How Long, O Lord? | Psalm 6

INTRODUCTION

The question, “How long, O Lord?” has been asked by people from the very beginning of man’s existence. This question is asked throughout the Psalms by David, Asaph, and Moses. God’s people have repeatedly cried out to him, “Lord, how long will it be like this?” If you are having those same thoughts today, be comforted that you are not alone. You stand in a long line of saints who have gone before. There is Hope.

HF: We are going to look at David’s sin, its consequences, and the restoration

Psalm 6

For the director of music. With stringed instruments.

According to sheminith (eight-stringed harp).

A psalm of David.

¹Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger

or discipline me in your wrath.

²Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;

heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.

³My soul is in deep anguish.

How long, Lord, how long?

⁴Turn, Lord, and deliver me;

save me because of your unfailing love.

⁵Among the dead no one proclaims your name.

Who praises you from the grave?

⁶I am worn out from my groaning.

All night long I flood my bed with weeping

and drench my couch with tears.

⁷ My 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 overwhelmed with shame and anguish

they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

Psalm 6 begins with a title

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith (eight-stringed harp). A psalm of David.

Well, we know first of all that King David wrote this Psalm. We also know that he directed it to the chief musician. Some people think the chief musician was one of the leaders of worship music in ancient Israel, a man like Heman or Asaph. Other people believe the chief musician perhaps is God himself. Sheminith was the instrument upon which this song was played, reminding ourselves that these Psalms were in fact songs that were sung and this was done with stringed instruments, specifically on an 8-stringed harp.

Psalm 6 is one of the first of what has been called the Lament Psalms. These are songs of confession and crying before God. In this Psalm, David is in trouble because of his sin and he feels distant from God.

Psalm 6 has 4 stanzas:

Stanza 1: v-1-3: The Psalmist’s Desperate Situation

Stanza 2: v4-5: Three Imperatives

Stanza 3: v6-7: Lament Reaches Its Peak

Stanza 4: v8-10

Psalms 6:1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

We don’t know what the occasion of this song was, but because of some kind of sin David sensed that he was under the rebuke of God. “God, I have done something to make you displeased with me, I have done something to excite your anger against me, you are rebuking me. Lord do not rebuke me in your anger.” He is crying out to God that God might lighten the sense of discipline or chastisement that seems to be upon David.

APPLICATION

There certainly are times when God does chasten his children so that they will be corrected from sin and walk more in his ways.

This is like a parent disciplining a child.

Proverbs 3:11 My son, do no despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke.

Hebrews 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?

God does chasten his children but David prayed that “Lord I am suffering the consequence of my sin, you are disciplining me but don’t discipline me in your wrath.”

We should remind ourselves that David lived under the old covenant. He lived before the finished work of Jesus, and he had reason to be less certain about his standing with God. You and I live on the other side of the cross on the other side of the finished work of Jesus Christ, and this is what we can know. The Bible tells us this, all the anger God may have towards us and towards our sin was poured out upon Jesus at the cross. Therefore we can know for certain when God chastens the believer he does it out of correcting love. He does not do it out of anger or wrath.

David did not have this same assurance, so this was a fair prayer for David to pray. After all, if a Father is going to spank or discipline his Son, we want the father to do it with love and with a cool mind, not to do it in wrath, and that is what David is praying about right here.

As he prays this, we move on now to verse 2 where he cries out to God for mercy.

Psalm 6:2-3 ²Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. ³My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?

David is feeling the weight of the Lord’s “anger.” The psalmist feels that God is disciplining him for some wrongdoing by bringing an illness upon him (v2-7), though there is no reference to any of his explicit sins in this psalm.

David Suffered Physically In His Body – How long?

• He felt faint and dizzy.
• He felt his bones in agony.

Maybe it was some kind of illness, fever or injury that David suffered, so he feels physical weakness.

David Suffered In His Soul – How Long?

Verse 3 “My soul is in deep anguish.” This tells us that he was also feeling the suffering in his soul. David’s physical pain was so much that emotionally he got down.

Psychologists say that both physical and emotional pain are connected. Emotional pain can lead to physical pain and physical pain can also lead to emotional stress and anxiety.

Do you know what made this all the worse? It was because David sensed God’s anger against him in the process.

