An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Psalm 38:1-8, 18-22, “God’s Conviction,” scheduled for Sunday, July 27, 2025. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

(If you don’t use anything else in this overview, let me encourage you to move ahead and look at the story of President Chester Arthur from Point III, which is a perfect illustration of the meaning of the Hebrew word for “confess” or “repent” in :18, one of the most important concepts in this Psalm. If I didn’t use anything else, I would use that story — though of course I hope there will be some other things here that you can use as well!)

INTRODUCTION:
???DISCUSSION QUESTION???
Can anyone share a memory of the first time you felt badly about a sin?
(For example, for me that would be when I was about 4 years old, and our family was visiting our grandparents in California. Grandma and Grandpa gave my sister and me each a big animal balloon. I can’t remember what mine was, but hers was a big red bear, and I was jealous of it; I wanted her balloon instead of mine; and in my jealousy I ended up popping it with a fork! Of course I got in trouble, and it pretty much ruined Christmas Eve. I felt badly about it — and still do to this day to be honest! But that is what happens when we sin: God convicts us of our sin.)

You/your group can share some instances like that from your own experiences, and then you can transition to the lesson by saying something like: “In today’s lesson from Psalm 38 we learn about God’s Conviction of sin in David’s life, and in ours as well.”

CONTEXT:
As we have talked about before, there are several “categories” of Psalms: praise and thanksgiving Psalms, Messianic Psalms like Psalm 110, and so on. Psalm 38 is what is often categorized as a “Penitential Psalm.” This word comes from the word “penitent,” or one who has repented. (Our word “penitentiary” or prison is related to it!) These are Psalms in which David or the author confess their sins to God. There are several “Penitential Psalms,” including Psalm 38, our Psalm for this week, Psalm 32 (which is our Psalm for next Sunday!), Psalm 51 is perhaps the most famous, David confessing his sin with Bathsheba, and others.

Many of the Psalms model prayer for us; they show us how we can talk to God. One of the most important things we need to talk to God about is our sin. How do we talk to God when we have sinned? “Penitential Psalms” like Psalm 38 show us how to pray and express our repentance towards God, and how to ask Him for forgiveness.

The HISTORICAL NOTE that introduces Psalm 38 says: “A Psalm of David, for a memorial.”
This note, which remember IS in the Hebrew text, tells us that David is the author of Psalm 38, and it was written “for a memorial” — in other words, to be remembered. There are some important lessons here that we all need to remember and learn from!

OUTLINE:

I. The Father and Our Sin (:1)
II. The Consequences of Sin (:2-8)
III. The Repentance of Sin (:18-22)

TEXT: Psalm 38:1-8, 18-22

I. The Father and Our Sin (:1)
:1 “O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath,
And chasten me not in Your burning anger.”

Most commentators point out that :1 here is virtually the same as Psalm 6:1, which begins with the almost exactly the same wording. Psalm 6 is considered to be the first of the “Penitential Psalms.”

You can also see how this is another example of the Hebrew “synonymous parallelism,” saying basically the same thing in a slightly different manner one line after another, which is the way they do poetry (instead of rhyming like we often do).
— “rebuke” and “chasten” are synonyms
— “wrath” and “burning anger” are synonyms

But more importantly is what these words express:
— “Rebuke” and “chasten” are things that are done to someone who is in the wrong, who has sinned.
— God’s “wrath” and His “burning anger” are only expressed towards sin.
So David is obviously admitting his sin here, and asking for mercy: don’t rebuke me; don’t chasten me. And there is a sense of “lament,” or regret for his sin. But this is not “enough;” it is not where he needs to end up to be right with God — and we will indeed see him take further steps toward God later in the Psalm.

The first words of Psalm 38 are very important: “O LORD.” As we’ve seen many times, when we read “LORD” in all 4 capital letters in the Old Testament, that means in the original Hebrew that is “Yahweh” or “Jehovah,” the personal name of God. David begins Psalm 38 with His name. So the personal relationship is important here.

And the relationship that is expressed here is that of a father with a child.
How many of us as parents have “rebuked” our children?
How many of us have had to “chasten” them in anger because of a misdeed of theirs?
All of us as parents know what that is like.

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION ???
“WHY do we as parents rebuke and chasten our children?”
(Answers should include something like, we do it because we love our children. If we don’t rebuke them when they do wrong, or discipline them for their folly, then we don’t really love them.)

And of course this says something about GOD’S relationship with US, doesn’t it?! Why does God rebuke and chasten us? It’s not because He doesn’t love us, but rather because He DOES!
It’s like Hebrews 12:5-11 says:

:5 “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him;
6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

You could teach a whole lesson just out of that cross-reference passage in Hebrews 12! God disciplines us out of LOVE (:6), because we are SONS (:7), if He doesn’t discipline us, we aren’t HIS (:8); and unlike earthly fathers, He always disciplines PERFECTLY (:9). We don’t enjoy it, but it’s GOOD for us, as :11 teaches.

