Psalm 38:31, 32 Come! Help!

Psalm 38: 21, 22 O LORD, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Saviour.

The threefold petition of the closing two verses of Psalm 38 sum up what we find in this psalm. It is A psalm of David and like only one other Psalm (the much briefer Psalm 70, which itself is based on the close of Psalm 40) it is labelled in the NIV A petition. Both Psalm 70 and 38 have similar content and tone that could be summed up as petition. The opening verse of Psalm 38 is the same as the first verse of Psalm 6 (O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath). David is fearful of God's wrath and complains of God's hand having come down on him. The sickness he complains of may be physical, psychosomatic or metaphorical. Certainly a sense of guilt overwhelms him and he puts down his sufferings to his own sins. At the same time (12) Those who seek my life set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they plot deception. He is slandered too. He will not rise to it, however. He is like a deaf mute so far from retaliating is he (13, 14). No, he says (15) I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God. And so it is to the LORD that he is looking throughout this psalm. He prays that the LORD will not forsake him. Be not far from me, O my God he prays. He asks that God will come to him and help him as his Saviour. This is what we must all do when we are in any sort of trouble, whether we have brought it on ourselves or the fault lies with others. Pray earnestly for God's presence and help not to be removed but to become ever more real.