!). I would guess that those commentators don't want to give the impression that sickness is a result of sin. And to be sure, that's true! Sickness is a result of sin (there will be no sickness in heaven), but a specific sickness may not be the specific result of a specific sin.
BUT. The psalmist believes that his sickness is a direct consequence of his sin. Because of that, I also believe that his physical condition is a consequence of sin. The psalmist is being punished (by God) for his sin.
Here's my personal take on this psalm: the psalmist's physical condition was absolutely worsened by his sin, and that has been compounded by God's discipline.
Have you heard the phrase "sin-sick"? This goes back to the earlier topic of the human connection of body/mind/emotion/soul. When our soul is "sick" with unconfessed sin (or just struggling through sin in general), it affects every part of our lives.
When a person is really under the conviction of sin, they may stop eating well, lose the ability to sleep, get distracted. And those things can have a cascading effect.
In other words:
"Conviction" or "Sickness"?
I wonder if the psalmist is mainly "suffering" from conviction of sin. And it has been so strong that it has taken a severe physical toll on his body. What the psalmist is experiencing in this psalm is a little bit the direct discipline of God and a lot the internal turmoil of his own conviction.
I believe the description of the psalmist's physical condition is mainly poetic. "No health in my bones" "no soundness in my body" is not actually about a physical sickness (like wasting disease) but how he feels as a result of his conviction. "My wounds" are more spiritual than physical. That can be true and the physical devastation can also be true! I have read testimonies of Christians whose terrible sin caused them to waste away while they tried to deal with it. It wasn't so much God directly punishing them for their sin as God allowing them to punish themselves through their own conviction. The end result was the person coming to grips with the reality of their situation, accepting the consequences of their sin, and also accepting God's grace and forgiveness.
There are very smart people who come down on all sides of interpreting this psalm, so I won't be dogmatic. I think that the psalmist is suffering real anguish, but the root cause (even of the physical suffering) is the conviction he feels over his sin.
Whatever the situation, the psalmist knows that the only good outcome for him is to experience God's forgiveness and restoration.
As Christians, we know that a continuous flood of restoration and forgiveness is available to us in Jesus Christ. "His mercies are new every morning." (Lam 3)
Part 1: Suffering from Sin (Psalm 38:1-4)
1 Lord, do not punish me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has pressed down on me.
3 There is no soundness in my body because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. 4 For my iniquities have flooded over my head; they are a burden too heavy for me to bear.
Remember that this is Hebrew poetry. "Punish"//"discipline" and "anger"//"wrath". We are not supposed to parse those words to figure out exactly what the Lord is doing. The psalmist's point is that the Lord is dealing with him very harshly.
The tense and the context make it clear that God has been dealing with David harshly and is continuing to deal with him harshly. David wants God to stop.
We can safely say that "anger" and "wrath" are metonymies for God's judgment. God's anger is with David's sin, but the practical result is that David "feels it in his bones" that God is angry with him.
This is a good time to remind everybody of the old phrase "hate the sin, love the sinner". If you experience what you believe to be God's angry discipline, it's not that God has stopped loving you. He is dealing with the sin in your life (or at the very least, the Holy Spirit is engaging your conscience). In fact, we should see God's discipline as proof of His ongoing love! If God stopped caring about us such that He no longer cared if we sinned or not, that would be a great concern.
David pictures God like a warrior, shooting arrows at him from afar and overcoming him in hand-to-hand combat.
Verse 3 might be translated as
"There is no soundness in my body before Your anger
There is no health in my bones before my sin."
It's poetic, not medical. David's point is that he is deeply, deeply affected (even ruined) by how God is dealing with his sin. And I remind you that I wonder if most of this misery is "self-inflicted" -- that God has simply fired David's conscience into overdrive and let David deal with himself.
Verse 4 is powerful and heartbreaking -- David has realized that the burden of his sin is more than he can bear.
Guess what this is the perfect time to do? Ask your group how they would share the gospel with someone who has just said what David said!
Part 2: More Suffering from Sin (Psalm 38:5-8)
5 My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness. 6 I am bent over and brought very low; all day long I go around in mourning. 7 For my insides are full of burning pain, and there is no soundness in my body. 8 I am faint and severely crushed; I groan because of the anguish of my heart.
Again, this is poetic, not medical. Don't get caught up in the specific meaning of these words and instead focus on the picture of himself David is painting.
The Lifeway material points out that David could very well be wounded from combat. And sure, that's true, but I think this is all metaphorical of a spiritual battle being waged within him. As a soldier, David knows well about infection, and he knows the smell of a man who likely die from his wounds. David is experiencing the spiritual equivalent of a fatal wound. Without quick and direct intervention, his situation will result in his death. That may be a poetic exaggeration (hyperbole), but David is doing all he can to make us take his situation seriously.
Verse 5 continues the parallelism from verse 3. Note the progression of
"Your indignation" to "my sin" to "my foolishness" ("my foolish sins")
Whatever is happening, David fully owns it.
And then the description just keeps going. "Bent over" in verse 6 means "dazed" (when that word is used in Isaiah 21:3). "Brought very low" has the connotation of being humiliated. This is why I personally think this psalm is more about David's "spiritual sickness" than physical.
Verse 7. When I am really nervous about something -- like, say, when I'm about to confess something to somebody -- my "butterflies in my stomach" are just a straight-up earthquake. I will physically shake, and I know that has happened to some of you! That's what I think is happening to/in David.
Verse 8. "Faint" here can mean "numb", which is probably the better word. David is in full sensory overload, and his body is shutting down. The final phrase might be translated, "I roar because of the moaning in my heart." David feels so much anguish that it audibly comes out of him. You all have been there. You've seen it in the movies. You're so upset that you just make noise. It's not an uncontrollable rage (the Bible never justifies that kind of a shout) -- it's a wordless cry of anguish.
That's where David is. He is truly, truly at the end of himself. He knows it's because of his own sin, and he just wants God to make it stop.
Have you ever been there?
How do you "get God to make it stop"? You've all seen the movie where the suffering person is told to do something terrible, like betray a friend or spill a secret, to make the pain stop. That's not it with God! David knows that God just wants his true repentance.
Psalm 51 (another penitential psalm) has the most famous declaration along these lines:
10 God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach the rebellious your ways, and sinners will return to you.
14 Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God—God of my salvation— and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it; you are not pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.
David knows that what he needs to do in this situation is repent. The same is true of every Christian when we find ourselves in a similar situation.
Salvation is simple.
Forgiveness is simple.
It just requires us to give up everything of ourselves and submit to God.
Simple, but not easy.
Part 3: Confession (Psalm 38:18-22)
18 So I confess my iniquity; I am anxious because of my sin. 19 But my enemies are vigorous and powerful; many hate me for no reason. 20 Those who repay evil for good attack me for pursuing good.
21 Lord, do not abandon me; my God, do not be far from me. 22 Hurry to help me, my Lord, my salvation.
The lesson plan skips over the further description of David's woeful condition. And sure, we get it.
But I do want to point out something very practical in verses 11 and 12. David's sin has made him toxic to his friends and associates. They have all distanced themselves from him. David's enemies have taken advantage of his isolation to step up their attacks on him.
We see that happen today, all the time.
What should we do when a Christian brother or sister has fallen into great sin?
To me, the greatest factor is their repentance. Does your friend understand that they have sinned? Are they repentant? Do they accept the consequences of their sin? If so, then you probably want to help them get through the difficult days to come. But if not, then you might want to keep your distance. You don't want to present the image of accepting their sin, and you certainly don't want to get caught up in the consequences.
I wonder if David wrote Psalm 38 before he wrote Psalm 51, before he had begun to realize the reality of God's mercy. Psalm 38 is more questioning, and Psalm 51 is more hopeful. We have all had friends in this situation (and maybe it's us!) -- "will God forgive me this time?" Until you have experienced His forgiveness, you might have doubts.
Jesus is the promise of God's "I forgive you."
But you have to repent. That means confess your sin and turn from it -- turn from that sinful behavior to following God's plan for being His child.
This week's Bible study is a great time to make sure everybody in your group understands the gospel -- sin, atonement, confession, forgiveness, and salvation -- and also how God wants us to continuously renew our relationship with Him through ongoing confession and repentance.
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