Tag: suffering

Lament as a Response to Suffering Part 4.

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.  

                                                                                    Psalm 38:9–12

David is standing in the dock before YHWH.  He has recognized his sin and its harm to body and soul.  As a man after God’s own heart, David grieves over his sin not simply his affliction.  He is contrite and has made good confession without excuse, conditions, or bargaining.

David now opens his petition.  In these verses David appeals to the One who is all-knowing by first stating how utterly alone and vulnerable he is. 

YHWH knows David’s Plight (v 9)

Longing is the intense expression of a desire unfilled over an extended period.  David is longing for his health and for restoration of his relationship with YHWH.  David, elsewhere, describes his longing as a thirsty deer panting for water:

As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

Ps 42:1-2

David cannot regain his health and vigor until he is in a right relationship with YHWH.  That relationship has been disrupted by sin and only YHWH can restore it by graciously forgiving his servant.  It is not that God has forsaken and abandoned David.  It is God’s immediate and perceptible presence that David longs for.  When God called Abram, he said “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless” (Ge 17:1).  Walking before YHWH is living and abiding in His presence, before His “face,” in communion and fellowship.  Those who know this sweetness feel the great bitterness of His absence.

The word translated “sighing” signifies “roaring.”  The Hebrew word is used to describe a lion roaring.  David is not stoic before God as his intense emptiness is set out before YHWH in plain sight.  The Lion of Judah is roaring in his affliction like a wounded animal.  It is ugly to hear and behold. 

That David makes such a loud demonstration is not a lack of faith.  The toughest of us may be able to hide our suffering from others but not our God who perceives everything.  David cannot hide his agony for our Father knows what you need before you ask him (Mt 6:8).  David writes elsewhere:

  O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

  You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

  Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

                                                                                        Psalm 139:1–4

Therefore, we need not be ashamed and try to cover ourselves.  However, in such circumstances we can be at a loss of words.  Our first response is not calm, eloquence but moaning and groaning.  God hears and understands this as the language of suffering. Our Lord not only perceives our pain, he hears and understands our longings, before and regardless of our ability to articulate them.  He stands ready and able to succor and provide what we need.

Charles Spurgeon observed:

Sorrow and anguish hide themselves from the observation of man, but God spies them out. None more lonely than the broken-hearted sinner, yet he has the Lord for his companion.[1]

In the verses that follow, David takes us deeper into the depths.

David’s Suffering is likened to Death (v 10)

David’s heart is “throbbing,” or being driven to and throw in agitation.  His soul cannot be quiet and settled.  It is a lost wanderer, a wild horse without a rider or a rudderless ship in a storm.  He is being tossed about with no end or purpose.  David is exhausted as his strength fails him.  His limbs are weak and cannot carry him.  His spirit is faint and abandoning his body.  The light of his eyes signifies his very life.  The windows to the soul are becoming empty. David is dying as his eyes gloss over, cannot perceive and loose contact with the world outside him.  This death is physical and spiritual.  Oh’ to feel abandoned on the deathbed!  How awful death is for those apart from the Lord and more so for those who have tasted the heavenly gift (Heb 6:4).  The Lord has no joy in the death of the lost and He feels its pangs.  David is a man drowning in sin thrusting forth his hand heavenward to be rescued.

Abandoned by Friends and Family (v 11)

David likens his illness to a plague that drives people away lest they to are afflicted with the contagion.  He is treated like a leper, living outside of the camp, unclean and apart from Temple and fellowship.  The leper was abhorred and feared.  Those who are closest to David, his family and his close brethren, now stand aloof.  Those who were near to him while in health, wealth and power are now gone.  David is unloved, socially isolated and truly alone.  Calvin comments:

In saying that his friends stand away from him, he means, that they cease from performing any of the offices of humanity towards him.[2]

And Spurgeon:

As the women and others of our Lord’s acquaintance from afar gazed on his cross, so a soul wounded for sin sees all mankind as distant spectators, and in the whole crowd finds none to aid. Often relatives hinder seekers after Jesus, oftener still they look on with unconcern, seldom enough do they endeavor to lead the penitent to Jesus.[3]

Has this happened to you?  When you are well and able to work and participate in family and social roles and functions you are surrounded by loved ones.  Illness and sin are a burden to others.  They truly do not want to experience your pain and anguish.  While happy to share in your joys they tend to you superficially in your affliction.  When you need them the most, family and friends have time to continue in their other joyous relationships but cannot or will not join you in your suffering.  They have lives to lead.  At least Job’s friends, for all their faults, sat with him for a few days in silent solidarity.  The balm of fellowship is replaced with pills, salves and some fleeting words of comfort.

