“Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.”
The psalmist declares that all his longing is known to God and his groaning is not hidden from God. The affirmation that God knows the psalmist's desires and hears his groaning establishes that nothing escapes God's awareness. This verse shifts from the description of suffering to the recognition that God is fully aware of the psalmist's condition. The acknowledgment of God's knowledge provides a bridge toward petition.
Church Fathers on Psalms 38:9
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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