Psalm 38:1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
I remember as a child getting disciplined. Do you? I remember sometimes feeling as thought the punishment wasn’t fair, that it was too harsh. (I can’t ever remember thinking it was too lenient!) But sometimes the punishment was completely off the mark.
I have a loud, penetrating voice. I always have, and I probably always will. And that voice combined with a lack of self-control got me into many a pots of hot water. When everyone was talking, it was my voice that rose above my classmates and got heard by my teachers. “Stanley!”
Was it fair that I was singled out when everyone else was talking? Could I help it that my voice carries better in a crowded classroom? It wasn’t fair that the acoustics of public schools were designed to bring my specific voice to the top of the crowd! Was that my fault?
Conspiracy theories aside, it wasn’t fair. All who were talking should have been punished based on the fact that they were talking as well. But I would bear the burden for all the talkers. I was guilty, and I got punished. That wasn’t fair AND that was fair.
But what happens when you feel like the LORD is being unfair, or could be unfair? What do you do with those feelings? How does it get resolved?
There isn’t a court where you can bring the LORD and get Him to confess. He has nothing to confess. He is righteous. We are not. We stand in the wrong. He never does.
So when we feel this way, this Psalm, along with many others, encourages us to bring those feelings right into the LORD’s presence. The Psalms are communal worship instruments. They are meant to be sung together, as part of a community of believers, as a way to bring all we are into the LORD’s presence, to be examined and purified.
But we also come in order to be encouraged and strengthened. His presence brings healing and restoration. But we must be willing to bring it all into his presence.
The Arnold Journey 