Psalm Ch6v1-10

From there this morning, so Psalm 6, let's read together.

It says, O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing.

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

My soul also is greatly troubled.

But you, O Lord, how long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life.

Save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

For in death there is no remembrance of you.

In Sheol, who will give you praise?

I am weary with my moaning.

Every night I flood my bed with tears.

I drench my couch with weeping.

My eye wastes away because of grief.

It grows weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.

The Lord has heard my plea.

The Lord accepts my prayer.

All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled.

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

And as we come to God's word this morning, let's just pray together as we open God's word together.

Let's pray.

Father God, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for this Psalm of David, Father.

Father, we thank you that we can read your word in our own language as well and that we can understand it.

Lord, we just pray as we open your word this morning that you would help us to understand more and more.

By your spirit, would you illuminate the words that we read this morning.

Father, would you speak through me this morning with the words that I say be from you and be your words, Lord.

Help us and change our lives through your word this morning.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

We live in a world that's full of pain, full of distress, full of hearty, death, sorrow, disruption and corruption, don't we?

We live in a hard and broken world and we've been reminded of that recently in recent events that have gone on, both here in Carragalline but also in passage in the last week.

We know that this world is hard and it's broken.

And in your personal lives, I'm sure that you felt that this world is hard, this world is broken.

Maybe you're struggling with a physical illness or maybe even a sinful temptation or maybe you're mourning the loss of a loved one.

But you know that this world is hard.

And David knew that this world was hard.

And when he wrote this Psalm of the Ment in Psalm 6, he knew that this world was hard.

But there is still good news, even in this hard world, even in this difficult world, there is still good news.

And that good news is that God invites us to cry out to him in the midst of our distress.

God invites us to cry out to him in this broken world, in the midst of this distress.

And he hears us.

And that's what I want you to see today.

I want you to see that you can cry out to the Lord in your distress and he will hear you.

Cry out to the Lord in your distress and he will hear you.

So as we come to this first section in Psalm 6,

in verse 3, David mentions that he's greatly troubled.

He says, my soul is also greatly troubled.

So today, as we look at this first section,

you're going to see that you can cry out to the Lord when you are greatly troubled.

I'm going to read from verses 1 to 3 again.

In verse 1 it says,

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing.

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

My soul also is greatly troubled.

But you, O Lord, how long?

David is greatly troubled.

He is greatly troubled in this first section of the Psalm.

But why is he greatly troubled?

Well, in verse 1 we see that he pleads to the Lord not to rebuke him and not to discipline him.

Not to rebuke him and not to discipline him.

And one thing that we know is that God needs to rebuke and discipline his people

only because of their imperfections.

Only because of their sinful actions.

Only because of sin in their lives.

God needs to rebuke and discipline his people sometimes because of that.

And David might be in the midst of that rebuke and discipline right now as he writes the Psalm.

He might be feeling the weight of that.

And we know that God rebukes or, well, he disciplines us as his people because of our sin.

And he disciplines every single one of us in the same way that a loving father would discipline their child.

But that discipline, it never feels good in the moment when we're being disciplined.

And David knows that that discipline doesn't feel good in that moment.

So as David's dealing with this sin problem, as he's dealing and going through this rebuke and this discipline from the Lord,

he then starts to ask for God's grace.

He needs God's grace in the midst of this discipline, in the midst of this difficulty, in the midst of this sin problem.

Look at verse 2.

Instead of saying, do not discipline and do not rebuke, he is now saying, do give grace and do heal.

He is using more positive wording in the second verse.

Do give grace and do heal me, Lord.

Heal me from what?

Well, he says that he's weak.

He says that he is languishing.

At least in my translation, he says languishing.

I didn't know what that word meant.

But essentially, languishing means like this, like just completely unable because of your weakness.

You cannot move.

You're just completely weak.

It's like an exaggerated weakness.

So in the midst of this weakness, David cries to the Lord to give him grace and help.

David knows that even in this weakness, he can cry out to the Lord and God will give him grace.

