Psalm 6 Song of the Penitent

O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger,

Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.

Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak;

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

My soul also is greatly troubled;

But You, O LORD — how long?

Return, O LORD, deliver me!

Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!

For in death there is no remembrance of You;

In the grave who will give You thanks?

I am weary with my groaning;

All night I make my bed swim;

I drench my couch with my tears.

My eye wastes away because of grief;

It grows old because of all my enemies.

Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;

For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.

The LORD has heard my supplication;

The LORD will receive my prayer.

Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;

Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.

After reading Psalm 6 a few things stand out. Though verse 10 of the Psalm reminds us of the theme we have found repeated in the first five Psalms – that of the clash between the two classes of mankind: the righteous subjects of the Messiah and the rebels who stand against Him – at the same time, this Psalm differs wholly from the first five Psalms in its expression of humble grief. For this reason, Psalm 6 is classified as the first of seven of what are known as ‘Penitential Psalms” (the others are 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143). Psalm 6 is David’s sorrowful prayer for mercy at a time of deep affliction, which he recognizes is the result of the just chastening of God, which he has brought upon himself. He affirms that he can no longer bear up under his present suffering and that divine glory would only be obscured should his distress continue until his death. Despite this he nevertheless ends up sure of divine compassion – that his prayer is heard and answered in the defeat of his enemies.

In pleading his case before God for deliverance, we find David recognizing the terrible consequences of his personal sin. We find sorrow, humiliation, and even hatred of sin which are the unfailing marks of a contrite and repentant heart. He does not make his plea based upon his own greatness, or God’s wonderful plan to use him in the future, but rather his weakness (v.2). A sense of his own sinfulness has removed the Psalmist’s pride, and so taken away any reliance which he may have had upon his own strength. In this way God even uses sin in our lives to remove any hope that we might have in ourselves. It is one of the ways all things work together for good for those who love Him. Even our very rebellion against God, is used by Him for our good and His glory.

The glory of God is the Psalmist’s chief aspiration. In verse 5, the Psalmist laments: For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks? Although God is glorified even in eternal condemnation, the Psalmist’s desire to live is not so that he might live for himself, but that he might voluntarily glorify God among the living sons of men. God is glorified on earth by the continuing witness of the church. It is to be the utmost desire and prayer of the church to see God’s name hallowed, His kingdom advanced, and His will done on earth, as it is in heaven.

The Penitential Psalms, just like sin and repentance itself, though beginning in the darkness of unbelief usually end in hopeful exultation. This is a reminder to us sinners, that when we sin and are chastened, if we would only pour out our complaint before the throne of grace, our soul too would be unburdened. Can you not see the glory of God’s love and Gospel in this wonderful truth?

Listen to this message here:

Psalm 5 A Morning Prayer

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.

Men of God throughout history have found solutions to life’s problems by directing their prayers to the One who would hear and assist them. Before even their day begins they receive the confidence necessary to face their afflictions and bear their burdens. There is little doubt that if we would cease the hustle and bustle of our morning hour and deliberately take time to direct our prayers to God, that we too would have the constant joy of looking up into His face all day long.

E. M. Bound has noted, “The little estimate we put on prayer is evident from the little time we give to it. … Not infrequently the preacher’s only praying is by his bedside in his nightdress, ready for bed and soon in it, with, perchance the addition of a few hasty snatches of prayer ere he is dressed in the morning. How feeble, vain, and little is such praying compared with the time and energy devoted to praying by holy men in and out of the Bible! How poor and mean our petty, childish praying is beside the habits of the true men of God in all ages!”

Matthew Henry (1662-1714), best known for his commentary on the entire Bible, spent most of his ministry as a pastor of a church in Chester, England. Henry was a diligent student of the Word, rising as early as 4 o’clock in the morning to spend eight hours a day in study and prayer, in addition to his pastoral labors. Charles Simeon (1759-1836) devoted the hours from four until eight in the morning to God. Martin Luther (1483-1546) testified, “If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day;” and “I have so much to do [today] that I should spend the first three hours in prayer.” He had a motto: “He that has prayed well has studied well.”

Samuel Rutherford (1660-1661) rose at three in the morning to meet God in prayer. Joseph Alleine (1634-1668) arose at four o’clock for his business of praying till eight. The great Scottish preacher Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843) proclaimed, “I ought to spend the best hours in communion with God. It is my noblest and most fruitful employment, and is not to be thrust into a corner. The morning hours, from six to eight, are the most uninterrupted and should be thus employed.

Martyn Lloyd Jones asks us the probing questions: What part does prayer play in our lives and how essential is it to us? Do we realize that without it we faint? Our ultimate position as Christians is tested by the character of our prayer life. It is more important than knowledge and understanding. … The ultimate test of my understanding of the Scriptural teaching is the amount of time I spend in prayer. As theology is ultimately the knowledge of God, the more theology I know, the more it should drive me to seek to know God. Not to know about Him, but to know Him. … If all my knowledge does not lead me to prayer there is something wrong somewhere. It is meant to do that. The value of the knowledge is that it gives me such an understanding of the value of prayer, that I devote time to prayer and delight in prayer. If it does not product these results in my life, there is something wrong and spurious about it, or else I am handling it in a wrong manner.

Take some early morning time this week to search these Scriptures and find their common thread: Gen 19:27, 28:18, Ex 24:4, 34:4, Nu 14:40, Josh 6:12, I Sam 1:19, Job 1:5, 2 Chron 20:20, 29:20, Ps 57:8, 119:47, Mark 1:35.

Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For in You do I trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You.
Psalm 143:8