On Psalm 6

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments;

according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

¹  O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath.

²  Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;

heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

³  My soul also is greatly troubled.

But you, O Lord—how long?

⁴  Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;

save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

⁵  For in death there is no remembrance of you;

in Sheol who will give you praise?

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.

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 plea;

the Lord accepts my prayer.

¹⁰  All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;

they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Psalm 6

David felt the pain of God’s heavy hands on him.  In addition, he also felt the pain of his conscience accusing him of his guilt.  Even though this Psalm did not describe David’s sin in particular, yet the pang of the sin he committed could not be undermined.  David was in agony and his soul was restless.  Verses 1-7 show the groaning of his spirit.  And he opened (v. 1) with a realization that he was guilty.  He admitted his guilt implicitly.  And thus he asked God not to rebuke him in his anger.  And to make sure of his point, he added his request that God would not discipline him in his wrath.  This recalls the truth spelled out in Jeremiah 10:24:

²⁴ Correct me, O Lord, but in justice;

not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

If God would rebuke David in His anger, David would be reduced to ashes.  If God would discipline David in His wrath, David would be utterly destroyed.  So, knowing the truth that he would not be able to handle the wrath of God, David humbled himself and then pleaded with God that He would rebuke and discipline him in love and mercy.  See that here David did not ask to avoid God’s rebuke and discipline altogether.  This is mighty interesting, because it shows how David realized that he needed God’s rebuke and discipline.  Charles Spurgeon commented on this matter:

“Corn is cleaned with wind, and the soul with chastenings.” It were folly to pray against the golden hand which enriches us by its blows. He does not ask that the rebuke may be totally withheld, for he might thus lose a blessing in disguise; but, “Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger.” If thou remindest me of my sin, it is good; but, oh, remind me not of it as one incensed against me, lest thy servant’s heart should sink in despair. …. I know that I must be chastened, and though I shrink from the rod yet do I feel that it will be for my benefit; but, oh, my God, “chasten me not in thy hot displeasure,” lest the rod become a sword, and lest in smiting, thou shouldest also kill. So may we pray that the chastisements of our gracious God, if they may not be entirely removed, may at least be sweetened by the consciousness that they are “not in anger, but in his dear covenant love.”^[1]

David, therefore, pleaded for God’s grace, mercy, and love (vv.2-4).  He submitted himself to God, believing that God is indeed full of steadfast love.

²  Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;

heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

³  My soul also is greatly troubled.

But you, O Lord—how long?

⁴  Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;

save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

The hands of the Lord were heavy upon David, and he felt it even in his body.  The pain of the soul was manifested to the physical pain that David now experienced.  Rumors have it that pain in the bones is the worst.  His agony took a toll on his skeleton, the very structure that sustained his body.  He could not stand the pain anymore, for it had become unbearable.  So he cried out to God.  David felt that he was going down to the realm of the dead that he prayed for God’s deliverance.  The fear of death was very real that in the following verse David spoke:

⁵  For in death there is no remembrance of you;

in Sheol who will give you praise?

If the punishment from the Lord continued, David would end up in Sheol, the realm of the dead.  Imagining such prospect, under the unbearable pain that felt as if he was living in Sheol, David reached out to God’s heart.  David, who loved the Lord wholeheartedly, still desired to remember and praise God with very cell in his body and every bit of his soul.

            The following verses testified further about the anguish of David’s soul that even in the comfort of his bed, he could not stop his sadness for transgressing against the Lord.

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.

His tears overflowed and could not be halted.  David felt that his grief had gradually killed his soul.  Alas, the torture, the chastisement, the punishment, the suffering, had robbed him of sleep.  He even lost the colors of life that his eyes usually enjoyed.  Sleep deprivation filled with deep sadness had overtaken David, so he could not rest, oh the very rest that he needed had escaped him.  But when his eyes were wide open, all he could see was trouble, pain, agony, and unending punishment.  This was no life.  It was as good as death.

