Chapter 38

David.

1st, Request for relief from the punishment ongoing from God.  (Not trying to deny that he deserves it, or that is too harsh.  But still, David wants it to end.)

2nd, Much the same.

2024 - The stanzas must be from ESV, they are not in NASB.  So these verses:

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. [Psa 38:7-10 ESV].  I think this might be David's description of old age.  This is about physical age, but he is also telling us how it feels to be in a failing body.

3rd, Still more.  David is feeling the weight of the just punishment God is sending his way.  David says it is more than he can bear, and he asks for relief.

4th, One verse.  About his enemies. 

5th, David is like a deaf man, who does not hear the plots against him, the treachery being plotted.

6th, David waits for relief.  He doesn't want his enemies to laugh at his mistakes, his slips, his punishment.

7th, David confesses his many sins, but says that he still follows after good.  And he says that is the reason he has enemies.  He's done nothing to them personally, they just hate David for his striving after good.

2024 - These:

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. [Psa 38:17-18 ESV].  Better in NASB95:

17 For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me. 18 For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin. [Psa 38:17-18 NASB95]

8th, Asking God to help him, and soon.

Another prayer of David while he is left to himself, while God is letting the world's ways take their course.  I don't know that God is actually punishing David here, so much as he is just not protecting or helping him.  For one used to communion with God, used to God's intervention in their life, this is a devastatingly lonely and frightening state of affairs.  David knows that it is only God's protection that will keep him safe, keep him in power as King, keep him safe and alive despite the unceasing plots of his enemies.  David realizes that he is powerless to discern all these plots, and that everything depends on God's watchful eye.