He has hope that God will give him grace.

That's why he cries out to the Lord.

But this weakness and this pain, it goes further than just this languishing word that he uses.

He says, my bones are troubled and my soul also is greatly troubled.

David is describing his entire being.

His bones and his soul are completely troubled.

They are completely broken.

He is broken.

He is weak.

He is broken.

This reminds me of like curling up in a ball, right?

When you're so weak and you can't move and you curl up in a ball and you don't know what to do with yourself.

But in that weakness, David cries out to God.

He cries out to God.

David's a man of God, isn't he?

We know that throughout the Bible.

David is a man of God and he has an understanding of God's grace.

He knows that God's grace is the only thing that he needs to sustain him and help him when he's greatly troubled in this weakness.

Maybe you, like me, have felt completely weak and broken because of your sin before.

Because of a sin problem in your life.

Maybe there's a sin issue in your life and you keep asking God for forgiveness.

Maybe you even tell God, I'm not going to do that again.

I won't turn back to that.

But day after day, night after night, the same struggle comes back.

Maybe you're struggling with self-control or anger.

Maybe it's jealousy or gossip.

Maybe you're struggling with a specific sin problem in your life.

Does that sin problem make you weak?

And do you ever try to get through that sin problem with your own strength?

I think that's one of the urges that we, as humans, that's one of the things we kind of lean towards,

is trying to get through our sin problems with our own strength.

Don't we?

We try to sort it all out ourselves.

We try to be the problem solver.

Right?

I love flying.

I love flying.

I love traveling.

I love going to other countries.

I love seeing the world.

But there's one part in flying that I don't like.

And that part is the turbulence.

And my brain goes straight to the worst thing that could possibly happen.

The worst thing that could possibly happen would be if I heard, if we felt this turbulence,

and I heard a massive loud noise, and then this alarm starts blaring,

and then before we know it, we're plummeting towards the earth.

And it's thrown back on my seat.

Time freezes.

Imagine if that was happening, right?

Time freezes.

You're thrown back on your seat.

There's nothing you can do.

But then your brain starts to go, how can I get out of this?

How can I save myself?

It would be quite ridiculous.

Maybe I can crawl out onto the wing and steer the steering flaps to fix the plane.

Or maybe I can get out to the engine and I can fix the problem that's going on.

Maybe I could even walk up to the cockpit with no flying experience whatsoever

and pull us out of this mess.

That would be pretty ridiculous, wouldn't it?

It would be pretty ridiculous.

Now the only person that you could turn to in that moment, right,

as the plane's plummeting towards the earth,

the only person you could turn to would be the pilot.

Would be the pilot in the cockpit,

because the pilot in the cockpit is the person who has control of the plane,

has all the knowledge of what's going on in the plane,

and knows exactly what's going on.

He's worked with these, or they've worked with these planes all their lives,

and they know what's going on.

And they're the only ones that you can look to to save you.

And it's similar with your sin.

We can't fix our sin by ourselves.

We can't fix our sin problems by ourselves.

Only God, by his grace,

only the one who created you,

who knows all things,

and knows who you are,

only he can help you by his grace.

And he will,

as we cry out to him.

And that's what David's encouraging us to do.

David cries out to God,

and asks for God's grace,

and asks for God's healing,

in the midst of this sin problem.

So you can also cry out to the Lord,

when you're greatly troubled,

because of sin problems in your life.

When sin overwhelms you.

When sin knocks you down.

When you're weak.

When you're curled up because of your sin.

When you don't know what to do.

Cry out to God.

Cry out to God.

In verse 3,

David kind of finishes that part in verse 3,

and he says,

but you, O Lord,

how long?

How long?

This kind of,

this shows us another level

of this struggling that David's going through.

He's kind of impatient with it.

He's crying out to God,

can you just,

can you just do it now?

Can you just help me now?

And maybe,

maybe you've been through that as well,

in your life.

Maybe you're suffering with a sin problem,

and you just ask God,

help me right now.

