I have been maintaining…
that the Psalms were written (most of them, anyway) by David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the voice of Jesus. Jesus as the primary singer of the psalm makes a great deal of sense to me. If you want to learn what Jesus thinks, if you want to, as Philippians says, have this mind in you which is also in Christ Jesus, listen to his songs. Sing his songs. Internalize his songs.
Can Jesus sing, “…there is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, there is no health in my bones because of my sin.” On the face of it, something seems wrong about this. Jesus never sinned. He was without sin. He always pleased the Father. How could he confess to sin, to iniquities, to foolishness? How can he be sorry for his sins?
It could be that this psalm is not “in the voice of Jesus”, but is rather in David’s voice, the psalmist pouring out his complaint to God, his pleas for mercy. Maybe Jesus does not sing Psalm 38.
Maybe. But I think he does.
Consider first, the heading. This is a psalm for the memorial offering. In Leviticus this was a part of a grain offering that was set aside to be offered up to God as an ascension, burned up and rising in smoke for God to smell.
The worshipper brought his offerings to the Lord. Some of them, the Burnt (or, Ascension) offering for example, were entirely burned up, turned into smoke, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Other parts of the offering, for example, the grain offering, were food for the priests. Except for the Memorial portion of it, which was turned into smoke.
The memorial portion, set aside, re-arranged from some grain product into smoke before the Lord, the smoke rising up for God to judge it, to evaluate it. Ponder that for awhile.
There was an order in which the various offerings were given, an order which has informed that of Christian worship. Sin offering was first. Sin had to be dealt with before the worshipper could enter the presence of a holy God. Confession of sin is an early feature in a Christian worship service. Get sin out of the way.
After this came the Ascension (Burnt, wrongly named) offering, where the worshipper would lay his hands on the animal, which would then be slaughtered and set in pieces on the altar, rearranged, and the smoke would rise to God for his evaluation. Similarly, the church comes into the presence of God, now forgiven, but needing to be transformed more into the image of Christ. His word cuts us in pieces and rearranges us on the altar to be more like Jesus, with whom God is pleased.
Finally there were peace offerings, in which both God (represented by his priests) and the worshipper get to eat together. Fellowship is restored, and God loves to eat with those he loves. This corresponds to communion, where we are offered his body and blood as true food and drink. It is a joyful time, for sins are forgiven and fellowship with God is restored.
Psalm 38 is a song for the memorial offering, the part where the worshipper offers himself and his works (i.e. grain products) up to God for God’s evaluation. But the memorial portion gets burned up like the sin offering does.
Jesus offered himself up to the wrath of God in the place of us sinners who could not face that wrath and live. Paul says of him that he became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Christ Jesus so fully identified with us that he could sing this song, and teach us to sing it back to him. And the suffering the psalmist faces in this psalm is certainly what our Lord faced. Like a mute man who opens not his mouth, silent before his persecutors, yet crying out to the God of his salvation to rescue him.
You who know your sin should be able to sing this psalm without qualms of conscience. But you who know your Lord and what he went through to set you free, you can sing it too.
Here are the lyrics.
Do Not Forsake Me, O Lord
A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.
38 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath!
2 For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come 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 have gone over my head;
like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness,
6 I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning.
7 For my sides are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8 I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.
9 O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you.
10 My heart throbs; my strength fails me,
and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.
11 My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,
and my nearest kin stand far off.
12 Those who seek my life lay their snares;
those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long.
13 But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,
like a mute man who does not open his mouth.
14 I have become like a man who does not hear, and in whose mouth are no rebukes.
15 But for you, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
16 For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me,
who boast against me when my foot slips!”
17 For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever before me.
18 I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.
19 But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,
and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
20 Those who render me evil for good accuse me because I follow after good.
21 Do not forsake me, O Lord! O my God, be not far from me!
22 Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!
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