Psalm 38:17-22. David laments. "For I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever with me," I am sorry for my sin and I have confessed, yet those who hate me without cause are many. Because I am pursuing good, there are many who render me evil. "Do not forsake me, O Lord."

We have all felt this - unjustly punished for sincerely trying to do good. I have felt it especially lately - people mis-judging my intentions and assigning false motives to my actions; that feeling of disbelief that people can be so cruel to me when I am truly trying to be the best person I can be; that feeling of being about to fall, and wondering who will catch me. But God knows what I am doing and why, and God will catch me. This Psalm reminds me of that.

God is the only just judge, the only one I should be trying to please, and the only one who will always catch me. It's just that, especially in the world we are in right now, the things I know I must do to be the person he wants me to be are often judged by others to be wrong. We are becoming more and more strangers in a strange land. This makes me feel as if "I am ready to fall, and my pain is ever with me."

But even if my pain is ever with me, so is my God. He walks with me through my suffering, suffering that he himself went through for my sake. He asks only that I follow him as best I can, and he will always be there to catch me.