I just want to be out of this right now.

Sometimes God doesn't,

doesn't bring us out of it immediately.

Right?

He doesn't bring us out of it immediately.

But notice that David doesn't just stop crying out to God.

He doesn't turn away from God

just because God doesn't answer him immediately.

Right?

David doesn't stop crying out to God

because he knows that without God,

he can't be saved out of this.

Without God's grace,

he can't be helped out of this sin problem.

So David cries out to the Lord

when he's greatly troubled because of his sin.

But David also cries out to the Lord

in the fear of physical death.

He cries out to the Lord in the fear of death.

Look at verses 4 and 5 with me.

Turn, O Lord.

Deliver my life.

Save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

For in death,

there's no remembrance of you.

Ensure who will give you praise.

David is now,

instead of having this sin problem

that he's struggling with,

he's now got this physical fear

that he's kind of struggling with,

this fear of death.

This physical fear of death.

And David pleads to the Lord

to deliver his life,

to save his life,

to help him.

But why?

Why would God,

why would God help him?

Why would David know

even that God's going to help him?

Well, because of the Lord's

covenantal love,

because of his steadfast love.

And that's what David mentions there

in verse 4.

Save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

This is a love,

the steadfast love has been mentioned

all the way throughout the Bible.

This is a covenantal promise

that God has made

with his people

from Abraham

to Moses

to the disciples.

And he also makes it to us.

He also makes it to you,

this promise.

This covenantal promise,

this steadfast love,

a promise of steadfast love,

he's made that promise to you.

And we know that when God

makes his promises,

he doesn't let you down.

He doesn't just give up

on the promises

that he makes to you.

He doesn't just say one thing

but act in the other way.

He's consistent

all throughout history

and to his people

he gives this steadfast

covenantal love.

So you can today

cry out to the Lord

in the midst

of this fear

of physical death

and he has promised

that through Christ,

if you're in Christ,

he promises

his steadfast love

to you.

And this means

in the midst

of your biggest fears,

in the midst

of physical pain,

you can cry out to him.

This is the promise

that David is resting on

throughout this psalm.

He cries out to the Lord

in this fear of death.

Look at verse 5 again

with me as well.

For in death

there is no remembrance

of you.

Ensure who will give you praise.

David is specifically worried

about not being able

to praise God

and remember God

after his death.

That's what this kind of

points to,

that he might not,

he wants to continue

to remember God,

he wants to continue

to praise God

and these are both

really important parts

of David's life

and this should be

really important parts

of our lives

as God's people.

Hebrew belief

in this time

was that there wasn't

like a hope

of heaven.

They didn't really know

where they would go

after death.

They mentioned Sheol here.

Sheol is like this

grey state of death.

Right?

But for us,

we've got the rest

of the Bible.

We know the whole story.

We know more

now than they did then.

We know that Christ came

and that Christ rose again.

But we might still feel

the weight of this

physical death

in our lives.

We might still feel

a fear,

maybe not even just

for your own life

but also for

your family's lives.

And one day,

and it's a fact

that one day

every single one of us

are going to die.

Every single one of us

on this earth.

But I want to encourage you

that when you feel

the weight of this

physical death,

cry out to the Lord.

Cry out to the Lord

and he will help you

because he loves you.

Because he gives

his steadfast love

to you,

his people.

And if you don't know

him today,

he welcomes you

with open arms

to come and cry out to him.

He welcomes you

in the midst of your

physical suffering,

in the midst of your

suffering with sin.

he welcomes you.

Remember Jesus

who knew

the pain

of physical death.

He knew

what it was like

to suffer.

He knew

what it was like

to be mocked,

to be beaten

and then he went

and hung on a cross.

He took

the weight

of God's wrath

on his shoulders

and he did that

as a substitute

for us.

He stood there

in our place

so that if we

repent

and believe

in the Lord,

if we turn away

from our sins

and believe in God

and cry out to the Lord,

he promises

to save us.

Remember that

we know more

of the story,

of the full story

of the Bible

than the Hebrews

did at this time

when David was writing.