            My brothers and sisters in Christ, when we sin against the Lord, if we truly love the Lord, we too will experience what David experienced.  I trust you understand what I am talking about here.  Our mind spins very fast replaying the event of our transgression.  We asked repeatedly with no answer: “Why did I do that?  How could I do that?”  And at the same time our conscience is blaring ever so loudly in our inner ear, accusing us of the terrible thing we have done.  We are constantly reminded of how we have hurt the Lord, how we have hurt our loved ones, how we actually could have avoided doing whatever we did, and so on and so forth.  As we are in battle within our own soul, we grieve.  In the process of grieving, we cry, we lose sleep, we feel the pain in our body intensifies, and we feel as if there is something heavy pressing our chest.  Yes, such is the feeling of sinning against the Lord.

            So, in our prayer we ask God for forgiveness.  We pray that God would not continue his punishment over our soul.  We plea that God would be merciful to us, remembering our fragility, that God is a loving and gracious God.  We look up to the heavens, eyes drenched in tears, like a little child gazing upon her mother’s eyes, trying to find that soft spot in her mom’s heart of hearts.  Oh, we wish we could just hug the Lord and pour out our repentance upon Him in the flood of tears with a loud wailing, hoping that the Lord would hug us back and say: “I forgive you.”  We wish by doing so, all our sins could be thrown away to a different universe and be remembered no more.  We hope for a start over.  We wish that the pain would go away in the Lord’s gentle embrace.

            Thankfully, David’s psalm does not stop at verse 7.  If it were, then we are doomed for all eternity.  The following verses are the expression of David’s return to peace and joy.

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 plea;

the Lord accepts my prayer.

¹⁰  All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;

they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

When David felt it in his bones that the Lord had heard him and had accepted his prayer, his soul was revived.  He came back to life.  Those who accused him, be it the chief accuser, Satan, or those who hated David, could not continue drowning him in troubles.  No more!  David’s fortress had taken up his cause and was now defending David.  David prayed for deliverance, the Lord granted him salvation.  David prayed for leniency, God forgave him.  And now was the time when all those who wronged David and gloated over his misery as David was down in his grief because he had realized how he sinned against God, would be put to shame.  David’s salvation was as real as it could be.  His soul was at peace.  His trouble had met God’s grace to him.

            Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, this is indeed good news for us.  Just like we experienced David’s agony when we too sin against the Lord, we too will experience “the Shalom of the heart” as David experienced.  It is because our Lord is a merciful, gracious, and loving God.  When He forgives us we can feel it in our bones.  When He looks on us with favor, our souls feel safe.  The raging mind and emotion is calmed and quieted.  The accusation of our conscience ceases.  No more blaring sound and no more feeling guilty.  What we have now is serenity.  I picture it like a little child in her mom’s embrace, and the mom is no longer mad at her, but hugging her softly, stroking her back gently, speaking calming and gentle words to her ears, then she looks at her face, her hands reaches out to her face to wipe out her tears, and mom says to her little child: “I love you.”

            Suddenly our heart is ready to rest.  The pain in our bones subside.  The mind slows down, our heart rate calms down, tears stop flowing, smile begins to bloom again, and we begin to see colors again.  As we have this peaceful heart, we are ready to sleep.  That night was the best sleep we could think of.  We are at peace with the Creator, the God of heaven and earth, the greatest Being in all of the universe.  We rest like there is no burden anymore.  And everyone who has tried to bring us down when we were at our most bottom, would be put to shame.  The Lord’s vindication comes unstoppable.  The saved soul leaps for joy immeasurable.  And you know what, this is true for us all.

            How about you my brothers and sisters?  When your heart is heavy because you know deep down that you have sinned, come to the Lord in prayer.  Ask Him sincerely to forgive you.  Not because you want to escape His rebuke, but because you would not be able to endure His wrath.  Plea for His mercy, grace, and love, in all sincerity.  Pour out your heart to Him openly.  Acknowledge your wrongdoing, and humble yourself before Him.  Do not try to justify your action.  Just accept His judgment.  The Lord is just.  But yet He is also love.  Trust His character.  Throw yourselves at Him like a child throwing herself at her mom.  The Lord will gently embrace you in His great love as you genuinely repent over your sin.  Then your heavy heart will quickly be turned to joy and perfect Shalom.  Such is the full meaning of Psalm 6 and its application in our daily life.  May the Lord bless you and look upon you with favor.  Amen.

---

^[1] C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 1-26, vol. 1 (London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 56–57.