                They have healed the wound of my people lightly,

saying, ‘Peace, peace,’

when there is no peace (Je. 8:11)

Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of the daughter of my people

not been restored? (Je. 8:22)

We delegate these tasks to professionals: doctors, nurses, social workers, therapists, home aids, pastors and elders rather than joining in faithful solidarity with our loved one.  When our friends and family stand afar our Lord is ready to draw neigh.  Jesus embraces us in our failures and suffering.  As he touched lepers and made them whole, he will touch us likewise.  Even our stench will not deter our Lord.  As the good physician he enters the sick room, approaches our couch without mask, gown and gloves.  He never leaves and he walks out with us, hand in hand, back into the world or into the heavenly Kingdom. 

David’s Enemies Circle for an Attack (v 12)

Predators in the wild cull the weak and frail from the herd.  Weak and alone, abandoned by his family and friends, David is apart from the protection of the herd.  The herd is his family and the family of God.  A single rod is easily broken but when bundled is resilient.  A coal taken out of the fire soon cools and dies out.  Satan is always on the prowl and attacks viscously when we are weak and alone.  His minions are vultures circling the dying. 

Have you experienced enemies taking advantage of your illness, circumstances and failures?  Do they mock you and are they quick to point out your flaws?  Do they take advantage of your weakness?  When a saint fails the world is quick to declare him a hypocrite rather than recognize him as a poor sinner in need of grace.  They delight in our misery, use our flaws to detract from their evil and therein justify their own sin. 

David describes this activity as laying snares that will entrap and kill him and with evil speech seek to ruin him.  The enemy is obsessed with his downfall as they plot and plan continuously.  Meditating on treachery all day contrasts with the righteous man of Psalm 1 who meditates day and night of God’s law.  David’s enemies delight in evil whereas the righteous man delights in the things of God.  The wicked walk in the way of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners and sit with the scorners at the gate mocking and passing judgment.

When we, as Christians, suffer this attack we are experiencing what our Lord did on the Cross.  His close friends ran away, some family and disciples stood at a distance unable to approach and help.  The religious leaders and the rabble cursed and mocked him, yet Jesus not only remained sinless but demonstrated the spirit of forgiveness. 

David leaves us with a picture of a man not only drowning but surrounded by sharks who smell blood.  He does not need someone to tell him to get out of the water but to dive in and rescue him.  No other than our Lord can and will do this.

Lessons for us

David’s illness has disrupted the most intimate of relationships.  In order to restore them, David must first seek reconciliation with God.  Our vertical relationship defines all our horizontal relationships.  Those with our friends and family will not be made right until we are right with God.  Satan’s fiery darts, delivered by his minions and our earthly foes, will continue to smart until our Lord quenches them. 

How does our Lord help and comfort us?  He generally uses his servants, the saints of His Church.  He sends them as ministering souls.  The teaching of these verses is not only for the one under affliction but for all of God’s people who are called to serve and show His love.  Are we willing to answer the call?  Are we willing to descend into the pit, dive into the water and meet our brother or sister where they are?  Are we willing to lift them up out of the mud by getting under them and letting them stand on our shoulders or cupped hands? 

People wantingly gaze aloft for miraculous intervention and are blind to God’s providence working through that which is common.  The suffering one misses the grace that God has sent and those around the afflicted gawk mute instead of acting with love and compassion.  Stop being like the Apostles whose eyes were affixed upon heaven at Jesus ascension and get to work!  You were called to serve the Lord.  We are to imitate him.  This may mean getting muddy and wet for your brother and sister.  In doing this your suffering brethren will not be a curse but a blessing.  For as you serve them you serve your Lord.  Great will be your reward in heaven and thankful will be your brother.  More so, you point to Jesus and bid others to follow.  In this way, you are a living testimony, preaching the gospel in word and deed. 

Next we shall see how David hits bottom and begins a turn upward.

[1] C. H. Spurgeon, Psalms, Crossway Classic Commentaries (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 155

[2] Calvin, John. Commentary of the Psalm 38:11

[3] C. H. Spurgeon, Psalms, Crossway Classic Commentaries (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 155–156.

Lament as Response to Suffering: Part 3

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.

                                                                                                Psalm 38:3-8

Previously we saw that YHWH was the source of David’s affliction.  David cried to YHWH not to chasten him in divine anger and wrath.  David understands YHWH’s discipline is part of their relationship.  It is therefore rational that David would look to YHWH to remove this suffering.  Verses 3-8 teach us the nature, ultimate cause and David’s response to affliction.

David stands before YHWH

Having called upon YHWH’s name and announcing a plea, David now is standing before YHWH his king.  David must now make his case.  As a king, David understood this situation.  How many times had his subjects come before him as judge?  As king, David had great power and authority.  Now David is in the dock before someone who has absolute power and authority.

For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:30–31).

Isaiah writes:

       The sinners in Zion are afraid;

trembling has seized the godless:

       “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?

Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”

                                                                                                            Isaiah 33:14

David knows his position.  He is standing naked before YHWH his judge.  The effulgence of God’s Glory is at once beyond beauty and very dangerous.  YHWH is “a consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24; 9:3; Heb. 12:29).  Therefore, who can stand before him and not be destroyed?  As YHWH told Moses when he asked to see His Glory: “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex. 33:20).  Only the pure and spotless can stand before God.  David and Moses were far from perfect and both had blood on their hands.  Indeed, no man who ever lived or will live meets this absolute perfect standard save one: Jesus.

David knew YHWH.  He understood that the Lord’s justice demands that all sin must be punished. God cannot abide anything that falls short of His moral perfection.  This includes our tainted and corrupt image which once was a pure reflection of our Creator.  If God does not uphold his justice, then he will cease to be Himself.  As God is just, such a fracture means the very failure of justice everywhere.  God cannot change.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). There must be a penalty “for the wages of sin is death” (Ro. 6:23).

Sin brings forth the anger and wrath of God.  God’s wrath is not an uncontrolled emotional reaction but “describes the settled opposition of God’s nature against evil, His holy displeasure against sinners, and the punishment He justly metes out to them on account of their sins.”[1] God’s wrath is not be understood in psychological terms but in ontological[2] terms.  God is never the subject acted upon but the object which acts upon all else.  Although Scripture speaks anthropomorphically[3] about God’s anger “being provoked,” what is happening is God acting according to his very being by strongly opposing and punishing sin.  God must do this because it is who God is.  God’s actions reflect his being.

Yet David also knows that God is kind, loving, merciful and gracious.  This was revealed to Moses in the divine name YHWH: “The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation’” (Exodus 34:6–7).

These attributes or “perfections” of God seem in conflict.  Must God choose his justice over his mercy or his wrath over his love?  Or does God somehow resolve these conflicts by some wise compromise?  It is neither.  God being infinite and pure spirit necessitates he is not made of any parts.  Therefore, God is not part justice and part mercy.  Each perfection of God is part of a simple whole that cannot be separated.  We, as limited creatures must compartmentalize and distinguish them in order to come to some understanding, albeit imperfect. 

These attributes are conceived to exist in “perichoresis”[4] which is a mutual indwelling.  The concept is trinitarian.  God is of one essence and three persons.  God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is fully God, the Son is fully God and the Father is fully God.  They exist and live within each other, not separate in anyway, but distinct.  We know each member of the Trinity through their revelation recorded in scripture.  Likewise, we come to know God’s Being through what God does.  God’s justice is revealed as him judging, His wrath as punishing, His mercy as forgiveness, His kindness as long-suffering, and His love as Jesus Christ by who’s self-sacrifice God is also gracious.

David knows God to be righteous.  Righteousness is manifest in God’s works of salvation both in His covenantal love for Israel and in Christ, Jesus.  God chose, loved, delivered and protected Israel.  However, the pinnacle of God’s righteousness is found in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  When Israel appealed to God’s righteousness, they were calling upon Him to act according to His covenantal promises and intervene.  Jesus’ Hebrew name, Joshua (יְהוֹשֻׁ֙עַ֙, Je-ho-shu-a) is derived from the root יהוה (YHWH).  It means “Ya saves” or “God saves.” 

The name of God, that of Jesus, is grounded in God’s righteous acts of salvation.  To call upon that name is to call upon our God who has promised to save us.  By calling upon that name, David immediately calls upon YHWH in this holy relationship of mutual love and responsibilities.  Therefore, we stand not before a capricious, fickle or self-centered God who we hope to impress or appease, but before our loving father who is committed to us in covenant.  When God “cut” this covenant with Abram he appeared as a fire pot and passed between animals who were cut in two (Genesis 15).  He was effectively saying to Abram “if I break this covenant let it be done to me what has been done to these animals.”  God is immortal.  It can’t happen.  Therefore, God’s promises are certain.  As Abraham’s spiritual descendants, we have inherited this covenant and its promises.

God’s Holiness expresses the unity of his moral perfections in what He does: God’s acts.  David stands naked before the Lord’s Holiness and is experiencing chastisement.  Yet as he knows YHWH and understands that there is salvation in this, and he shall seek it as a son and as covenantal promise.  Let us explore how David accomplishes this.

The cause of David’s suffering is sin (v. 3-4).

David immediately accepts and affirms that his suffering is due to his sin.  This is the essential next step and we should make note of it. Verse 3 is an example of parallelism.  There are four lines divided into two bicola.[5]  In this case the second line explains the cause of the affliction described in the first line.  Two bicola are used to amplify and expand upon what David is saying.  Here YHWH’s indignation and David’s sin are linked together.  Indignation is YHWH’s expected response to sin.  The result is “no soundness” and “no health.”  David is emphatically admitting that YHWH is afflicting him because of sin.

