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.

2406. 'The angels pressed Lot to hurry' means that the Lord withheld them from evil and maintained them in good. This is clear from the meaning of 'hurrying and pressing' as urging. That these words mean being withheld from evil is clear both from the internal sense of the words themselves and from what follows. The internal sense is that when the Church starts to fall away from good that flows from charity the Lord withholds its members from evil more forcefully than when the good of charity is present with them. What follows here makes the same point, which is that although the angels were pressing Lot to leave the city he still lingered, and so, grasping him, his wife, and his daughters by the hand, they led them away and placed them outside the city. This means and describes the character of a person whose state is such; for the subject now is the second state of that Church. The first state was described in verses 1-3 of this chapter, a state when the good of charity exists with them and they acknowledge the Lord, and when they are being confirmed by Him in good. The present verse describes the second state, a state when among members of the Church themselves evils start to act against goods and when people are powerfully withheld from evils and maintained in goods by the Lord. This state is dealt with in the present verse and in verses 16, 17, which follow.

[2] On this particular matter few if any know that all men, no matter how many, are withheld from evils by the Lord, and that this is done with a mightier power than man can possibly believe. For everybody is perpetually bent on evil on account both of the heredity which he is born with and of what he has acquired through his own actions, so much so that if he were not being withheld by the Lord he would at any moment rush headlong into the lowest hell. So great is the Lord's mercy however that he is being raised up every moment, even every fraction of a moment, to withhold him from rushing into that place. This applies to the good as well, but each one differs according to the life of charity and faith with him. Thus the Lord battles with man constantly, and on man's behalf with hell, though this does not seem so to man. That it is so I have been given to know from much experience, which in the Lord's Divine mercy will be presented elsewhere. See also 929, 1581.