Psalm 6 (RSV-CE)
1 O Lord, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in thy wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is sorely troubled.
But thou, O Lord—how long?
Psalm 6 is the first of the seven penitential psalms expressing sorrow and repentance, a desire for mercy and healing, a hope for forgiveness and restoration.
The psalmist his begins begging for compassion by acknowledging his own weakness.
The first step in any conversion of heart is acknowledging our weakness, as is the first step in healing is acknowledging our sickness. Note the tone of impatience in verse 3 as the psalmist asks “How long?” It is not a tone of desperation, but exasperation. We know the Lord will save us. We know the Lord hears our prayers. We know that in the end all shall be well for us. But when we are in the midst of trouble, when are bodies ache, and our souls are in agony, we cannot help but feel impatient, asking the Lord, how long?!
4 Turn, O Lord, save my life; deliver me for the sake of thy steadfast love. 5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give thee praise?
Here the psalmists asks the Lord to save him because of God’s own unfailing love.
We ask God to save us not because of anything we’ve done to deserve it but because God’s loyal love, because it is in God’s character to remain faithful and merciful toward us even and especially when we are not.
6 I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. 7 My eye wastes away because of grief, it grows weak because of all my foes.
Here the psalmist expresses how his grief blurs his vision. We too will experience this in our sorrows. When we are down, when we feel like we’ve fallen so low because of our sins, when we feel like life’s hardships have us down and God is not listening, our vision becomes blurred, and we may be tricked into thinking we’ve fallen too low, too far for the light of Christ to reach and yet… we hear the hope of the psalmist, which is our hope too.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil; for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. 9 The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and sorely troubled; they shall turn back, and be put to shame in a moment.
The light of Christ reaches us in the darkest depths we may find ourselves in.
He hears us and he will answer our prayers. Our enemies, including our doubt of God’s goodness will be disgraced. Our fears will turn back in shame.
For God will turn our sorrow into joy.
Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
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