David’s sin is not merely his “original sin” of being a child of Adam.  In verse 4, David is speaking of actual sins he committed.  We know that David was an adulterer who murdered Bathsheba’s husband Uriah.  How many other sins did this man, invested by YHWH with power and authority over Israel, commit?  They are enough to ‘pile over” David’s head and press down and upon him.  David must carry these sins which are likened to flood waters engulfing him and a weight crushing him. 

John Calvin compares David’s statement in verse 4 to Cain’s statement to God in Genesis 4: “My punishment is greater than I can bear.”  Calvin points out that unlike David, Cain is quarreling with God.  David first acknowledges his sin as the heavy weight whereas Cain, the refers to the punishment as that weight.  Cain is petitioning for a change in sentence and protection.  God is merciful to Cain by not taking his life for murdering Abel, but Cain departs from God’s presence unredeemed.  There was no contrition, confession and request for forgiveness. 

David, on the other hand, is under heavy conviction of sin.  Such is a great burden for one understands the harm done to others and realizes that all sin is against God.  Sin distances us from God and we feel alone.  The burden of this distancing, God hiding his “face” from us, is heard in Jesus’ cry from the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  (Mark 15:34, Ps 22:1).  God never truly forsakes David, but it seems that way when He hides his “face.” 

Cain walked away from Eden, to the East where the godless will live outside of God’s “presence.”  David seeks and will find restoration of his relationship with God.  Therefore, the godly seek the Lord not merely for temporal or material purposes but for restoration of communion that has been disrupted by sin. 

David’s suffering is physical as well as spiritual (v. 5 and 7)

Verses 5-8 form a structural unit known as a chiasm[6].  You will notice that verses 5 and 7 are similar in that they describe the nature of the ailment.  Verses 6 and 8 describe the suffering that the ailment causes.  Each verse consists of a bicolon, employing parallelism.  The arrangements of the four bicola serve to greatly expand and build upon each other giving a fuller sense than a simple statement of fact.  The chiastic arrangement is A-B-A′-B′.  Verses 5 and 7 are A and A′ respectively.

We see here that David’s affliction is physical.  He describes “wounds” that are putrid and “festering.”  They were caused by his “foolishness” which here is another word for sin.  In this way verse 5 is linked to verse 3.  David is also in great pain.  Burning pain is constant and gnawing.  One cannot find relief from it. Nothing seems to quench it.  Perhaps it points to the eternal “burning” of hell.  My patients have described this form of pain as a misery indicating emotional suffering such as hopelessness.  He repeats “there is no soundness in my flesh” linking verse 7 to verse 3. 

David has expanded upon and provided a poetic technique to invite God (and the reader) to experience his affliction.  He does this also in verses 6 and 8.  Why does David need to press upon YHWH this “experience?”  Is not YHWH all knowing and all wise?  Surely, as the one afflicting David, YHWH understands fully what David is experiencing.  Yet David is appealing to God because he knows YHWH has more than mere factual knowledge of pain and suffering. 

David’s son, the Messiah, will be God-incarnate and experience firsthand, hunger, thirst, pain, sadness and even death.  He will weep for a friend, have compassion on those suffering and identify with us in every way as fully human.  He will take all our sin upon himself and be whipped such that his flesh was exposed and his wounds would come to stink and fester.  The Hebrew word translated “sides” means the loins.  This is a place where the whip often fell.  Under Roman practice rocks and other hard material was wound into the cords so they cut and tore flesh, exposing inner organs such as the kidneys.  We can only imagine the unquenching burning pain.  Jesus’ flesh became unsound.  The indignation and wrath of God fell upon him for our sake. 

Although such affliction points to Jesus’ suffering we are not to conclude that David is simply prophesizing.  It is David who is ill, who has festering wounds that burn and cause misery.  It is David who has sinned, and it is David who is experiencing God’s chastisement for sin.  The connection to Christ is logical because such suffering under discipline is a foreshadow and small taste of what Jesus would experience.  Whereas David’s affliction was corrective in nature, Jesus affliction was penal.  David could expect relief from God whereas Jesus suffered divine dereliction and “descended into Hell” for us.  David was guilty.  Jesus was innocent.  The resurrection of Christ was public vindication of his innocence and victory over Satan and death.  Our vindication and victory are not our own but ours in Christ, as we have a share in it. 

David responds with humility, shame and remorse

(v. 6 and 8)

Verses 6 and 8 describe the emotional and spiritual effect of David’s affliction.  They also describe David’s response.  David is “utterly bowed down and prostrate.”  This is a position of great humbleness.  David, the king, does not stoically sit upon his throne before God as an equal.  Nor does David claim his position, authority and accomplishments as evidence before God.  David does not gnash his teeth in defiant anger as the ones Jesus describes as being cast out of the Kingdom.  David does not demand anything, nor does he bargain. 

