Psalms 38:3

Soundness. See Isa. 1:6. The symptoms portrayed here, coupled with the fact that the sick man’s friends left him alone (see vs. 7, 11), convey the idea that the sickness was an extremely loathsome disease.

Rest. Heb. shalom, “peace,” cessation from suffering.

Because of my sin. The psalmist feels that his suffering is punishment for his sin. All suffering is the result of the entrance of sin into the universe, and personal suffering is often the direct result of wrongdoing. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). God does not work a miracle to preserve men from suffering the consequences of violating nature’s laws. If men were shielded from the disastrous results of their wrongdoing, sinners would become greatly emboldened in their iniquity.

However, not all suffering is the direct result of personal sin on the part of the sufferer. Many of the ancients regarded every affliction as the penalty of some wrongdoing either in the sufferer or in his parents (see John 9:2). Conversely they judged the degree of man’s guilt by the amount of suffering. “Satan, the author of sin and all its results, had led men to look upon disease and death as proceeding from God,—as punishment arbitrarily inflicted on account of sin”. Because of this misconception they regarded the heavenly Father as a stern and exacting executor of justice.

Many Christians are under the same misapprehension. In spite of the lessons of the book of Job, and the lessons taught by Jesus (see Luke 13:16; Acts 10:38; cf. 1 Cor. 5:5; 2 Cor. 12:7), these Christians look at God as the one who brings disease.

Here is the true philosophy of suffering: “Suffering is inflicted by Satan, and is overruled by God for purposes of mercy”. The reason God does not always shield His children from disease and suffering is that if He did, Satan would bring the same charges against God as he did in the case of Job, that God was unfairly placing a hedge about His servant (Job 1:10). God must allow Satan the opportunity to afflict the righteous, so that all charges of unfairness will ultimately be shown to be groundless.

The sufferer may thus find comfort in the thought that though a “messenger of Satan” buffets him (see 2 Cor. 12:7), God is overruling for purposes of mercy and will cause the affliction to work for the good of the individual (see Rom. 8:28).