O LORD, Do Not Rebuke Me In Your Anger
Devotional
Companion to the Psalter
A Devotional Guide to the Psalms
Object:
O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger,
or discipline me in your wrath ...
There is no soundness in my flesh ...
because of my sin.
O LORD, all my longing is known to you;
my sighing is not hidden from you ...
But it is for you, O LORD, that I wait;
it is you, O LORD, my God, who will answer ...
I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin ...
make haste to help me,
O LORD, my salvation.
-- Psalm 38:1, 3, 9, 15, 18, 22
Theme: Pleading for healing, the sinner throws himself on God
Outline
1-8 -- Help! I'm suffering physically and mentally.
9-14 -- Help! Deserted by friends, threatened by foes.
15-22 -- Help! I confess my sin. Make haste to help me.
Notes
• Penitential
• The third of the seven penitential psalms.
For Reflection
• In the three divisions of the psalm, do you discern a progress or development in the prayer?
• For which of the following is the prayer fitting? A devout person who is ill and is assumed by others to have sinned? A devout person who has noticeably fallen? A drug-addict, a drunkard, a sexual profligate, a pederast, or a felon, feeling self-loathing? Someone dying and anxious? A Christian at worship who, identifying with the sufferer, says, "There but for the grace of God go I"?
Prayer
Throw away thy rod,
Throw away thy wrath;
O my God,
Take the gentle path.
For my heart's desire
Unto thine is bent:
I aspire
To a full consent.
Though I fail, I weep:
Though I halt in pace,
Yet I creep
To the throne of grace.
Then let wrath remove;
Love will do the deed;
For with love
Stony hearts will bleed.
-- From "Discipline" by George Herbert, d. 1633
or discipline me in your wrath ...
There is no soundness in my flesh ...
because of my sin.
O LORD, all my longing is known to you;
my sighing is not hidden from you ...
But it is for you, O LORD, that I wait;
it is you, O LORD, my God, who will answer ...
I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin ...
make haste to help me,
O LORD, my salvation.
-- Psalm 38:1, 3, 9, 15, 18, 22
Theme: Pleading for healing, the sinner throws himself on God
Outline
1-8 -- Help! I'm suffering physically and mentally.
9-14 -- Help! Deserted by friends, threatened by foes.
15-22 -- Help! I confess my sin. Make haste to help me.
Notes
• Penitential
• The third of the seven penitential psalms.
For Reflection
• In the three divisions of the psalm, do you discern a progress or development in the prayer?
• For which of the following is the prayer fitting? A devout person who is ill and is assumed by others to have sinned? A devout person who has noticeably fallen? A drug-addict, a drunkard, a sexual profligate, a pederast, or a felon, feeling self-loathing? Someone dying and anxious? A Christian at worship who, identifying with the sufferer, says, "There but for the grace of God go I"?
Prayer
Throw away thy rod,
Throw away thy wrath;
O my God,
Take the gentle path.
For my heart's desire
Unto thine is bent:
I aspire
To a full consent.
Though I fail, I weep:
Though I halt in pace,
Yet I creep
To the throne of grace.
Then let wrath remove;
Love will do the deed;
For with love
Stony hearts will bleed.
-- From "Discipline" by George Herbert, d. 1633