David simply casts himself before his Lord and Father continually mourning his sin.  David is contrite and remorseful.  This contrition differs from superficial attrition.  Attrition describes someone who is worn down and beaten by external pressure.  Contrition comes from the heart and not from the external circumstances.  Yea, God often uses the external circumstances to get our attention, but contrition can happen when all seems well.  David understands the depth of his sin and the height of He who was sinned against.  The contrite heart grieves because of the sin whereas attrition brings grief because of the adverse consequences of the sin.  “All day” describes the continual and unceasing mourning and prostration before YHWH.  It is emotional, spiritual as well as physical. 

Verse 8 amplifies and further explains verse 6.  Both verses are linked to verse 4 by use of the terms bowed down, feeble, and crushed.  The second part of verse 8 explains why David is groaning in pain.  It is not simply from the wounds but from the “tumult of my heart.”  In the Biblical world the heart is not the seat of emotions.  The bowels (kidneys, inner organs) were believed to be the seat of emotion.  The heart is the seat of the soul and is therefore used to describe the immaterial aspect of our human life, our soul, that also suffers when we do.  David is both physically sick and “sin sick.”  The Hebrew word translated as “tumult’ signifies a “roaring.”  It is not a mere disquiet but a raging storm exploding from within affecting both mind and body.  We read elsewhere that “David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done.’” 2 Sa 24:10

The connection between sin, affliction, and suffering is total.  David confesses this before the Lord and his suffering is no mere show. 

Lessons for us

David has been described as a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 3:14; Acts 13:22).  How can this be since David was an adulterer and murderer?  When David’s sin with Bathsheba was exposed by God through the prophet Nathan, David wrote:

      The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

                                    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Ps 51:17

This is David’s expression of confidence in God’s promise to deliver him from sin and forgive him.  It comes after contrite confession, praise and petition.  David brings nothing of his own before YHWH save his own sin and brokenness.

We are to do likewise.  God does not require of us sacrifices of bulls and goats, performance of great deeds much less acts of penance or other material gift.  God desires restoration of relationship and to that end we must recognize and own our transgressions, acknowledge God as our discipling but loving Father and come before him bringing our shame and grief.

The Christian’s heart is not one of stone but of flesh.  It is circumcised and consecrated to God.  That “heart” is our “soul,” our eternal essence that has intimate communion with God or joins with Satan and the mockers.  A man after God’s own heart seeks God’s heart – soul seeking soul, spirit seeking spirit.  As we are in Christ, we have a participation in the Triune Godhead through Christ – that most intimate circumincession inaccessible save in Christ. 

This seems so simple.  So why is it hard to do?  I confess that I sorely struggle with it as I am sure many of you do.  Our pride is puffed up by Satan who tells us we should not humble and prostrate ourselves before our Lord.  We deny, minimalize or simply fail to understand and feel the depth of our sin and its consequences.  We presume upon God’s grace rather than rest in it. In this we compound our guilt.

Once we understand that everything we have comes from God, we see that even our regeneration, conviction of sin and our faith are gifts of grace.  Before we can be like David, God must remove the old heart of stone and give us one after His own.  But until our final perfection in the resurrection of our bodies, we live in tents of fragile flesh and are far from perfect.  God is working with us, growing us and preparing us to be “meet for heaven.”  This is a process of sanctification that punctuates our lives.  We can fight it in pride and arrogance or embrace it with humility.

Oh Lord, please grant me a humble heart that I may see my sin, grieve my sin, abhor my sin and bring it to you in contrite confession.  Give me this gift though I do not deserve it.  For I am nothing and can do nothing without you; even this, my pride and arrogance, cannot be purged without you.  Make me like the publican, who beat his breast and with head held low and cried out for forgiveness.  Take me as I am, a poor and broken sinner, wash me with hyssop and clothe me with your son’s righteousness lest I be lost forever.  Let thy countenance shine upon me.  Do this for your Name’s sake and for your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

[1] Alan Cairns, Dictionary of Theological Terms (Belfast; Greenville, SC: Ambassador Emerald International, 2002), 529.

[2] relating to the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.

[3] Describing certain aspects of God having human characteristics – it is analogy for our understanding.

[4] More commonly known as circumincession: “The theological concept, also referred to as perichoresis, affirming that the divine essence is shared by each of the three persons of the Trinity in a manner that avoids blurring the distinctions among them. By extension, this idea suggests that any essential characteristic that belongs to one of the three is shared by the others. Circumincession also affirms that the action of one of the persons of the Trinity is also fully the action of the other two persons.”  Stanley Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), 26.

[5] A verse structure of poetry having two cola (lines) that are related thematically and rhythmically. pl. bicola.  Todd J. Murphy, Pocket Dictionary for the Study of Biblical Hebrew, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 35.

[6] A literary structure where parallel elements correspond in an inverted order (i.e., A-B-C-Cʹ-Bʹ-Aʹ).  Douglas Mangum, The Lexham Glossary of Theology (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

Lament as Response to Suffering Part 2.

 For your arrows have sunk into me,

and your hand has come down on me.

                                                                                    Psalm 38:2

In Part 1 we saw how a distressed David knew whom to call upon.   He called unto YHWH, a living person, our Lord and God.  For David knew YHWH was the creator of all and it is YHWH’s providence that guides the lives of people and the history of nations.  We also learned that David was not calling upon YHWH to withhold correctional chastisement and rebuke.  David asked YHWH not to this in His penal divine wrath and anger.  David is a beloved son in relationship with the Father who cares.

The next verse reveals the source of David’s suffering.  The poetic image is of YHWH as an archer shooting arrows of affliction into David.  YHWH’s hand, an anthropomorphism for YHWH’s acting, is pressing down upon David.  The picture is one of being stricken or crushed.  When David says: “your arrows” and “your hand” he is also acknowledging the personal and purposeful nature of this action.  David cried out to YHWH for help because it is YHWH who is responsible for the illness. Therefore, it is YHWH who can provide relief.

Such imagery is known elsewhere in Scripture and in the ancient world. Homer, in the Iliad, describes the god Apollo using his arrows to bring pestilence upon the Achaeans because he is displeased over King Agamemnon’s actions concerning a captured woman, Chryseis.  Lamentations 4:12-13 describe God as a bowman attacking Jerusalem as punishment for sin:

he bent his bow and set me

as a target for his arrow.

He drove into my kidneys

the arrows of his quiver;

God punished the people for numerous and repeated intergenerational sins including idolatry, disobedience and covenantal apostasy. He raised up and sent foreign armies to destroy and conquer Israel and then Judah.  In Lamentations, Jerusalem is depicted as a person.  The kidneys (bowels) are the seat of emotion (suffering) in ancient thinking. The arrows cause physical, emotional and spiritual pain.  It is not just the illness but the fracture in the relationship between God and His people.   

David’s understanding is not a mere appropriation of the beliefs and literature of the surrounding ancient culture.  Although the pagans did not know the Lord and wrongly attributed such things to false gods, they did understand that there was someone who was above mankind and who ruled over men and creation.  The pagan “relationship” with their gods was mostly impersonal and material.  Therefore, they sought to appease these capricious entities with gifts and not true repentance.  The goal was to win favor and not an intimate and reciprocal loving relationship.

Today, many look down upon the ancient world as primitive and superstitious.  They lump the Bible together with other ancient pagan beliefs.  They argue that either there is no God or if such a god exists, he or she would not behave in the manner of YHWH.  They are offended that YHWH punishes sin, brings disaster and suffering.    

Many Enlightenment thinkers continued to believe in the Lord and saw no paradox between their faith and reason.  Others saw human reason and science to be incompatible with a belief in the Lord.  They held that one must choose between the two and those who chose God were irrational and/or ignorant. 

There is no logical contradiction between what we learn from studying our world and the existence of the God of Scripture.  As we have seen earlier, science is descriptive whereas our faith informs us about origins, ultimate causes, and purposes.  The latter are beyond the reach of the scientific method. 

During the Enlightenment, many thinkers who wholly embraced this worldview, yet clung to some belief in God, tried to reconcile the two in Deism.  Deism is a belief that a god created the universe and set it in motion but is not involved in its affairs.  It rejects divine intervention (miracles), divine providence, prophecy, and the divine purpose behind every jot and tittle of human and natural history.   The deist’s god is likened to a watchmaker who makes a watch, winds it up and lets it run by design without any further involvement. 

Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and deist, went so far as to cut out the passages of scripture he believed to be false based upon his “enlightened” understanding.  He pasted together the remaining passages to create “The Jefferson Bible.”  What Jefferson did was no different than what pagans have done through the ages.  As Paul describes in Romans 1:18-23, he failed to perceive the Lord in what was before him in nature.  In doing so he exchanged the truth for a lie.  Such men create a god in their own image.  It is idolatry.

Those who rejected the Lord and argued for others to do the same, simply found new pretexts for their atheism.  As Paul concludes “they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).  And what has been the result?  Scientists who reject the Scriptural account of creation argue that everything we see originated in “a big bang.” They have no firm explanation of what (or who) caused the “bang” or where the substance that “banged” came from in the first place.  They describe things that seem to flip in and out of existence and speculate as to the origin of matter and energy without accepting the most obvious solution that these things periodically escape our limited ability to detect and model. 

