Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.
Terrified. That’s how the psalmist feels in Psalm 6. God terrifies him. His sickness terrifies him. The thought of dying terrifies him. So how does he pray through his fears?
Feeling God’s anger, he prays:
Don’t rebuke me when you’re angry,
Don’t discipline me when you’re in a rage (v 1).
Sick in body and mind, the psalmist weeps through the night and prays:
My bones are in agony,
my soul in deep anguish.
I am worn out from groaning.
All night I flood my bed with weeping,
and drench my couch with tears (v 2-6).
Terrified of death, the psalmist points out that if he dies he won’t be much use to God:
The dead don’t proclaim your name,
Who praises you from the grave? (v. 5).
Thomas Hobbes described life outside of society as a life of “continual fear and danger of violent death,” a life “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short” (Leviathan, i. xiii. 9).
That’s how the author of Psalm 6 felt about his life.
Hobbe’s solution was for humans to live in society, to have a social contract for a civilized government that would provide a secure life.
The psalmist is not so philosophical. He takes his “solitary, poor, short” life to God.
Feeling God’s anger, he asks for mercy instead of wrath.
Feeling God has sent sickness, he prays for healing.
Feeling there is no end to trouble, he pleads with God, “How long, O Lord, how long?”
Let’s pray.
O Father, with the psalmist, we pray,
You have heard my weeping.
You have heard my cry for mercy.
You accept my prayer.
All my enemies will be overwhelmed,
They will turn back suddenly and be put to shame (v. 8-10).
You have replaced our terror with your presence.
We come to you, and discover that you are not angry.
We ask for healing, and we feel your love.
We bring desperate and confused minds to you, and you quiet us.
We bring ruined and despairing lives to you asking, “How long, O Lord, how long?” and you answer that you are preparing a future and a hope for us.
So we move from terror to confidence, from despair to hope, from doubt to faith.
You have heard our prayer, and that is enough.
Amen.
I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.
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