Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

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Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Psalm 38 with Augustine – God, the Righteous Judge LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God (v. 15). He warns you about what to do if trials come. For if you seek to defend yourself, perhaps your defense is not heard by any one. Then you struggle, as if you had lost your cause, because you have none to defend or to bear testimony in your favor. Maintain your innocence within, where no one can pervert your cause. Perhaps false witnesses have prevailed against you before humans. Will it prevail before God, where your cause must be pleaded? When God is Judge, there will be no other witness than your own conscience. In the presence of a just Judge, and of your own conscience, fear nothing but your own cause. If you have not a bad cause, you will have no accuser to dread, no false witness to disprove, nor truthful witness to find. Bring into court a good conscience, so you may say, LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God. And my pain is ever with me (v. 17). What sorrow is that? Perhaps a sorrow for my punishment. And, in good truth, let me say to you, people mourn for their punishments, not for the causes they are punished for. But see here the reason for the psalmist’s sorrow! It is not a sorrow arising from punishment. For punishment is a remedy against sins. Do not be free from anxiety when you have confessed your sin, as if you can always confess your sin and commit it again. Declare your iniquity in such a manner as to be troubled by your sin. What is meant by I am troubled by my sin? (v. 18) If you were to say, “I am troubled by my wound,” you mean “I will try to have it healed.” For to be troubled by one’s sin, means to be ever struggling, ever exerting yourself, earnestly and zealously, to heal your wound.