Psalm 6 (CB)

1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony. 3 My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long? 4 Turn, LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. 5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? 6 I 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. 8 Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping. 9 The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

WAITING IS HARD. “How long, O Lord, how long?” is the cry of someone who has walked with more pain and sickness than he thought he could ever bear. God hears the prayers of the hurting because of his “unfailing love” (the Hebrew chesedh, the steadfast love of a covenant God who cares for us not because we are perfect but because he is) (v 4). Though David scarcely has the heart to pray, his tears are not in vain. He gets an “answering touch” (vv8–9)—an assurance that God is listening even though he hasn’t done anything about the circumstances—yet (v10). God walks with us, and helps us to “run with perseverance the race” set before us.(Hebrews 12:1).