Psalm 38:1-2 "O, Lord, rebuke me not in thy anger..."

 "O Lord, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in my wrath! For thy arrows have sunk into me, and thy hand has come down on me." (Psalm 38:1-2 RSV).

Question:

I have a very important, life-changing decision to make and I'm not sure what God wants me to do.
 

Comment:

Are you sure this is the passage you intended to ask about? I don't see much here about receiving God's guidance. This "psalm of David" seems to come from his sickness and sorrow after his desire for Bathsheba leads him to arrange for the death of her husband, Uriah. (The story is in Chapter 11 of 2 Samuel.) He is tormented with guilt, which expresses as physical sickness and mental distress. His lament becomes an admission of guilt ("I confess my iniquity, I am sorry for my sin" 38:18) and a prayer for forgiveness ("Do not forsake me, O Lord!" 38:21). His important realization—important for us as well as for him—is that he's not being punished by God; rather he is experiencing the consequences of choices he has made. It is in learning the lesson that negative choices have negative consequences that he will restore his sense of Oneness with the divine.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed