Pastor Ed's Series of Psalms

Psalm 1 | Psalm 2 | Psalm 3 | Psalm 4 | Psalm 5 | Psalm 6 | Psalm 7 | Psalm 8
Psalm 9-10 | Psalm 11 | Psalm 12 | Psalm 13 | Psalm 14 | Psalm 15
Psalm 16 | Psalm 17 | Psalm 18 | Psalm 19 | Psalm 22 | Psalm 23
Psalm 27 | Psalms 28-30 | Psalms 31-32 | Psalm 33 | Psalm 34
Psalm 35 | Psalm 36-37 | Psalm 38 | Psalm 39 | Psalm 40 |
Psalm 41 | Psalm 42-43

Psalm 6
12/13/09

This is the first of what has been called the Penitential Psalms – the word penitential comes from the word penitent meaning to express regret or sorrow for having committed misdeeds.

This is the first Psalm where David is acknowledging his own wrongdoing. In the previous Psalms, he looks around at his enemies, or even the deeds of his own men.

But now he realizes he can't talk about anyone else – he has to repent of his own sin.

When he has this realization notice how he handles it - the first seven verses are just one long wail – as he realizes he has let his Lord down.

David understands that he has dishonored or displeased the Lord – we are not told what it was – and he understands he needs to be punished. You can draw the conclusion that he has a physical ailment of some kind – maybe as a result of his sin.

One commentator thought it was sickness as a result of his sin with Bathsheba.

David starts out by admitting that he needs punishment, but he doesn't want to be totally cut off.

Verse 1: O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

Jeremiah 10:24 says correct me Lord, but only with justice – not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.

Jesus said that the Father cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

He knows he has to be disciplined, but he doesn't want to be cut off and thrown into the fire.

David understands discipline. As the commander of a powerful army, no doubt he had to discipline others, probably every day. He knows that discipline is necessary.

But he is aware of godly discipline. The kind Proverbs speaks about in chapter 10:

He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads other astray.

And in 13:24

He who loves his son is careful to discipline him.

Paul talked about the Lord's discipline in 1 Corinthians 11:32:
When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Jesus says in Revelation 3:19

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.

David's response shows great insight into this teaching. And he takes the word “earnest” very literally.

He cries out to God in verse 2-3:

Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?

David is despondent. He describes similar affliction in Psalm 22 verse 14: I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me.

In Psalm 38 vs 3 David says my bones have no soundness because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.

How long? Can refer to the phrase – how long will you be angry with me? How long will you hide your face from me? How long will I cry, and you won't hear me? Will you hide your face forever?

David acts like the spirit of God has left him. Isn't this the man who is described as being after God's own heart?

Have you ever felt like God isn't there? Like he has withdrawn from you? Remember what David said in Psalm 66 vs 18 he said if I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have have listened.

But isn't that one of the worst things we can experience as Christians? When we feel like the Lord is far away from us – even though we're trying to talk to him. We want to feel him there with us. And if we're really honest about it, we know when he isn't there.

I had an encounter the other day with a person who said - “God isn't close to me like he used to be. I'm trying everything I know but he just isn't there.” It was determined that they were pursuing things that weren't pleasing to God, which was causing the separation.

God didn't move, in other words.

Verse 4 says Turn, O Lord and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.

Still, now he is saying Lord, enough is enough! I want you back in my life!

David is sorrowful, he is in anguish – Verse 5 -6 No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.

David goes from going boldly to the throne of grace in Psalm 4 when he says answer me when I call to you, to now just please don't forget me. Be merciful to me because even though I deserve punishment, please turn away your wrath.

David is at the end of his rope. He has no where else to turn but his Lord.

When I read this Psalm, I know David's own sin has put him in this position, but I sense how much distress he's in. That he fears losing the most important thing in his life and that is his relationship with God. But then I realize that should be our cry as well. If we sin against the Lord, we also need to cry out in distress.

The cries from this great man of God. Most of this Psalm is sad because of David's cries, but he is really setting the stage for one of the most inspiring, joyous things that can happen to us as believers.

Listen to verses 8-10:

Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; for the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

David proclaims three ways that the Lord has returned to his life!

First, he says that the Lord has heard his weeping. The Lord isn't gone after all – at least he has heard me!

2 Chronicles 7:14 – says that if my people, who are called on my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The context of this verse is interesting – it is the Lord speaking to Solomon after he dedicates the new temple in Jerusalem. The one that David, his father was not allowed to build. Later in verse 17, the Lord says as for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe all my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father...

For David, humbling himself meant groaning, weeping, crying out. And the Lord heard him.
The Lord tells us in His word that if we belong to Him, He wants to be near us, to answer us to lead us, to guide us. He wants to be a part of everything we're doing.

Mt 18:20 For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.

James 4:8 – Come near to God and he will come near to you.

John15:7 Jesus said, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.

Jeremiah 23:22-23 – Am I only a God nearby and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him, declares the Lord, Do not I fill the heaven and the earth?

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Psalm 34: 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who is crushed in spirit.
1Cor 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit lives in you?

Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.

We need to hear that the Lord wants to be close to you; to be in fellowship with you. To hear you! So that you don't have to fear , and so you can walk boldly in the Christian walk and so you can take your cares and concerns to him.

Not only has the Lord heard him, but he has heard what David is after – mercy!