We know more

of the story now

and we know

that Jesus

not only died

but he also

rose again.

And now he sat

at the right hand

of the Father.

And in this truth,

in this truth

that Jesus died

and he rose again

and you can come

to know him

and believe in him,

we also don't need

to be worried

about

not giving God

praise after death

and not remembering

God after death.

We don't have to be

worried about that

anymore

because

we will stand

with God in heaven

for all of eternity.

we will be with God

in heaven

for all of eternity.

Remember what John

said in Revelation 7

Revelation 7:9

verses 9 and 10.

He said,

after this

I looked

and behold

a great number

that no one

could number

from every nation

all tribes

peoples

and languages

standing before

the Lamb

clothed in white robes

with palm branches

in their hands

crying out

with a loud voice

salvation

belongs to our God

who sits on the throne.

And one day

every one of us

who is in Christ

every one of us

who believes

in the Lord

will stand

before him

praising

and worshipping him

for all of eternity.

Through God's

steadfast love

we will be saved.

We will stand

in heaven.

So cry out

to the Lord

today

when you feel

the weight

of physical death.

You feel the fear

of physical death.

In the fear

of physical death

in the fear

or in your sin problems

when you're greatly troubled

you can cry out

to the Lord

but you can also

cry out to the Lord

as David did

in your weeping.

Cry out to the Lord

in your weeping.

Look at verse 6 and 7

with me.

David says

I am weary

with my mooning.

Every night

I flood my bed

with tears

I drench my couch

with weeping.

My eye

wastes away

because of grief

it grows weak

because of all

my foes.

David is in great sorrow.

He is greatly troubled.

He is in great pain.

And to us

it might seem

that David uses

quite a lot of exaggeration

throughout this psalm

when he says

my eye

wastes away

because of my grief

I flood my bed

with tears

I drench my couch

with weeping.

It might feel

quite over the top

for us

but to David

that doesn't feel

over the top at all.

That's a reality

for him

right now.

This is the reality

in David's life

right now.

In verse 7

we see for the first time

that David's actually

facing against

some human foes

and human enemies.

David had a struggle

throughout his life

with some human enemies

and this is the first time

in this psalm

that we see

these enemies

introduced

which caused

David massive distress.

David's not

in an easy life situation

so what he says

what he's saying

isn't over the top

at all

they actually feel

really

quite real

for David

to say

that my eye

wastes away

with grief

and maybe for you

today

these words

they don't feel

over the top.

if you've had

a serious moment

of suffering

in your life

maybe you've

worn the loss

of a loved one

or experienced

deep physical pain

these words

probably feel

very real

for you

today.

You may have felt

like your eyes

are wasting away

because of all the crying.