One very important application for us to make here is that David is TALKING TO GOD ABOUT HIS SIN! He models for us here what we are to do when we sin: turn to God; talk to Him about it, because of the relationship that you have with Him as your Heavenly Father. Too many people think something like, “Well, I can’t talk to God because of my sin.” Your sin is not good — but you need to bring it to God and talk to Him about it. David models for us in Psalm 38 what we should with our sin: bring it to the Lord; talk to Him about it, because He is your Heavenly Father, with whom you have a personal relationship just like David did, through Jesus Christ. So bring it to Him; talk to Him about it.

II. The Consequences of Sin (:2-8)
:2 “For Your arrows have sunk deep into me,
And Your hand has pressed down on me.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation;
There is no health in my bones because of my sin.
4 For my iniquities are gone over my head;
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.
5 My wounds grow foul and fester
Because of my folly.
6 I am bent over and greatly bowed down;
I go mourning all day long.
7 For my loins are filled with burning,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am benumbed and badly crushed;
I groan because of the agitation of my heart.”

EXERCISE:
Copy a page from a Bible that includes at least :2-8, and have your class circle, or call out, every CONSEQUENCE OF SIN they find in these verses, and then discuss them.
(There are some in every verse here. These should include:

—:2 “Your arrows have sunk deep into me, and Your hand has pressed down upon me.” These are obviously both symbolic: God didn’t literally sink arrows into him; or “press” down on him with His hand. These two pictures (again this is Hebrew parallelism, saying the same thing twice in a slightly different manner, which is how they do poetry. We see this parallelism several times in this passage) are both symbolic of God’s CONVICTION, which is a consequence of sin. When we sin, God does not let us get away with it; He convicts us.

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION??? You might ask your group:
“Have you ever felt that kind of conviction — like God’s hand was just pressing down on you?”
That is what David was feeling here! The “arrows,” the “hand” are symbolic of the conviction of God’s Holy Spirit for our sin.

— :3 has another parallelism: “no soundness in my flesh/no health in my bones” — this refers to physical ailments that are often another consequence of sin.
(:5 also refers to his “wounds” that “grow foul and fester” — another reference to physical consequences of sin.
So does :7, “my loins are filled with burning; there is no soundness in my flesh.
So several of these verses refer to the physical consequences of sin.

??? DISCUSSION QUESTION???
“What are some of the physical consequences that sin might bring upon a person?”
(One obvious answer is that sexual sins often carry physical consequences: venereal diseases, infertility, and so on; but there are others: guilt, unforgiveness, and anxiety often have physical consequences: high blood pressure, ulcers.
You/your group can share your answers/experiences you’ve heard of. But make the point: although all illness is NOT directly caused by a specific sin (see Jesus’ answer to His disciples in John 9) yet the Bible does teach that sin DOES often carry with it physical consequences, like here in Psalm 38, also Psalm 32:3-4, where he says “my bones wasted away/my strength dried up.” (We’ll look at Psalm 32 more next week!)

Derek Kidner’s commentary on Psalms has an insightful quote here. Speaking about how David’s sickness here was a punishment, he wrote: “It would be as wrong to think that this is never so, as that it is always so.” (And he gives John 5:14 to balance with John 9:3) Sometimes sickness IS a punishment, a result of our sin, and the text here certainly affirms that.

— :4 refers to the “heavy burden” that his sin is. This is the conviction that God gives us when we have sinned against Him.

John Bunyan refers to this in his famous novel Pilgrim’s Progress:
“I had a dream in which I saw a man dressed in rags, standing in a certain place and facing away from his own house. He had a book in his hand and a great burden on his back. As I looked, I saw him open the Book and read out of it, and as he read he wept and trembled. Unable to contain himself any longer, he broke out with a sorrowful cry, saying, ‘What shall I do?’”

You might want to share an illustration with your class like this one, of Pilgrim with his burden:

The “burden” in this story refers to the Pilgrim’s (“Christian”) conviction of sin; the weight of his guilt before God, which he found by reading “the Book,” which of course is the Bible. This is what David is referring to here in :4, when he refers to the consequence of sin being like a “heavy burden.”

The old hymn: “At the Cross” also mentions this, when it says “and the burden of my heart rolled away” at the cross. It’s referring to the feeling of the “weight,” the “burden,” the conviction that God brings upon us when we sin.

Conviction of sin, that feeling of guilt before God that some of us may have shared about in the introduction, is definitely one of the consequences of sin!

Then finally in :8 he writes: “I am benumbed and badly crushed;I groan because of the agitation of my heart.” This seems to refer to the emotional consequences of his sin. He feels “crushed;” he “groans.” His heart is “agitated.”

All of these verses remind us that you don’t “sin and win.” Sin always carries consequences: physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. But thankfully these consequences are not necessarily ends in themselves, God uses them to bring us to repentance and a right relationship with Him again, as we see in our final point:

III. Repentance of Sin (:18-22)
:18 “For I confess my iniquity;
I am full of anxiety because of my sin.
19 But my enemies are vigorous and strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.
20 And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.
21 Do not forsake me, O LORD;
O my God, do not be far from me!
22 Make haste to help me,
O LORD, my salvation!”

