“Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me.”
The psalmist appeals 'Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, be not far from me.' The fear of abandonment returns at this crucial moment when the psalmist has confessed his sin and acknowledged God's role in his affliction. The plea for God not to be far suggests anxiety that the distance between the psalmist and God might increase. This verse expresses the desperate need for assurance of God's continued presence.
Church Fathers on Psalms 38:21
A psalm to David himself, on the remembrance of the Sabbath. 1. What does this recollection of the Sabbath mean? What is this Sabbath? For it is with groaning that he “calls it to recollection.” You have both heard already when the Psalm was read, and you will now hear it when we shall go over it, how great is his groaning, his mourning, his tears, his misery. But happy he who is wretched after this manner! Whence the Lord also in the Gospel Matthew 5:4 called some who mourn…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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