If we are confident in God’s love and assistance, then we are great even in the midst of whatever trouble may come our way. But when we don’t have that confidence, when we have crises and wonder, “Is it because God is angry with me? Is it because God is striking out against me? It is difficult, because if God is against me then what possible good can there be for me.”

David then asks a question we all ask in our trials: How long Lord? David sensed that he was under the chastisement of God, but he still knew that he should ask God to shorten the trial.

We want the trials to be short and not long and I don’t think there is anything wrong in actually praying for that. David seems to be pained now more by the result of his sin than the sin itself. Ideally speaking, we would all be terribly grieved by the sin itself, but the result of our sin and the consequences of it, drives us to confession and humility before God. So ideally, it is just the sin itself that grieves us so much, but if that is not the case, then we can be driven there by the result, the consequences of our sins.

See the urgency of David’s plea for deliverance.

Psalms 6:4-5 ⁴Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. ⁵Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?

Psalm 6:4 Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.

“Turn” It shows that David felt distant from God. God had turned away from him. When we sense that God is near, we feel like we can face anything, but when we sense that God is distant from us, then we can feel weak before the smallest trial that comes our way. David felt distant from God.

“Turn, Lord, deliver me, save me because of your unfailing love.”

Isn’t that beautiful? He is coming to God and asking for God’s mercy. He is appealing to God for the sake of God’s mercy based on his covenant love, not God’s judgment. David knew that the Lord’s chastisement or discipline on his life was righteous, but he also knew that God is rich in mercy, that is why he says in verse 4 “save me because of your unfailing love.”

Affliction close to death

Psalms 6:5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?

During his affliction, David even felt that this may end up in his death. We go through many afflictions and think we may not recover from them. The world has many such afflictions like the covid-19, Dengue fever with a decrease in platelet counts, cancer and so on. He is asking for life. There is nothing wrong to pray for life when we see death ahead of us. However, the final outcome is the Lord’s. If he desires, he will heal. If according to God’s plan our time is up, he will take us. But there is room for prayer. Remember King Hezekiah’s prayer.

We need to pause just for a moment and consider this verse, “Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?”

There are people who have taken verses like this and taken them out of their context and say that when we die we cease to exist. I need to make a few points clear.

First of all, David clearly felt this way at the moment and spoke this way in the Psalms. In Psalms 6:5 David doubts that there is any remembrance of God beyond the grave. However, it would be wrong to take these agonized words of David as evidence that the Bible teaches that there is no life beyond this life.

Hope in the Resurrection

Here is the difference, in the Old Testament we find a shadowy understanding of the world beyond. Sometimes in the Old Testament, you have clear confidence in resurrection and the life beyond. Job triumphantly declares:

Job 19:25 I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

Sometimes you have statements of dramatic confidence in the life beyond in the OT, but other times we have the uncertainty about it that David presents here. Now again, I want to point out that David’s idea here isn’t to present a comprehensive theology of the world beyond. He is in agony, fearing for his life. He does not have the same certainty about the world beyond, so he says, “God act now according to what I am certain about.” It is true that sometimes in the Psalms there is at least a hint of deliverance from the grave with at least a suggestion of resurrection. You will find this in places such as:

Psalms 16:10 ..because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

Psalms 49:15 But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself.

Psalms 73:23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.

No Fear of Grave in NT

You take a look at those verses in the Psalms and there is at least a hint of deliverance from the grave. The picture given to us throughout the Psalms and in the Old Testament is not universally dark about the world beyond, but its shadowy, sometimes flashes of light, sometimes flashes of darkness. All of this changes when we come to the New Testament.

2 Timothy 1:10 …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.

Jesus Brought Life And Immortality To Light Through The Gospel

The understanding of the afterlife was murky or shadowy at best in the Old Testament. But Jesus let us know more about heaven and hell. Jesus could do this because he had first-hand knowledge of the world beyond, which of course David did not know. So we understand David’s heart here in verses 4 and 5. He is in fact crying out to God uncertain about his fate after this life.

David now gives a vivid description of his agony:

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

David here is pouring out his heart and describing his miserable condition before God.

The psalmist is in a miserable State. He is grievously ill and in sorrow. God’s chastising hand was so heavy upon David that his life seemed to be nothing but tears and misery.

