{"id":1808,"date":"2015-11-19T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.danielgoepfrich.com\/?p=1808"},"modified":"2022-08-29T22:49:33","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T02:49:33","slug":"psalm-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/psalm-38\/","title":{"rendered":"Psalm 38"},"content":{"rendered":"

Psalm 38<\/strong> opens with a curious title in the NET: \u201cwritten to get God\u2019s attention.\u201d<\/em> Other major translations are divided on how to translate the word le<\/sup>haze<\/sup>kiyr<\/em>, which literally means \u201cto cause to remember.\u201d The ESV and NASB consider it some kind of \u201cmemorial (offering).\u201d<\/em> The KJV calls it \u201ca remembrance\u201d<\/em>; the NLT presents David as \u201casking God to remember him\u201d<\/em>; and the NIV records it simply as \u201ca petition.\u201d<\/em><\/p>

All of these try to address the issue at hand: David had been suffering God\u2019s judgment for sins unknown to us, and he wanted God \u201cto remember\u201d him, that is, to lift the judgment and return David to a place of grace and mercy, so he wrote this psalm \u201cto cause God to remember\u201d<\/em> him.<\/p>

Unless these were emphatic word pictures, it seems that God\u2019s judgment on David was physical illness. He described his condition as \u201csick\u2026deprived of health\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 38:3). He may have had putrid sores that became \u201cinfected\u2026starting to smell\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 38:5). He felt \u201cnumb with pain and severely battered\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 38:8) and had lost his strength (Psalm 38:10).<\/p>

He quickly admitted that this was because of his sins (Psalm 38:3, 5) and was ready to confess them (Psalm 38:18) and get out from under his shame and guilt (Psalm 38:4, 7). David was also concerned about the way he was being treated by his friends (Psalm 38:11), and, as in other psalms before this one, he asked for God\u2019s deliverance from his enemies as well (Psalm 38:19-22).<\/p>

This psalm is a good example of a godly person returning to God, knowing that he or she has sinned, rather than hardening under God\u2019s discipline. God never forgets us, and he is always ready to give his attention to us when we confess our sin to him.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psalm 38 opens with a curious title in the NET: \u201cwritten to get God\u2019s attention.\u201d Other major translations are divided on how to translate the word lehazekiyr, which literally means \u201cto cause to remember.\u201d The ESV and NASB consider it some kind of \u201cmemorial (offering).\u201d The KJV calls it \u201ca remembrance\u201d; the NLT presents David […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-1808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-studies","tag-psalms"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"gutentor_comment":0,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"widget-thumbnail":false,"rpwe-thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Daniel Goepfrich","author_link":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/author\/dgoepfrich\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Psalm 38 opens with a curious title in the NET: \u201cwritten to get God\u2019s attention.\u201d Other major translations are divided on how to translate the word lehazekiyr, which literally means \u201cto cause to remember.\u201d The ESV and NASB consider it some kind of \u201cmemorial (offering).\u201d The KJV calls it \u201ca remembrance\u201d; the NLT presents David…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologyisforeveryone.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}