you may feel

like there's no tears

left

you may feel

like the pillow

that you're crying

into is soaked

with your tears

that it's drenched

with tears

this is what

David's feeling

and you can understand

that today as well

I think we can understand

that today as well

this suffering

that David's facing

isn't just a temporary

one time suffering

it's consistent

it's constant

it's

at night

right

it says

it says

every night

I flood my bed

with tears

and I drench my couch

with weeping

so it's not just that

Mike but it's also

on his couch

during the day

this is somewhere

that David sits

similar to a sofa

for us

he sits on his couch

and he cries

and he weeps

it's not just a

one time struggle

this is a daily

struggle for David

he's devastated

devastated

with all that

is surrounding him

and he feels weak

he's suffering

he's helpless

feels alone

maybe

but what does he

choose to do

in this suffering

in this weeping

well he cries out

to God

cries out

to the Lord

one of my biggest

fears in life

is receiving

that phone call

from a family member

or a friend

telling me

that something

serious has happened

you pick up

the phone

you hear that

distressed voice

something serious

has happened

you have to get

to the hospital

immediately

this is possibly

one of the hardest

situations that I

could imagine us

going through

as a family member

or a friend

a loved one

is going through

serious illness

there's nothing

that we can do

to help in those

situations

all we can do

is we sit

and we can weep

and we can cry

out to the Lord

it can be one

of the most

loneliest places

one of the loneliest

feelings

for us to be

weeping

in those situations

by someone

maybe in a hospital

bed

and maybe you felt

like that in your

life

maybe at some

point in your

life

or maybe you even

feel like that

right now

something's happened

and sorrow's all

around you

there's nowhere to

go and you might

feel trapped

but there is one

place that you

can turn

one person that

you can turn to

and he does hear

us

and he does love

us

through his

covenantal

his steadfast

love

we can turn

and we can cry

out to the Lord

just as David

did

you can cry

out to the Lord

in your weeping

cry out to the

Lord

and he will give

you comfort

and he will give

you peace

in these most

difficult times

of your life

so as I've

encouraged you

today

cry out to the

Lord

in your weeping

cry out to the

Lord

when you're

greatly troubled

when you're

in the fear

of physical

death

cry out to

the Lord

but when we

cry out

we don't cry

out to one

who doesn't

hear us

we don't cry

out to just

no one

we don't cry

out without

hope

but instead

as David

does

we cry out

to the Lord

in confidence

as the Lord

who hears us

we cry out

to the Lord

in confidence

look at verses

8 to 10

with me

David says

depart from me

all you workers

of evil

for the Lord

has heard

the sound

of my weeping

the Lord

has heard

my plea

and the Lord

accepts my

prayer

all my enemies

shall be ashamed

and greatly troubled

they shall turn

back and be put

to shame

in a moment

the entire tone

of the psalm

completely changes

at this moment

the entire tone

David isn't just

weak

he isn't just

moaning

he isn't just

languishing

he isn't just

weeping

now he stands

in confidence

why does he stand

in confidence

how can he stand

in confidence

confidence

because of the

Lord

because of who

the Lord is

look at verse

8 to 9 again

the Lord

has heard

the sound

of my weeping

the Lord

has heard

my plea

the Lord

accepts my

prayer

David has

confidence

in the

Lord

in the

Lord

so when we

cry out

to the Lord

today

we cry out

in confidence

I wasn't a

very confident

child

and I

hated it

in school

when I had

to present

in front of

the class

bring a

presentation

in front of

the class

I hated the

idea of

having to

make up a

full presentation

and stand in

front of the

class

all eyes on

me

I hated

the idea

it was one

of my biggest

fears as a

kid

the week

leading up

to it

was awful

nights

of preparation

of anxiety

of your heart

racing

you don't

think you

can do it

and then

that day

comes

that day

comes

and you're

about to

get up

in front

of the

whole class

and panic

setting in

you feel

your palms

sweating

you have

no confidence

in yourself

you don't

think you

can get

up

but then

what if

somebody

walked

through

the

door

what if

your parent

walked

through

the

door

your parent

the one

who's

helped

you

through

all of

this

week's

preparation

leading up

to it

the one

who has

calmed you

throughout

your life

who knows

exactly

who you

are

and knows

exactly

how to

calm you

down

knows

exactly

what

you want

to hear

and what

you need

to hear

what if

your parent

walked

up to

you

just

before

you

got

to

that

presentation

sat

down

with

you

and

chatted

you

through

it

calms

you

down

your

entire

mood

would

change

wouldn't

it

your