Many of the models describing natural phenomena are statistical.  Rather than understand that these statistical models reflect our inability to precisely describe what we are investigating; a belief has arisen that what we see around us has happened because of chance.  Is the entire universe as we know it is a product of chance?  The human eye in all its beauty and complexity, is a product of chance and evolutionary selection despite the infinitesimally small calculated odds?  Disease is often said to be “caused” by chance – a random mutation, infection or other event affects some and not others. 

But as R. C. Sproul argues in his monograph, Not a Chance: God, Science, and the Revolt against Reason, chance cannot be a cause.  For something to cause something else, it must have the properties of being or esse.  In order to make an effect, chance must have ουσια (ousia; substance, property).  When the scribes and elders asked Jesus “by what authority are you doing these things…” (Mark 11:33; Mt 21:24; Luke 20:8) they used the Greek word εξουσια (exousia; lit. out of being).  They wanted to know who or what authoritative body granted Jesus permission.  Chance is a statistical description of things and is not a thing itself. Lacking substance or property, chance cannot do anything.  Therefore, ascribing any effect to chance as a cause is irrational.  That is how “far” we have come.

The current worldview, descended from the Enlightenment, differs only in incidentals from ancient paganism. As Paul wrote “they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21).  Notice that their hearts were darkened implying it happened to them.  Further, although they claim to be the wise ones, they are fools (Romans 1:23).  We learn the source of this blinding and hardening when the Apostle explains twice that “God gave them up” to their impure lusts and dishonorable passions (Romans 1:24, 26). 

The reason God gave them up is “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).  This led to a multitude of evils and sins that mirror today’s Western society (Romans 1:23-32). 

Instead of worshiping idols of wood and stone we place our trust in our philosophy, science and reason.  As a result, our hopes lay in our capacity to understand creation and then develop the means of fixing what we deem wrong. Never mind that we are constantly falling short and then revising yesterday’s dogma. 

It is recognized that man is, by nature, a religious creature.  You would be hard pressed to find a place where some form of religious beliefs and practices are absent.  Ancient pagans worshipped nonexistent deities and believed in muses.  Animism is a term used to describe the belief that objects such as plants, rocks and natural phenomena have living souls or spirits that affect man and his surroundings. 

Even today, modern man yearns for some “spirituality.”  Many atheists speak about spiritual things abstractly and without firm grounding.  The so called “new age” movements are quite diverse but have in common some “mind, body and spirit” concept devoid of a personal deity.  They promote wellness and healing through techniques such as meditation, biofeedback, yoga, kinesiology and so forth.  Some draw upon practices found in Astrology, Hinduism, Buddhism and other eastern religions.  They are offered as alternatives to traditional allopathic medicine. 

Is it more rational to believe in the power of these nebulous abstract forces than to believe in a personal deity who cares for and is involved in our lives?  New Age practitioners are no more able to demonstrate the ουσια or esse of these things than the substance of chance.  At least idols of wood and stone have properties – you can touch and hold them.  New Age consists of abstract ideas without form much less life or true spirit.  They cannot cause anything as they are not beings.

Clearly allopathic medicine has objective benefits as do some aspects of alternative medical practices.  Yoga and Tai Chi are very helpful for physical fitness, strength and balance. When linked to eastern religious practices and beliefs they become idolatrous worship harmful for the soul of man. What we have in allopathic medicine is provided by God in the same way he provides for our welfare through all our learning and technology.  It is a gift, part of His creation. Our minds, creative power and spirit were made in His image.  Just as his “eternal power and divine nature” is made manifest in the heavens and earth (Romans 1:20), they are clearly seen in our creative power which points to the Lord.  Or do we create everything because of chance? 

We are to take advantage of the things God has given us. We are to use allopathic medicine and other resources to do good, to heal and ease human suffering.  We are to call others to help us when we are sick.  Just as God appointed earthly authorities to rule, provide order, protection and services, he brings doctors, nurses and others into our lives for ordinary healing.   

Yet we must always remember that the source of our affliction is either by the hand of God or permitted by God.  It is He who hears our cries and laments.  It is He who answers our prayers through appointed means.  It is why we praise God in sickness and in health.  For it is He who ultimately has the power and authority.  Therefore, it is He we must turn to for healing. 

Next we will explore the nature and ultimate cause of our illness as we continue to lament with David. 

Lament as Response to Suffering Part 1.

 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath!

                                                                         Ps 38:1

We had previously explored how suffering, specifically disease, has both a scientific and moral explanation.  These explanations are not logically contradictory much less mutually exclusive.  We learned that death and suffering exist because of evil and sin.  Creation was corrupted by our first parent’s disobedience and rebellion.  It is hard for us to accept a non-quid pro quo cause of suffering unless we understand the true power and evil of sin.  The depth of it is experienced in personal and corporate travails.  We come to appreciate the gravity of the transgression when we look to the Cross and see the proportionate punishment. 

