Upper Loft Meditation - Psalm 6

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faith; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?
Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. - Psalm 6:1-4

“I know I did it!” David knows he has sinned against God. The Psalm does not tell us what David did. It does tell us what the effect was on his mind, “in anguish,” and on his body, “in agony”. The same word is used in vs 2 & 3 to describe his body and his mind. In the original language it has the meaning of terror, trembling, and being anxious. David’s sin has an impact on his whole being. His mind is in shock and his body feels like it has had an encounter with a speeding truck.

David knows he deserves the punishment of an angry God, the discipline that should come from his hot displeasure. But, in faith he cries out to God for mercy. The root word for mercy means to bend down. “He was asking that God would bend down and look at him - be gracious to him as he lay there in pain.” David is asking for God’s forgiveness and healing presence.

How can David do that? Because he believes in God’s unfailing love for him. Where did David get this idea? It came from God’s revelation to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7. “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.”

Why do we persist in the pain and anguish of our sins when God’s grace and forgiveness are ever before us?

Repentance and forgiveness must be a part of our daily life. It is the way to know more fully God’s unfailing love.