◄ Psalm 38:6 ►
I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.
Study Bible
I am bent and brought low
The phrase "I am bent and brought low" reflects a state of deep humility and distress. The Hebrew word for "bent" is "עָוָה" (avah), which can mean to be twisted or distorted. This suggests a physical manifestation of inner turmoil, as if the psalmist's very posture is affected by his emotional and spiritual state. Historically, this imagery of being "brought low" is consistent with the experiences of many biblical figures who faced trials and tribulations, such as Job or David himself. It is a reminder of the human condition and the weight of sin and suffering that can lead one to feel crushed under its burden. In a spiritual sense, this posture of being "bent" can also symbolize a heart that is contrite and open to repentance, aligning with the biblical theme that God is near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18).

all day long I go about mourning
The phrase "all day long I go about mourning" indicates a continuous state of sorrow and lamentation. The Hebrew word for "mourning" is "קֹדֵר" (qoder), which conveys a sense of darkness or gloom. This suggests that the psalmist's grief is not fleeting but persistent, affecting every aspect of his daily life. In the cultural and historical context of ancient Israel, mourning was often expressed through specific rituals and behaviors, such as wearing sackcloth or ashes, which were outward signs of inner grief. The psalmist's admission of constant mourning underscores the depth of his despair and the seriousness of his affliction. From a conservative Christian perspective, this verse can be seen as an acknowledgment of the pervasive nature of sin and the need for divine intervention. It serves as a call to believers to seek God's comfort and healing, trusting that He is attentive to their cries and will ultimately bring restoration and peace.

Persons / Places / Events
1. David
Traditionally attributed as the author of Psalm 38, David is expressing deep personal anguish and repentance. His life, marked by both triumphs and failures, provides a backdrop for understanding the depth of his lament.

2. God
The ultimate recipient of David's lament. David's relationship with God is central to the psalm, as he seeks divine mercy and healing.

3. Israel
The nation of Israel, often represented by its king, is indirectly involved as David's personal struggles often reflect the spiritual state of the nation.
Teaching Points
The Reality of Sin's Consequences
Sin can lead to physical, emotional, and spiritual distress. David's lament is a reminder of the weight of sin and the need for repentance.

The Importance of Lament
Lament is a biblical way to process pain and seek God's intervention. It is an honest expression of our struggles before God.

God's Compassion for the Brokenhearted
Despite our lowly state, God is compassionate and attentive to those who are brokenhearted and contrite.

The Call to Repentance
True repentance involves acknowledging our sin and turning to God for forgiveness and restoration.

Hope in God's Deliverance
Even in the depths of despair, there is hope in God's ability to lift us up and restore us.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does David's expression of being "bent and brought low" resonate with your own experiences of distress or guilt?

2. In what ways can lament be a healthy part of your spiritual life, and how can it lead to deeper repentance and reliance on God?

3. How do the themes of mourning and being brought low in Psalm 38:6 connect with Jesus' teachings in the Beatitudes?

4. Reflect on a time when you felt distant from God due to sin. How did you seek restoration, and what role did repentance play in that process?

5. How can understanding the original Hebrew context of words like "bent" and "mourning" deepen your appreciation for the emotional depth of this psalm?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Psalm 6
Similar themes of personal distress and seeking God's mercy are present, highlighting the pattern of lament and repentance in David's life.

Job 30
Job's expressions of suffering and mourning parallel David's lament, offering a broader biblical context of righteous suffering.

Isaiah 53
The suffering servant passage connects to the theme of being "brought low," pointing to the ultimate fulfillment in Christ's suffering.

Matthew 5:4
Jesus' teaching on those who mourn being blessed provides a New Testament perspective on the value of mourning in the spiritual life.
Sermons
On Religious DespondencyThomas Gisborne, M. A.Psalm 38:6
A Fearful Picture of the Sufferings Which a Great Sin Can CauseC. Short Psalm 38:1-22
Great Personal AfflictionHomilistPsalm 38:1-22
Sin Stinging Like an AdderC. Clemance Psalm 38:1-22
Things to be RememberedPsalm 38:1-22
Thoughts in AfflictionW. Forsyth Psalm 38:1-22
People
David, Jeduthun, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Bent, Beyond, Bowed, Depressed, Excess, Greatly, Low, Measure, Mourning, Pained, Prostrate, Troubled, Utterly, Weeping
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 38:6

     5138   bowing

Psalm 38:1-14

     8713   discouragement

Psalm 38:1-22

     5888   inferiority

Psalm 38:2-8

     6227   regret

Psalm 38:3-8

     6024   sin, effects of

Psalm 38:3-10

     5933   restlessness

Psalm 38:3-11

     5136   body

Library
"Come unto Me, all Ye that Labour, and are Wearied," &C.
Matth. xi. 28.--"Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are wearied," &c. It is the great misery of Christians in this life, that they have such poor, narrow, and limited spirits, that are not fit to receive the truth of the gospel in its full comprehension; from whence manifold misapprehensions in judgment, and stumbling in practice proceed. The beauty and life of things consist in their entire union with one another, and in the conjunction of all their parts. Therefore it would not be a fit way …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Question Lxxxii of Devotion
I. Is Devotion a Special Kind of Act? Cardinal Cajetan, On the Meaning of the Term "Devotion" S. Augustine, Confessions, XIII. viii. 2 II. Is Devotion an Act of the Virtue of Religion? III. Is Contemplation, that is Meditation, the Cause of Devotion? Cardinal Cajetan, On the Causes of Devotion " " On the Devotion of Women IV. Is Joy an Effect of Devotion? Cardinal Cajetan, On Melancholy S. Augustine, Confessions, II. x. I Is Devotion a Special Kind of Act? It is by our acts that we merit. But …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Out of the Deep of Suffering and Sorrow.
Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul: I am come into deep waters; so that the floods run over me.--Ps. lxix. 1, 2. I am brought into so great trouble and misery: that I go mourning all the day long.--Ps. xxxviii. 6. The sorrows of my heart are enlarged: Oh! bring Thou me out of my distress.--Ps. xxv. 17. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping: the Lord will receive my prayer.--Ps. vi. 8. In the multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed …
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