How do we respond to such tragedy?  Abstract philosophical and theological exercises help instruct us but bring little comfort much less healing.  The Scriptural answer is the lament.  Laments can be individual or communal.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines lament as “a passionate expression of grief.” Biblical lament is more than just raw emotion.  It is a prayerful process wherein we turn to God with that grief and expect a response.  This most ancient and divinely prescribed way of grieving has much to offer us in this high-tech world.

Laments generally consist of five basic parts:[1]

  1. Address and cry for help.
  2. The lament – a description and expression of suffering.
  3. Statement of faith and trust.
  4. Petition for intervention and relief.
  5. Doxology – praise and often a vow.

There is sometimes a confession of sin and petition for forgiveness based upon God’s covenantal promises.  Not all laments have every feature, but they do have in common the basic cry for help, petition for intervention and statement of trust.  Exploring Biblical lament helps us understand how we seek help in our covenantal relationship with God.  It is through our praying laments that our Lord helps us.  We can use the liturgical laments available in scripture or compose our own.

Psalm 38 is attributed to David and the superscription notes that it is for the memorial offering.  The memorial offering was a burnt offering of grain done in remembrance of what God had done and to show thanksgiving, praise, and devotion (Lev. 2:1-3).  It was probably sung during on these occasions. 

Notice that David addresses God by his personal, covenantal name, YHWH.  This speaks of a relationship between persons and not some vague cry to an impersonal entity.  David cries out to someone he knows, is alive, empathetic and willing to respond.  YHWH knows David as the creator who “formed my inward parts” and “knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13).  That knowledge includes an understanding human anguish.  Incarnate God wept when he saw the pain surrounding the death of his friend Lazarus (John 11:35).  The writer of Hebrews can proclaim: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). 

God is our loving father who has the authority and power to answer our petitions.  His covenantal love consists of promises to that effect; promises we can claim and depend upon.  The delivery of Israel from the bondage in Egypt points toward a far greater deliverance of his children from death and corruption.  The Exodus was a fulfillment of God’s covenant just like his promise to hear and answer prayer. 

We need never fear, for God is always with us (Deut. 31:6; Josh. 1:9; Is. 41:10; Mt 28:20; and Heb. 13:5).  So sure is God’s presence and faithfulness that Paul writes “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ro. 8:38-9).

YHWH is our father who judges and corrects, therefore: “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you” (Deut. 8:5).  We should neither despise nor grow weary of this discipline (Prov. 3:11).  Chastisement leads the faithful away from sin and death (Prov. 5:23; 15:10; 1 Cor. 11:32).  God’s discipline is both loving and beneficial (Heb. 12:6-10) and is of “just measure” (Je. 48:28). 

David is crying unto God not to rebuke him in anger nor discipline him in wrath.  The Lord’s anger and wrath are penal and not necessarily corrective.  David is not asking YHWH to withhold fatherly chastisement.  Allen Ross phrases it “do not in your anger rebuke me” and “do not in your wrath chasten me.”  Here, God’s anger and wrath are the concern and not simply a rebuke or discipline.  David calls upon YHWH’s covenantal promises that include loving chastisement with the goal of repentance and forgiveness.  For David knows YHWH’s mercy as he proclaimed: “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man” (2 Sam. 24:14).

God’s wrath is poured out upon those who reject him and remain unrepentant.  They have rejected God’s mercy and grace.  They are punished without hope.  They do not cry out in lament but cry out in anger and “gnashing of teeth” (Ps. 112:10; Mt. 8:12).  They will not be heard for they broke covenant with God.  Jonathan Edwards preached that the only thing standing between such people and the pit of hell is God’s long-suffering patience.  The opportunity for repentance will pass and that time may be sudden. 

Who do you cry unto?  Do you know the Lord?  Is he your father?  Is he your hope and comfort?  Who can deliver you?  Medicine or an operation my help today but you will face deaths door with certainty.  What lay on the other side for you?  Is it wrath or love?  This is what our Lord is teaching you through trials such as illness.  To know him, trust him and love him is to be able to say with Paul: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).  Though ill and suffering, in life or death, Paul served and honored Christ knowing he will be with the Lord. 

Therefore, in illness and suffering the first thing is to take stock of your relationship with God.  Only children can cry to their father.  Are you a child or a stranger and enemy?  God asks that you bring nothing but your sin to him.  He provides all else including the faith and strength you need.  It is all of grace, a free and undeserved gift.  Repent and trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Enter the rest of the Father.  For then, he will surely hear your cry (Ex. 22:23).

Next we will look at how David, a man after God’s own heart, seeks the Father. 

[1] Hays, J.D. & Duvall, J.S. eds., 2011. The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books