A Study in Psalms - Vol. II; No. 1

Psalm 6

For the director of music. With stringed instruments.
According to sheminith. A psalm of David.

¹O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
²Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
³My soul is in anguish.
How long, O LORD, how long?

⁴Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
⁵No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?

⁶I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
⁷My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.

⁸Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.
⁹The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
¹⁰All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

Psalm 6 is the first "Penitential Psalm", or psalm of repentance. Others include Psalms 32, 38, 51, 130 and 143. All of these psalms have as their main theme repentance and confession of sin. In particular, Psalm 6 shows David's repentance from his sin by expressing his sorrow over and hatred of his sin.

This psalm, like so many of David's psalms, has universal application. We can all at times pray this psalm. This is a psalm of anguish in the midst of sin. As Christians, sometimes we glory in righteousness, other times we mourn for sin. Both are appropriate behavior under certain circumstances.

The inscription of this psalm identifies David as the author and implies that the psalm was a musical work, "for the director of music" and "with stringed instruments". It goes on to say that the psalm was written "according to sheminith". We have no idea for certain what this means. This fact demonstrates the antiquity of this psalm: we have no record of the use of the word "sheminith" that could determine its meaning.

Psalm 6 can be divided into four sections: David's plea for mercy (v. 1-3); David's appeal to God on the basis of His love (v. 4-5); David's demonstration of his remorse (v. 6-7); God's mercy on him (v. 8-10).

David's Plea for Mercy

In these verses, David in his sin realizes that he deserves to be punished, so he asks God: "Do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath". One of our greatest fears is that God will give us what we deserve. Indeed, God would be just in angrily rebuking us or venting His wrath upon us. Surely, if we were wronged by someone as we ourselves do wrong to God, we would look for some way to vent our wrath. However, David errs here in implying that God would rebuke us in His anger or discipline us in His wrath. He depicts God as a "hot-head", when in reality God is patient and long-suffering with us. David here attributes to God what man often does, which is to punish in anger, displaying a hot temper (oh how often have I punished my children in a fit of temper, rather than showing them Godly discipline). No, God does not have a hot temper. As He Himself says: "I will not carry out my fierce anger,...For I am God, and not man" (Hos. 11:9).

Nevertheless, even the true believer feels, at times, that the Lord will cut him off. The remedy for this is to seek God's mercy, so David pleads: "Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint". God draws us back to Him through our conscience and conviction of sin. During these times, it is right and proper for the repentant to plead with God for mercy, because mercy is consistent with God's character. We must learn to depend on and take refuge in the mercy of God. "Men will never find a remedy for their miseries until, forgetting their own merits, by trusting to which they only deceive themselves, they have learned to betake themselves to the free mercy of God."[Footnote #4]

David goes on to ask for God's healing: "O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony". David has the right priority: he first asks for mercy, then for healing. We need God's mercy first and above all else that we need from God. When a paralytic was brought to Jesus for healing, first Jesus said: "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven" (Matt. 9:5), then later, "Get up, take your mat and go home" (Matt. 9:6). What good would it be for us if God healed all of our physical infirmities, but our sins remained unforgiven? Such healing would be incomplete. The healing of our souls is much more critical than the healing of our bodies.

Apparently, when he wrote this psalm, David was experiencing affliction. As we have seen in the Psalms that we have studied, David was often in trouble. His affliction seemed to give him a greater awareness of his sin. There are two responses to affliction: "what did I do to deserve this?" (the incorrect response), or "I, in my sin, deserve this" (the correct response). In general, our afflictions should cause us to reflect on our behavior, and cause us to search for sin in our lives. While not all of our affications are directly a result of sin, nevertheless, as Christians, when we are afflicted, we should examine our lives to determine if God is trying to tell us something through our afflictions. "It is a great secret to know how to be sick, and to profit by sickness."[Footnote #5]

Our afflictions seem worse when we know that we are in sin. During those times, we can have no feeling that we are suffering for righteousness sake. We also, during those times, cannot come to God for healing based on our righteousness. We must come to Him for mercy, knowing that we deserve our pain. It seems that the greatest affliction can be borne by the mind at peace; but the mildest pain is torment to the restless heart.

Again, afflictions are an important tool used by God to bring us to Him. Who can resist turning to God under the weight of great affliction? We have often heard the truism that "there are no atheists in fox holes". Unfortunately, some will only turn to God when under the greatest of afflictions. "Many a man's soul has been saved by the destruction of his body with wasting disease."[Footnote #6] Yes, many of us only turn to God when we are afflicted. Is it any wonder, then, that God allows us to be afflicted?