You could say that David’s trial in Psalms 6 had at least 3 aspects:

• First, he felt God was angry with him.
• Secondly, he sensed a lack of God’s presence.
• Thirdly, he could not sleep, crying in his bed.

“All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.”

This is an excellent example of poetic literature in the Psalms. We understand that. David was not saying, “I cried so many litres of tears that my bed was actually floating on top of an ocean of tears.” That is not what he is saying at all. What David is saying is, “I cried so much, I cried a lot.” Again this is an example of poetic literature.

So we don’t take poetry literally. We need to understand the Bible according to its literary context. When the Bible is presenting to us historical truth, it is true history, but when the Bible presents to us poetry, its true poetry. Poetry will sometimes use poetic exaggeration to make a point. The Psalms are poetic literature.

David cried a lot.

In this context, David was crying a lot. He cried the whole night. David’s eyes were red and sore from all the tears and his lack of sleep and why “because of all my foes.” David was brought so low that his enemies no longer kind of prompted him to seize victory. He was depressed, discouraged and felt like there was nothing he can do.

Can you ever identify such a situation in your life where your life was just torn? Here is someone who went through a similar situation.

How Did David Get Through His Pain?

Last section:

Psalms 6:8-10 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 overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

David Dealt With His Sinful Friends

We get a feeling that his friends were leading him to sin. It may be that the sin that led David into this chastisement was associated with the ungodly. I can’t say that for certain, but maybe it was. Maybe this is David’s change of heart and telling his ungodly associates to depart. Maybe this is a declaration of David’s repentance. “Lord I have been hanging around with the workers of iniquity, I feel like I am under your chastening hand because of it, so Lord would you please show your mercy to me, but in the meantime, I will depart from me workers of iniquity, will not stand in their way. I will not do what they do and will keep myself from ungodly friends.”

David was acting consistently with a change of heart, with repentance, and telling those ungodly associates to depart. Be careful of our associations.

APPLICATION

What are the things that God is asking us to get away from? Friends, habits etc.

I think it is essential for us to separate from ungodly associations, not saying that we should not associate with people who don’t know Jesus Christ. I am talking about true partnerships. The deep friendships of our life. We need to be careful.

Have you heard these quotes?

Show me your friends and I will show you your future.

Show me your friends and I will show you your character.

You become who you hang out with.

You become like the five people you spent the most time with. Choose carefully Jim Rohn (Author)

You need to associate with people that fear God and inspire you.

Be Watchful Of Your Associations.

These associations that we put great depth and strength into, have a way of really influencing our life.

ILLUSTRATION

Dr J. Edwin Orr was a Baptist minister who lived from 1912-1987. He describes some of the work among new converts in England during the second great awakening in Britain. This would be in the middle of 1800. He says, “Among these converts was a boxer who had just won a money prize and a belt. A crowd of his erstwhile companions stood outside the hall in order to ridicule him, and they hailed the converted boxer with a shout. These are his companions mocking him. He is getting converted! What about the belt? ‘He’ll either have to fight for it or give it up !’ The boxer replied,’ I’ll give it up! If you won’t go with me to heaven, I won’t go with you to hell!’

J Edwin Orr says that he gave him the belt but persuaded some of them to accompany him to the services, where another was converted and set busily working. What sticks in my mind about that story is what the boxer said. He said, ‘If you won’t go with me to heaven, I won’t go with you to hell.’

David dealt with his sinful friends.

The Lord heard David’s weeping.

Psalms 6:8-9 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.

See the emphasis on the Lord here:

• If we see in verse 8 “the Lord has heard my weeping”.
• Verse 9, “The Lord has heard my cry for mercy.
• V9b ..the Lord accepts my prayer.”

This is a note of confidence and focuses upon the Lord. Some of David’s victory in Psalms 6 is really a matter of a change of focus. He was in great agony, great pain and that is not erased at the end of the Psalm, but his focus is upon the Lord.

David is saying the same thing 3 times in a row. But this again is a mark of Hebrew poetry. This is the Hebrew method in the poetry of emphasis by repetition.

He ends the Psalms on a note of confidence. He made his agonized cry to God and God heard him.

Psalm 6:8 The Lord has heard my weeping.