entire

mood

would

change

you

aren't

scared

your

palms

aren't

sweating

anymore

your

heart

stops

racing

because

you

have

confidence

because

your

parent

stands

there

with

you

and

helps

to

give

you

that

confidence

and

in a

similar

way

we

can

have

confidence

when

we

are

distressed

because

the

Lord

is

with

us

the

Lord

helps

us

the

Lord

confidence

David

opened in

verse 8

with a

line of

confidence

he says

depart

from me

all you

workers

of evil

depart

from me

this line

of confidence

he has

authority

he's now

speaking as

one with

authority

in the

same way

in verse 10

he says

all my

enemies

shall be

ashamed

and greatly

troubled

David's

not the

one that's

greatly

troubled

anymore

but his

enemies

are

he stands

with

confidence

and

authority

now

David's

speaking

of human

enemies

specifically

that are

probably

seeking to

kill him

we know

this in

David's

life

we don't

know

exactly

when the

psalm is

in David's

life

but we

know

that in

David's

life he

was chased

by human

enemies

one of

those human

enemies

being Saul

and his

armies

who chased

David

but we

do know

that David

was saved

out of this

and God

delivered him

and David

cried out to

the Lord

in the midst

of his

human enemies

and now he

speaks as

one with

confidence

in the midst

of his

human enemies

and I'd

imagine

for us

today

hopefully

there's no

one in

here that

has a

human

enemy

seeking to

kill them

at least

I hope

not

but we

do all

have a

common

enemy

we do

have a

common

enemy

and that

enemy is

the devil

1 Peter

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5

Peter writes

your adversary

the devil

prowls around

like a roaring

lion

seeking someone

to devour

the devil

prowls around

seeking someone

to devour

the devil's

our enemy

and he

seeks to

devour

us

and this

reality

can give us

great distress

this can be

really worrying

for us

this can cause

us to weep

this can cause

us to be

greatly troubled

this can cause

us to be

scared

but this

psalm

gives us

confidence

that as we

crawl out to

the Lord

as we cry

out to the

Lord in

this

in the midst

of the devil

he will hear

us

when the

devil prowls

around

tries to

devour

us

tries to

pull us

away

from God

tries to

tempt us

and pull

us into

that sin

that we've

been struggling

with

we can cry

out to the

Lord who's

more powerful

than this

enemy the

devil

and he

the Lord

will hear

your cry

for help

David now

stands as

one with

confidence

he's no

longer curled

up he's no

longer languishing

as I said

he's not

greatly troubled

he's not in

fear of death

he's not

weeping

but he is

standing as

one whom

the Lord

has heard

we saw

little glimpses

of David's

confidence

throughout the

sand

didn't we

in verse

2

David said

David understood

that God

would give him

grace

he said be

gracious to

me

so he had

some sort

of understanding

of God's

grace

later on in

verse 4

he remembers

God's steadfast

love as well

that covenantal

love that God

has promised

throughout all

of time

so David

did have

confidence in

the Lord

as he was

crying out

to the Lord

even in

the midst

of his

when he was

greatly troubled

in the fear

of physical

pain

and when he

was weeping

he had

confidence

so when you

cry out to

the Lord

today

when you're

greatly troubled

because of sin

and the fear

of death

when you're

weeping

in any

circumstance

in your life

whatever you're

going through

you can cry

out to the

Lord

with confidence

that he's

heard you

that he'll

respond to

you

so cry

out to the

Lord today

in whatever

situation

you're facing

do you know

him personally

do you know

the Lord

personally

do you know

him as your

saviour

God welcomes

you with open

arms today

to cry out

to him

cry out to

him

trust in him

believe in him

and he will

save you

and if you're

one of God's

people this

morning

all of us

face trials

every one of

us will go

through hardships

in our lives

but in the midst

of all of these

hardships

cry out to

the Lord

cry out to

God

in your

distress

and he

will hear

you

let's pray

Father God

we thank you

for your word

this morning

thank you

that this

psalm

of lament

is

maybe so

real

for some

of us

this morning

Father

thank you

that you

provide this

psalm for

us

even in

the midst

of our

distress

Lord

thank you

that you

hear us

thank you

for your

steadfast

love

thank you

for your

covenantal

love

all throughout

history

until now

thank you

for sending

your son

to die

for us

on the

cross

thank you

that now

we can

stand

and cry

out to

you

in confidence

so Lord

help us

today

help us

through our

lives

to cry

out to

you

in tragedy

in hardships

in our sins

in our

physical pain

help us

to cry

out to

you

and we

know

that you

will hear

us

Lord

be with

us

today

we

do

love

you

Lord

and it

in

Jesus

name

we

pray

amen

amen