In his anguish, David cries: "How long, O LORD, how long?" Here, David asks the Lord how long he will be under God's rod of correction, but God has His timing according to His purpose. The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt for over 400 years; Joseph languished in prison over 3 years; Judah was exiled in Babylon for 70 years; we Christians have waited anxiously for the Lord's return for nearly 2000 years.

David's Appeal to God

⁴Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
⁵No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?

Here David appeals to God on the basis of His love. David knew well the character of God. He first appeals to God's mercy, then to His love. He cries: "Save me because of your unfailing love". We must always remember, especially in times of affliction, that God loves us. He will respond to our heart-felt cries of repentance and cries for mercy.

After appealing to God on the basis of His love, David appeals to God based on the fact that David glorifies God in his life: "No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?" David is, in a sense, bartering with God. He gives God a reason for saving him, that he will praise the Lord in his life. Would not God be more apt to save those who will give Him the credit for their salvation?

Surely, whether miraculously saved from death, or enjoying a comfortable existence, it is our duty to praise God, our Creator, while we are living. What is more, considering that we all deserve death, it is certainly our duty to praise the Lord, our Savior, as long as we live. "If we fail here, we fail utterly."[Footnote #7]

Apparently, David, in his sin, had a great awareness and fear of death. From this passage, we see that he had a fear that his sin would forever separate him from God, for he asks, "No one remembers you when he is dead." David did not have the full revelation concerning the afterlife that we have. For David, death still had its "sting", so he could not say, as Paul could: "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (I Cor. 15:55). He was still held in slavery by his fear of death (cf. Heb. 2:14-15). Let us not take for granted the wonderful revelations concerning the kingdom of God given to us in the New Testament. We have a tremendous advantage over David in that we understand these things and have an assurance of our salvation through our faith in Jesus Christ.

However incomplete David's knowledge about the afterlife was, he correctly realized that the dead do not glorify God on earth. The testimony of God is trusted to the living, not the dead. It is the duty of the living--God's prophets, His saints and His Son--to glorify God on the earth. "It is not the dead who praise the LORD, those who go down to silence; it is we who extol the LORD, both now and forevermore. Praise the LORD" (Psalm 115:17-18).

David's Sorrow Over His Sin

⁶I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
⁷My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.

Here, David shows that his repentance is real. His behavior demonstrates that he truly sorrows, even agonizes over his sin. Oh, that we would despise our sin as much. We must realize that true repentance sorrows over, agonizes over, and truly hates sin.

It is quite possible that David here is agonizing over his sin with Bathsheba. If so, it is interesting that the place of his sin, his bed, was also the place of his repentance.

God's Mercy

Here, David receives confidence as his prayer has been answered. What a merciful God we have! Forgiving us, in His mercy, for our sins, and more than that, building us up and giving us confidence to face life once again, cleansed and ready to serve. In response to his answered prayer, the first thing that David does in his renewed confidence is to rid himself of the presence of evil, so as to flee temptation and future sin, so as not to fall again. He says: "Away from me, all you who do evil". The truly repentant will do what they can to rid themselves of the influences and situations that caused them to sin.

Now, David in some way sensed that his prayer was answered. He says: "The LORD has heard my weeping. The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer." We do not know how he knew this, perhaps "some favorable change in the aspect of public affairs, some check to corruption, some succor from temptation, some sweet sense of God's love, some improvement in health, one or all of these may have united with an increase of faith to persuade him that the worst was over, and that deliverance was sure and near at hand."[Footnote #8] In any case, "the LORD has heard", the Lord listens to the prayer of the truly repentant.

David's renewed and displayed confidence was proof to those around him that his prayer was answered. We should use our experiences of answered prayer to give us confidence in standing up to evil and boldness in serving the Lord. No doubt, the fact that the Lord had answered many of David's prayers in the past gave David the confidence to believe that He had answered this one. What a blessing that the Lord can change our sorrow into triumph so quickly through prayer!

Closing Prayer

Yes, Father, we praise You for answered prayer and the confidence that You give us through it. We thank You that, indeed, You do not rebuke us in Your anger, but You are ever so patient with our many failings. Give us a hatred for and a true repentance from our sins and keep us from further temptation; guide us in fleeing from that which causes us to fall. In the name of Your Son through whom we have received forgiveness, Amen.

(Our study in the Psalms will continue in the next issue with Psalm 7)

Footnotes:

4. Calvin, cited in Plumer, Studies in the Book of Psalms, pg. 103.

5. Plumer, Studies in the Book of Psalms, pg. 103.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid., pg. 104.

8. Ibid., pg. 100.