Significantly, the word the NASB translated “I confess” my sin is the Hebrew word “nagad,” which literally means to “stand boldly out opposite.” This more than a simple “confess;” it implies a real REPENTANCE of sin: you are not only “confessing” it; but “standing boldly against it;” admitting that it was wrong; standing against it. This is real repentance.

ILLUSTRATION:
Chester Arthur was once known as a corrupt member of a New York political machine which placed him as U.S. Vice-President. When President Garfield was assassinated, everyone assumed that Arthur would be a corrupt president. But something happened that changed him, as he began receiving letters from a 32-year-old invalid, Miss Julia Sands, who said she wrote “not to beg you to resign. Do what is more difficult & more brave. Reform!”
Candice Millard in her book Destiny of the Republic writes:
“Arthur not only read Sand’s letters, he kept them. Over the years, he would keep twenty-three of her letters, each one urging him to be a better man than he had once believed he could be. ‘It is not the proof of highest goodness never to have done wrong,’ Sand assured him, ‘but it is a proof of it … to recognize the evil, to turn resolutely against it.’” (pp. 208-209)

As a result perhaps of Sand’s influence, and the opportunity that had been given to him as president, Arthur did change, and even turned on his former political allies, and became a much better president than anyone expected. When Sand wrote in her letter that he needed to “recognize the evil” and “turn resolutely against it,” she could not have better expressed the meaning of the Bible word “nagad” — “confession” or perhaps better, “repentance.”
“Turning resolutely against” our former sins, is exactly what God desires from us — and is the meaning of this Hebrew word in Psalm 38:18!

Real repentance is NOT “I’m sorry I got caught” and experienced the kind o consequences David expressed in :1-8. Real repentance is a “change of mind which leads to a change of direction” in life. It admits that what was done was WRONG; and makes a CHANGE in the future. Both of these elements are important.
— It’s not just saying “I’m sorry this hurt someone” (or myself). It admits that the act was wrong. It’s like the New Testament word for “confess,” “homo-logeo” which is literally “saying the same thing” that God says” about our sin. You admit that it was indeed wrong. It was a sin.
— And repentance not only admits the wrong, it attempts to make a CHANGE in direction and action in the future.

The Prodigal Son is the great New Testament example of repentance. He had a change of mind, which led to a change of direction: “he came to himself,” and admitted that he would be better off with his father, and then he “got up” and actually went back down the road to his father. He changed his mind, and thus changed his direction. THAT is real repentance.

And that is what God wants to see from each of us: a change of mind, so that we agree with Him that what we did was wrong; which leads us to a change of direction, so that we don’t do the same things any more, but live differently in the future.

EXERCISE:
“Which of these people did/did NOT truly repent of their actions?”
— Nathan Hale was caught by the British in New York City as a spy for George Washington. But at his hanging he famously said: “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”
(He did admit his alleged “crime,” but he didn’t repent of it, did he? He basically said I’d do it all over again if I had more lives to live! He did not “repent” of what he did.)
— Chuck Colson, convicted as a Watergate conspirator. He confessed his crime and served his time, then gave his life to Christ, and began a prison ministry.
(Colson gave every evidence of genuine repentance: he admitted his crime, gave his life to Christ, and had a “change of direction” by starting the prison ministry.)

DISCUSSION/APPLICATION: You might ask your group:
??? Do you see the difference in real repentance???
And you might also ask:
??? Can you share any other examples you know from history or of personal experience, of true and also of incomplete repentance???

Then in :19-20 David refers to his enemies:
19 But my enemies are vigorous and [b]strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.
20 And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.

And so he makes a final call to God for help in the last two verses:
:21 “Do not forsake me, O LORD;
O my God, do not be far from me!
:22 Make haste to help me,
O LORD, my salvation!”

NOTICE a couple of things here:

1) THREE TIMES in these last two verses he asks God for help:
— “Do not forsake me …”
— “Do not be far from me”
— “Make haste to help me”
Remember when the Hebrews repeat something three times they are really emphasizing it (like “holy, holy, holy”) so David is really emphasizing his need for God here.

2) Notice that TWO of the tree times he again uses the personal name of God, “LORD,” which is “Yahweh/Jehovah.” He can call to God for help against his enemies, and trust that He will actually help him, because he has that personal relationship with God, and knows Him personally.

You might close by emphasizing to your class that WE need to make sure that we have that same personal relationship with God that David did. You can be confident that you can call to God and get His help, and you can be confident like David that you can bring your sin to God and talk to Him about it, and find mercy and grace from Him — IF you really have a personal relationship with Him as your Heavenly Father, because you know Jesus as your Savior. If they don’t have that, they need to make sure they establish it today! God will forgive us, and save us, and be merciful to us like a Father is to His children — IF we will repent of our sins like Psalm 38 teaches us, and trust Jesus as our Lord & Savior.

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