If this Psalm really does represent David's state after the Bathsheba affair, David needs mercy!
He committed the most terrible offenses all at the same time – there was the adultery, and the murder and cover up of Bathsheba's husband Uriah. So terrible were these offenses that the Lord told David through Nathan the Prophet:

Now, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah to be your own. And out of your household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you...and you did this in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight, before all Israel.

I thought David was a man after God's own heart. And here the Lord is saying that you despised me!

All David could say was: “I have sinned against the Lord.”

David had everything going for him, but because of his sin, he had to suffer the consequences – we talked about some of those in Psalm 3, when his son Absalom chased him off the throne and went to battle with him.

I was reading about former 3rd District US Representative Chip Pickering, who has been in the news recently. He has been coaching his son's soccer team, and recently he was involved in an altercation on a soccer field with the coach of an opposing team. He has been accused of assault.

He served in the Congress from 1997 to 2009 – but resigned to spend more time with his family (he has 5 sons) He was the top contender for the US Senate seat vacated by Trent Lott, but he turned down this opportunity and no one could figure out why.

The answer came to light 6 months later when he filed for divorce from his wife of 20 years, and it came out that he was having an affair, which led to his wife suing the mistress. So he gave up his political career.

What makes this consequence especially difficult is that he ran on the “family values” platform. It has been said that his political stock has gone from blue chip to chipped beyond repair.

Chip Pickering needs mercy! He's suffering the consequences.

But our Father is a gracious and merciful God.

One of the great example in the Bible of godly people turning their backs on God were the Israelites when they disobeyed and were carried off into exile by the Babylonians. When the remnant came back 70 years later and the temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem.

In Nehemiah 9 the people confess their sins before the Lord and reminded themselves about the Lord's great mercy in verses 30-31.

For many years you were patient with them (their ancestors). By your Spirit you admonished them through the prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to the neighboring peoples. But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them,f or you are a gracious and merciful God!

Micah 7:18 says Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy!

As Christians, we have this same gracious heavenly father, but we now have knowledge of the full measure of mercy and grace revealed through Christ Jesus.

Jesus himself reminds us on the sermon on the mount to love our enemies and to be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:4 that:

Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved!

Peter exclaims that In His great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

John Claypool, a Christian author, said the real meaning of mercy is that it can look on failure and still see a future.

But how is this mercy revealed? David had to humble himself – and cry out, weeping, on his face.
That seems kind of humiliating doesn't it?

But there is a cleansing we can experience when we pour everything out to Him!

Listen to what Jesus said in Luke 15:10:

I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents!

Repent and receive mercy .......

One of the keys to this Psalm is the way David repented. He's so intense about it!

A minister was speaking to a group of children. He asked them the question, “what is meant by the word repentance?” A little boy raised his hand. “Being sorry for your sins,” was is answer. Then a little girl raised her hand. “I think, she said, its being sorry enough to quit.”

So David has affirmed that he is in the presence of the Lord, who will grant him mercy, and also will accept his prayer!

Accepting means to receive willingly – to give approval to.

Paul tells is in Ephesians 1:6 that if we are accepted by Him, then we are adopted as his children through Christ, and he has therefore has given us freely His grace.

Accepted by Him and given His grace!

Here is a short example of Grace. There is the story of a student in a Youth Issues class at a Bible College, and he was studying for the final exam. When he got to the classroom, the professor did some last minute review. There were things he was reviewing that was not on the study guide he had given the class, but he said they were in the book and the students were responsible for everything that was in the book.

The students got a little nervous about this, but when it was time to take the test, the professor said to leave them face down until it was time to start. When the students turned them over, every answer on the test was filled in!

The bottom of the last page said, “All the answers on your test are correct. You will receive an A on the final exam. The reason you passed this test is because the creator of the test took it for you. All the work you did to prepare you for the exam did not help you get the A. You just experienced...GRACE.”

I experienced grace in a powerful way back in 1979. I was moving from San Bernardino, CA to Phoenix which was about a 6 hour drive through the desert. Not having much common sense in my youth, I started out driving around 9:00 in the morning, and by the time I got outside of Indio it was around noon, and of course, being August it was about 115 degrees.

I had a little 240Z sports car and about 30 miles outside of Indio the water pump went out. I remember standing outside the car in the middle of the burning desert. I had to wait about 2 hours for a tow truck to come by and help me.

I was towed back into Indio and I called my dad.

I had to register for classes the next day at Arizona State, or I would miss the deadline, so I didn't really have time to wait around for the car to be fixed.

My dad got up at 4:00 the next morning and drove the 4 hours over to Indio, exchanged cars with me so I could get going, and he waited all day for the car to be fixed.

I got to Phoenix that afternoon and registered for my classes. Everything was taken care of for me, my dad took the burden.

That's a memory about receiving grace that I will always cherish.

Do you feel close to the Lord...or is he distant? Many times I've wondered why there seems to be a drought. But I realize that I have to look inward. And, many times, when I look at myself and really think about it, I say....Oh...you're right, Lord. The hindrance is with me – not you!

Acts 3:19 says, “repent then and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Let's remove any hindrance from him so we experience His refreshing grace today!

The apostle Paul encouraged young Timothy with this:

Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

David called out in agony but he was comforted when the Lord heard his prayer, He reminded him of His mercy, and He accepted his prayer through his grace!

Let us pray.