• David Dealt With His Sin.
• David Focused On God.
• The Lord Heard David’s Cry.

Do you realize that weeping has a voice before God?

It is not that God is impressed by emotional displays, but a passionate heart may very well include tears and weeping, which impresses God. David was not afraid to cry, to weep before the Lord, and God honoured the voice of his weeping.

We should learn to think of tears as liquid prayers. – Charles Spurgeon

We really can be so in communion with God even in the midst of our agony that our tears are something like liquid prayers. David wants to declare strongly as possible that ‘God has heard his prayer.’

ILLUSTRATION

I am reminded of the story of Martin Luther, It is said that once Martin Luther was wrestling very hard with God in prayer, and then when he was finished with his prayer, he came jumping out of his prayer closet and what he was doing was he was crying out “victory, victory.”

David has the same sense that he has prevailed with God at the end of Psalm 6. God has heard his prayer and he repeats it 3 times, then concluding with verse 10:

Psalm 6:10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

David understood that when God received his prayer, it was going to be trouble for his enemies.

David now saw that his temporary agony and trouble gave way to permanent agony and trouble for his enemies.

For David, it was real enemies. Israel had enemies. David had enemies. But in the NT we do not have any human enemies. No nation is our enemy. But both in the OT and the NT our real enemy is sin, death, grave, and Satan. We may have temporary agony in this world but Jesus has Jesus defeated our enemy forever on the cross and at his coming, this victory will be fully realized.

Conclusion: In Psalm 6, we see David’s sin

• Probably because of wrong associations, and wrong friends.

We saw the consequences of his sin:

• Physical & Emotional Suffering.
• Tears and grief.
• Separation/distance from God.

David’s response:

• David Dealt With His Sin.
• David Focused On God.
• The Lord Heard David’s Cry.

The restoration of David’s relationship with God and he ends in praise.

Where Do We See Jesus In Psalms 6?

I want to bring you 3 places where we see Jesus in Psalm 6.

1. We See Jesus In The One Who Cried Out To God For Help.

Psalm 6:3 My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?

Did not Jesus say something very similar to that in the Garden of Gethsemane, that his soul was greatly troubled even unto death? David cried out to the Lord for help. David’s greater son, Jesus the Messiah in an even more dramatic and emphatic way crying How long?. But that is not where it ends.

2. We See Jesus In The One Whom Lord Heard.

Psalms 6:9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.

God heard the prayer of Jesus Christ. Every prayer Jesus ever prayed was answered. When Jesus surrendered in that dramatic troubled prayer of asking the father How long? in the garden of Gethsemane, God answered by giving him the strength and the ability to go through everything that he went through on the cross, making the payment for our sins and being the one who was the sacrifice for his people. Jesus, we see him in the one whom the Lord heard.

3. We See Jesus In The One Who Is Rescued From The Grave.

Psalms 6:5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?

It looks like I might die, I am destined for the grave, but God rescued David in Psalms 6. If God rescued David from the grave. We see Jesus as the ultimate one whom God rescued from the grave. Of course in his resurrection, in the new life that he had. Jesus died on the cross as a payment for our sins, but 3 days later he was seen to rise again, and he was resurrected never ever to die again. Jesus is the one, who is rescued from the grave and we are rescued from the grave through Jesus. There is a resurrection for us because of Jesus’ resurrection.

CONCLUSION

I hope that Psalms 6 is meaningful to you that when you feel that you are under the discipline of God, his chastisement, his displeasure that you won’t run from God, worse yet you won’t run to the world or the flesh or the devil, but rather you will run to God and pray such a prayer as Psalms 6. I pray that God uses this look at Psalms 6 to bring comfort and strength to some agonizing saints who feel that God is rebuking them in his anger.

They need to pray the prayer that David prayed in Psalms 6 and they need to look to the greater son of David, Jesus Christ for every victory that he has given us under the new covenant. Even when this is persisting for a long time, even with questions like how long, Lord? never lose hope in the Lord.

Life Application Points

• God Disciplines His Children.
• Don’t Run Away From God, But Run To God And Pray.
• Be Watchful Of Your Associations.
• Change Your Focus From Your Problem To God.

Jesus Brought Light And Immortality Through The Gospel

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