“O Lord, do not be angry with me in your wrath, or send your wrath on me in the heat of your passion.”
— Psalm 38:1, BBE
Psalm 38 is often read as a psalm of sorrow and affliction. But through the lens of Neville Goddard’s teachings, we uncover something deeper: the inner man crying out after realising he has imagined contrary to the truth of being. This is not about divine punishment, but about spiritual alignment, the experience of being out of tune with our true identity—I AM.
The Invisible Law at Work
“For your arrows have gone deep into me, and your hand is pressing hard on me.”
— Psalm 38:2, BBE
In Neville’s framework, the “arrows” and “hand” represent the automatic and impersonal law of imagination. It's the attempt to hit the mark but failing. What we dwell upon internally will reflect externally. The psalmist is not being punished, but experiencing the inevitable harvest of his own mental activity.
Sin as 'Missing the Mark'
“My flesh is wasted because of your wrath; and there is no peace in my bones because of my sin.”
— Psalm 38:3, BBE
For Neville, sin simply means to miss the mark and self-wound —to imagine unlovely things or persist in fearful, limiting inner conversations. The body and world around us are the mirrors of our inner state, and when we live in contradiction to our ideal, suffering follows.
The Overwhelming Flood of Miscreation
“For my crimes have gone over my head; like a great weight they are more than my strength.”
— Psalm 38:4, BBE
This verse captures the moment when the illusion of separation becomes unbearable. The inner man, trapped in a self-created state, begins to realise he cannot escape until he changes from within.
A Mourning Soul
“I am troubled, I am made low, I go weeping all the day.”
— Psalm 38:6, BBE
This mourning reflects the state of one who believes the outer world to be causative. The soul suffers when it forgets that imagination is the source and attempts to fix things externally. Neville would say this is the cry of the “old man”, caught in the illusion of material cause and effect.
Desire: The First Light of Redemption
“Lord, all my desire is before you; my sorrow is not kept secret from you.”
— Psalm 38:9, BBE
Desire, in Neville’s teaching, is a divine gift—the movement of God within man. Even in despair, the soul calls out not to an external being, but to its own deeper self, acknowledging that what is longed for exists within.
The Turning Point: Hope and Faith
“For my hope is in you, O Lord: you will give an answer, O Lord, my God.”
— Psalm 38:15, BBE
This is the beginning of faith—the assumption of a new state. The psalmist starts to shift identity, recognising that salvation is not granted from outside, but from a change in consciousness.
Repentance as Realignment
“I will make clear my wrongdoing, I will be sad because of my sin.”
— Psalm 38:18, BBE
Neville often said that true repentance is a radical change of attitude, not a performance of guilt. The psalmist here becomes aware that his suffering came from living in the wrong state—and now chooses to move inwardly toward the ideal.
A Cry from the Inner Saviour
“Come quickly to give me help, O Lord, my salvation.”
— Psalm 38:22, BBE
This final plea is not from someone begging a distant God, but from the awakening self, remembering its own creative power. “Lord, my salvation” becomes a declaration: “I AM salvation.”
Conclusion: The Drama of Awakening
Psalm 38 can be seen as the inner journey from misalignment to remembrance, from imagining in fear to returning to the truth of being. Through Neville Goddard’s perspective, we read this not as religious lament, but as the psychological pattern of transformation:
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First, the realisation of suffering.
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Then, the recognition of self-inflicted wounds.
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Finally, the return to the truth: I and my Father are one.
The psalmist is not a sinner to be punished, but a dreamer awakening to his creative power.
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