Christ's Resurrection Song.
WHEN the blessed Lord appeared in the midst of His disciples and they beheld the risen One in His glorified body of flesh and bones and He ate before them, He told them that all things which were written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning Him, had to be fulfilled (Luke xxiv:44). While on the way to Emmaus He said to the two sorrowing and perplexed disciples "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

The Acceptable Sacrifice;
OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF A BROKEN HEART: SHOWING THE NATURE, SIGNS, AND PROPER EFFECTS OF A CONTRITE SPIRIT. BEING THE LAST WORKS OF THAT EMINENT PREACHER AND FAITHFUL MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST, MR. JOHN BUNYAN, OF BEDFORD. WITH A PREFACE PREFIXED THEREUNTO BY AN EMINENT MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN LONDON. London: Sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgates, 1692. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The very excellent preface to this treatise, written by George Cokayn, will inform the reader of …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Question Lxxxiii of Prayer
I. Is Prayer an Act of the Appetitive Powers? Cardinal Cajetan, On Prayer based on Friendship II. Is it Fitting to Pray? Cardinal Cajetan, On Prayer as a True Cause S. Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount, II. iii. 14 " On the Gift of Perseverance, vii. 15 III. Is Prayer an Act of the Virtue of Religion? Cardinal Cajetan, On the Humility of Prayer S. Augustine, On Psalm cii. 10 " Of the Gift of Perseverance, xvi. 39 IV. Ought We to Pray to God Alone? S. Augustine, Sermon, cxxvii. 2 V. …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

His Past Work.
His past work was accomplished by Him when he became incarnate. It was finished when He died on Calvary's cross. We have therefore to consider first of all these fundamentals of our faith. I. The Work of the Son of God is foreshadowed and predicted in the Old Testament Scriptures. II. The incarnation of the Son of God. III. His Work on the cross and what has been accomplished by it. I. Through the Old Testament Scriptures, God announced beforehand the work of His Son. This is a great theme and one …
A. C. Gaebelein—The Work Of Christ

What Manner of Man Ought not to Come to Rule.
Wherefore let every one measure himself wisely, lest he venture to assume a place of rule, while in himself vice still reigns unto condemnation; lest one whom his own guilt depraves desire to become an intercessor for the faults of others. For on this account it is said to Moses by the supernal voice, Speak unto Aaron; Whosoever he be of thy seed throughout their generations that hath a blemish, he shall not offer loaves of bread to the Lord his God (Lev. xxi. 17). And it is also immediately subjoined; …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Third Sunday after Trinity Humility, Trust, Watchfulness, Suffering
Text: 1 Peter 5, 5-11. 5 Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 whom withstand stedfast …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Cæsarius of Arles.
He was born in the district of Chalons-sur-Saone, A. D. 470. He seems to have been early awakened, by a pious education, to vital Christianity. When he was between seven and eight years old, it would often happen that he would give a portion of his clothes to the poor whom he met, and would say, when he came home, that he had been, constrained to do so. When yet a youth, he entered the celebrated convent on the island of Lerins, (Lerina,) in Provence, from which a spirit of deep and practical piety …
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

Christian Meekness
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth Matthew 5:5 We are now got to the third step leading in the way to blessedness, Christian meekness. Blessed are the meek'. See how the Spirit of God adorns the hidden man of the heart, with multiplicity of graces! The workmanship of the Holy Ghost is not only curious, but various. It makes the heart meek, pure, peaceable etc. The graces therefore are compared to needlework, which is different and various in its flowers and colours (Psalm 45:14). …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Notes on the Third Century
Page 161. Line 1. He must be born again, &c. This is a compound citation from John iii. 3, and Mark x. 15, in the order named. Page 182. Line 17. For all things should work together, &c. See Romans viii. 28. Page 184. Lines 10-11. Being Satan is able, &c. 2 Corinthians xi. 14. Page 184. Last line. Like a sparrow, &c. Psalm cii. Page 187. Line 1. Mechanisms. This word is, in the original MS., mechanicismes.' Page 187. Line 7. Like the King's daughter, &c. Psalm xlv. 14. Page 188. Med. 39. The best …
Thomas Traherne—Centuries of Meditations

How is Christ, as the Life, to be Applied by a Soul that Misseth God's Favour and Countenance.
The sixth case, that we shall speak a little to, is a deadness, occasioned by the Lord's hiding of himself, who is their life, and "the fountain of life," Ps. xxxvi. 9, and "whose loving-kindness is better than life," Ps. lxiii. 3, and "in whose favour is their life," Ps. xxx. 5. A case, which the frequent complaints of the saints manifest to be rife enough, concerning which we shall, 1. Shew some of the consequences of the Lord's hiding his face, whereby the soul's case will appear. 2. Shew the …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

I Will Pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding Also-
OR, A DISCOURSE TOUCHING PRAYER; WHEREIN IS BRIEFLY DISCOVERED, 1. WHAT PRAYER IS. 2. WHAT IT IS TO PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT. 3. WHAT IT IS TO PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT AND WITH THE UNDERSTANDING ALSO. WRITTEN IN PRISON, 1662. PUBLISHED, 1663. "For we know not what we should pray for as we ought:--the Spirit--helpeth our infirmities" (Rom 8:26). ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. There is no subject of more solemn importance to human happiness than prayer. It is the only medium of intercourse with heaven. "It is …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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