Suffering for Sin
B. Beddome, M. A. Psalm 38:5 My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I. DAVID'S UNHAPPY SITUATION. 1. The pain and anguish he felt on account of sin (Job 20:12-14; Psalm 88:15). 2. Shame and self-abhorrence (Proverbs 13:5; Job 42:6). 3. Danger. Though the principle of spiritual life be not totally extinguished in a true believer, yet by the prevalence of particular corruptions it may be brought into a very languishing state, and sometimes it seems as if it were giving up the ghost (Revelation 3:2). II. THE CAUSE TO WHICH HIS UNHAPPY SITUATION IS ATTRIBUTED. "My foolishness." 1. In sinning against God, he committed folly in Israel (1 Samuel 13:8; 2 Samuel 24:10). Sin must needs be folly, not only because it is contrary to the most sacred obligations, but because it is opposite to our best interests. Whatever injury we may thereby do to others, the greatest injury will be to ourselves. It is following after lying vanities, and forsaking our own mercies. 2. It was folly in David to persist in sin, after it was once committed. 3. His folly appeared in not confessing his sin, as the only means of obtaining effectual relief (Proverbs 28:13; 1 John 1:9; Jeremiah 3:18; Psalm 32:5). 4. The principal part of David's folly, and that for which he took blame to himself was, that he had so long neglected the remedy, after sin had been committed, and that he had not applied to that mercy which blots out all our transgressions. (B. Beddome, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. WEB: My wounds are loathsome and corrupt, because of my foolishness.