I don’t like punishment, and I don’t think any normal person does too.
When I was young, when I did wrong,I would usually eat a few strokes of the cane across the hand. I remember once my mother used the hanger because she couldn’t find the cane (quite likely that it was because I hid the cane).
But man the cane is nothing like that which David received from God.
1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
2 For Your arrows pierce me deeply,
And Your hand presses me down.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh
Because of Your anger,
Nor any health in my bones
Because of my sin. (NKJV)
I googled this and apparently Psalm 38 was written after David murdered Uriah, and he was experiencing God’s punishment. And quite simply, David was trying to petition with God to take him out of it, because it was getting too much for David to bear.
However one thing about David is that, despite the heavy punishment dealt to him, he doesn’t run away. Rather he wants to get closer to God. I remember some of my punishments when I was a young child, I would plan of ways to run away from home. David doesn’t.
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!
David pleads with God to not forsake him, but David himself did not forsake God despite the extenuating circumstances. When we fall into sin, how often do we try and runaway from God, spiraling into a vicious cycle? The fastest way out is not to forsake God and admit that you need His help.
I rather have God’s hand punish me than Him forsaking me.
Filed under: Cogitations, God, Life, Psalm
