My Notes
What Does Psalms 38:2 Mean?
David describes suffering that comes directly from God: "thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore." The arrows are God's arrows. The pressing hand is God's hand. David isn't attributing his suffering to enemies or circumstances — he's attributing it directly to God.
The image of arrows stuck fast (nachath, meaning driven in, sunk deep) describes penetrating pain that can't be removed. These aren't surface wounds — they're embedded. David's suffering is deep, persistent, and inextricable. He can't pull the arrows out.
The "hand pressing sore" adds the weight of sustained pressure. This isn't a single blow but ongoing compression — the feeling of being crushed slowly. David experiences God's discipline as physical oppression, and he names it without softening it. This is not a psalm that pretends suffering from God is gentle.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you ever felt that your suffering came from God rather than from circumstances or enemies?
- 2.How do you pray to the God you believe is causing your pain?
- 3.What does David's raw honesty teach about what's appropriate to bring before God?
- 4.Is it possible to trust a God whose hand is pressing you down? How?
Devotional
David says God's arrows are stuck in him. Not the devil's arrows. Not his enemies' arrows. God's arrows. And God's hand is pressing him down — not lifting him up, pressing him down. This is one of the most uncomfortable psalms in Scripture because it attributes the pain directly to the One you're supposed to turn to for relief.
This is the paradox of divine discipline: the healer is also the surgeon. The hand that presses you down is the same hand that will lift you up. But in the moment, all you feel is the pressure and the arrows.
David doesn't resolve the tension in this verse. He just states it. God's arrows. God's hand. There's no explanation, no spiritual lesson drawn, no "but it's all for my good" tag at the end. Sometimes honest prayer is just naming what's happening without wrapping it in a lesson.
If you're experiencing suffering that feels like it comes from God — not from circumstances, not from enemies, but from God Himself — David validates that experience. You're allowed to feel that way. You're allowed to say it. The psalm doesn't require you to pretend the arrows are gentle or the hand is soft. It requires you to say it to God.
The prayer isn't in spite of the pain — it's about the pain, directed at the source of the pain. That's a relationship honest enough to survive anything.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger,.... Such was the nature of the affliction the psalmist…
For thine arrows slick fast in me - See the notes at Job 6:4. The word rendered “stick fast” - נחת nâchath - means…
The title of this psalm is very observable; it is a psalm to bring to remembrance; the 70th psalm, which was likewise…
God's -arrows" are His judgements in general (Psa 7:12: Deu 32:23); here in particular pain and sickness (Job 6:4; Job…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture