Psalm 38 is an interesting one, because its overall theme is of feeling chastened by the Lord. To be ‘chastened’ means to be corrected by going through suffering. The speaker does not rail against God at all; he understands the purpose God must have in needing to correct him and bring him to task. He declares his own wrongness and his wretchedness. His trust in the Lord is sure and strong, and we get the sense that he fully understands that all this is the Lord’s way of salvation for him. The opening and closing verses talk about the Lord urgently and with conviction.

Spiritually, this psalm describes our need to understand and accept our frail and broken human nature. By "accepting" I don't mean being satisfied with our spiritual state, or resigned to it. We need even to be practising repentance daily in some way (see The New Jerusalem 163). Repentance involves examining ourselves and seeing our true state and bringing ourselves to the Lord for his aid, protection and illumination. This is an ongoing need. We keep learning to understand more about how the Lord works with us and how we are to manage our spiritual states.

This psalm also describes the Lord’s own deep temptations during his human life. Verses 1 to 10 describe these temptations, such as, “My wounds are foul and festering because of my foolishness” (verse 5). Verses 11 and 12 speak of even those ‘friends’ and ‘companions’ who love good and truth turning from the Lord, wanting his death. Verses 13 and 14 tell us that the Lord bears all this with patience, and verses 15 to 22 (and also verse 9) are about the Lord’s confidence that the hells will not prevail against him.

The psalm begins with the plea not to be punished by the Lord’s anger or his wrath. During our temptations, this is the appearance, yet it is essential that we appreciate that the Lord never punishes but only seek to save us. The Lord’s ‘anger’ is his resolve to free us from evils; the Lord’s ‘wrath’ is his determination to free us from false beliefs. (Arcana Caelestia 3614)

‘Arrows pierce me deeply’ means the way in which the Lord’s truths penetrate our spirit, speaking to it and challenging it and often bringing us pain. (Arcana Caelestia 2686).

The Lord’s hand ‘presses me down’ stands for the Lord’s opposition to our evils (not to us!) because ‘hands’ represent Divine power. (Heaven and Hell 232).

The speaker uses the various organs in our body to describe our various spiritual ailments: flesh, bones, head, wounds, loins, heart and eyes… quite a comprehensive list. ‘Bones’ stand for the truths which support our spiritual frame; ‘loins’ stand for our spiritual loves but also our passions. Each of these organs is defective in the psalm. (Arcana Caelestia 8364)

Verses 11 and 12 talk about the aloofness of friends and relatives, and the deceit of those who want to destroy. Spiritually, this describes the influences that come into our minds during temptation. The heavenly influence seems far off and unable to help us, the hellish influences seem close and condemning. (Arcana Caelestia 9348)

This is immediately followed by words talking about not hearing and not speaking out. In a general way, spiritually, this stands for us not being swayed by the influences – the “voices” – which come into our thought, whatever kind these may be, because we cannot determine their true quality. In a more specific way, it means the refusal to judge and condemn others for their actions. This would be most true of the Lord. (Apocalypse Explained 409)

Then comes the real reason and purpose for us during every temptation, that we are to put our trust in the Lord who hears and knows everything. Only this can be our full confidence.

The final two verses of the psalm are worded as a prayerful request to not be forsaken and to be helped by the Lord. The meaning is right on the surface here. We need to ask the Lord for help, and we also need to understand that the Lord never forsakes us or is unwilling to help.

137. It is said in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.. . . All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. . . . He was in the world and the world was made by Him. . . . And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. John 1:1, 3-4, 10, 14.

It is evident that the Lord is meant by the "Word", for it is said that the Word was made flesh, but what is specifically meant by the Word has not yet been known and will therefore be explained. In this passage, the Word is the Divine Truth which is in the Lord and from the Lord. ¹ That is why the Lord is also called the Light, which is the Divine Truth, as has already been shown in this section. That by the Divine Truth all things were made and created will now be explained.

[2] In heaven Divine Truth has all power, and apart from it there is no power whatever. ² From the Divine Truth all angels are called powers, and are powers to the extent that they are receptions or receptacles of it. By means of it, they prevail over the hells and over all that oppose them. A thousand enemies there cannot endure a single ray of the light of heaven which is Divine Truth. Since angels are angels from their reception of Divine Truth, it follows that the entire heaven is from no other source, for heaven consists of angels.

[3] That there is such power latent in Divine Truth is incredible to those who have no other idea of truth than that it is thought or speech, which have no power in themselves except as others do them from obedience. But Divine Truth has power in itself, and such power that, by means of it, heaven was created and the world with all things therein. That there is such power latent in Divine Truth may be illustrated by two comparisons, namely, by the power of truth and good in man, and by the power of light and heat from the sun in the world.

By the Power of Good and Truth in Man

Everything that a man does, he does from his understanding and will, from his will by means of good and from his understanding by means of truth. For all things in the will have relation to good, and all things in the understanding, to truth. ³ Therefore, it is from good and truth that man moves his whole body, and a thousand things therein rush with one accord to do their will and pleasure. This makes it clear that the whole body has been formed for subservience to good and truth, consequently formed from good and truth.

[4] By the Power of Heat and Light from the Sun in the World

All things that grow in the world, such as trees, cereals, flowers, grasses, fruits and seeds, come into existence by no other means than by the heat and light of the sun, which shows what power of production there is in them. What, then, must be the power in Divine light which is Divine Truth, and in Divine heat which is Divine Good? For from these, heaven comes into existence and the world also, since the world comes into existence by means of heaven, as has already been shown. From these facts can be established how it is to be understood that "all things were made by the Word", and that "without Him was not anything made that was made", and that "the world was made by Him", namely, by means of Divine Truth from the Lord. ⁴ For the same reason, in the Book of Creation, Light is first spoken of, and then the things that are from Light (Genesis 1:3-4). For this reason also, all things in the universe, both in heaven and the world, have relation to Good and Truth and to their conjunction, in order to be anything.

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