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Day 304

Psalm 38:1a "O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath..."

Day 304 – Psalm 38

“O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath…” Psalm 38:1a

SUPERSCRIPTION

“A psalm of David: To bring to remembrance.”

The authorship of this psalm is identified as David. However this description makes a note that this psalm was also written “to bring to remembrance”. The word “remembrance” usually has the following applications:

1. To ask God to remember

a) This does not mean that God would forget.
b) It is not a gentle reminder to God.
c) This word is a plea:-
i) To ask God to honour the word of promise given to His people.
ii) It is a prayer that employs the word of God as a basis of petition.

2. It serves as a reminder to the writer

a) To remember this experience.
b) To remember the Lord’s answer to his prayer.

3. It also serves as a reminder to all readers

a) They are to learn from the mistakes made by the writer.
b) They are to remember the principles of prayer employed by the psalmist.

A PAINFUL SUBJECT

The content of Psalm 38 deals with a painful subject. The psalmist introduces the subject of Psalm 38 with this introductory word.

“O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.”
Psalm 38:1

The wrath of God is the subject of Psalm 38. David accepts that God has the Divine right to “wrath”. He also accepts that God can be divinely displeased. God certainly has the prerogative to chasten His children. How does one pray to the Lord when He is angry? Many and deep are the lessons to be discovered in Psalm 38.