“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined [to be conformed to the image of His Son], these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Romans 8:28-30.
Every Christian should commit these verses to heart for times of trouble.
Psalm 6 begins with a preamble, this is part of the psalm but they are instructions to the musicians.
“To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. On an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.”
“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?” Psalm 6:1-3.
“O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.” Psalm 6:1. While psalms do teach us principles which are timeless and practical for all the ages, there are some differences.
Under the Old Testament dispensation, believers were under the law, because Jesus Christ had not made His sacrifice on the cross.
“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Romans 10:4.
As a result believers in that day were justified before God by faith in Him and the belief that He would one day remove their sins once and for all.
“Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” Galatians 3:24-25.
Meanwhile the burnt sacrifices according to the law were an outward show of a believer’s faith and a covering, not a full payment for their sin.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not only has sin been expunged for the believer, but they become children of God through Jesus Christ.
“He [Jesus] came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name…” John 1:11-12.
The Old Testament saints through His sacrifice have also been vindicated once and for all, and their faith in God justified.
However, even though God views us as sinless in Christ it does not mean that He is not displeased with sin in our lives. And it does not mean that we are going to commit sin and get away with it.
This is where many Christians make a grave error; they think that because their sins are washed away by the blood of Christ that they can sin and get away with it.
This makes our sin the more egregious because we are knowingly abusing a privilege which was bought at such a great price, the death of God’s Son.
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” 1 John 1:6-10.
Because of this mindset, many Christians are surprised when horrific things happen in their lives. As a child of the living God I should be able to just pray these awful things out of my life. No you may not!
Christians must change their sinful behavior before they can expect things to change. Even then one may find the cause of their chastening by God and vow to stop.
Yet the trial goes on, that is because the mouth says it will quit sinning but the heart is still the same.
Chastening is intended to change the heart attitude. It is an error to think on human terms as when children fight with one another. We think we can just cry out, “Ow! Ow! Uncle, uncle, I quit!” and the fight is over, the other person having won. Or does the one who cried uncle say; “Trick! I fooled you!”
The chastening stops when the liar stops lying, the thief stops stealing, or when the bully stops bullying. A similar thing was said to Job when he complained about God’s dealings with him.
“For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne chastening; I will offend no more; teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more’? Should He [God] repay it according to your terms, just because you disavow it? You must choose, and not I; therefore speak what you know.” Job 34:31-33.
“And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” Hebrews 12:5-8.
“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” Hebrews 12:11-13.
God’s principles never change, He does only what is right, just and needful to bring the Christian to the full measure of a man in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 4:11-32).
“Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity. For He repays man according to his work, and makes man to find a reward according to his way.” Job 34:10b-11.
“Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak…” Psalm 6:2a.
God is merciful to us because He understands our frailties.
“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” Psalm 103:11-16.
“…O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled; but You, O Lord – how long?” Psalm 6:2b-3.
Sin and grief rob us of health and strength, even the heart to go on. “My soul also is greatly troubled; but You, O Lord – how long?” This last sentence is expressive of tremendous grief and ends in an unfinished cry, “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?” Psalm 6:4-5.
The Psalmist feels that death is very near and cries out for God’s mercy. But think on that, it is God’s mercy that has spared many righteous and many an atheist in a fox hole as death rained around him.
God’s mercy is from everlasting to everlasting, but a man’s memory is short and His mercies are soon forgotten.
“For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?” Psalm 6:5.
There are those who teach that this means that the dead either cease to exist or are in a state of unconsciousness. Both views are incorrect.
This verse is comparable to other passages in the book of Ecclesiastes, both of which have a simple explanation.
“For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.” Ecclesiastes 9:5.
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” Ecclesiastes 9:10.
“For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?” Psalm 6:5.
Walk across any cemetery and look at the tombstones, what do they tell you? Was this man a great craftsman, or a hopeless alcoholic and wife beater, or this woman a librarian, a wonderful mother, or devious cheat?
The tombstone may tell something, though it may be an exaggerated truth. Whatever it may be, row after row of graves are silent, the dead have nothing more to say, nothing more they can accomplish, only the works they leave behind; which may or may not impact more than a handful of people left behind.
The Christian who has fallen asleep can no longer spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, nor can they help the poor and needy, or give thanks before all men for the grace of God, or continue to serve God in any manner.
These verses are looking at the graveyard not heaven where the departed in Christ would have gone, nor do they truly depict the ones who are conscious in hell.
“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.” Psalm 6:6-7.
In despair David saw the evil of his own heart and the sinfulness of it and his tender heart must have mourned over the wickedness of the world around him. Such things must have convicted him and grieved him because of the continual offenses against a holy and loving God.
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5.
The modern mind has no idea of the odiousness of the offense that even a little white lie has in the presence of a holy God. As a result of this we wade around in the filthy sewage of the world’s ways without even noticing it.
This is particularly true of the Christian who wanders from Christ, ceasing to go to church, or read God’s word; such persons compare themselves with the world and think, well I do not drink, take drugs, or stray from my wife, I am a good Christian.
You cannot compare yourself with sinful men and pronounce yourself a good Christian; in fact you cannot compare yourself with other Christians and pronounce yourself a good Christian. It is only by comparing oneself with Christ that we can see our true condition.
“For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” 2 Corinthians 10:12.
“…Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A plumb line.’ Then the Lord said: ‘Behold, I am setting a plumb line [Jesus Christ] in the midst of My people Israel; I will not pass by them [their crookedness] anymore.’” Amos 7:7-8.
When last did we make our bed swim with our tears over sin, or feel a numbness of soul over some evil thing that we did?
One woman so felt the effects of sin in her life that she could actually wash the feet of Jesus with her tears.
“And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.” Luke 7:37-38.
“Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ Then He said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.’” Luke 7:48-50.
The Psalmist has been focusing on his own anguish and in doing so has forgotten to focus on the Lord. He realizes this in the next three verses and turning to God, he claims the victory.
“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.” Psalm 6:8-10.
Apparently the writer of this psalm was being attacked by those who hated him and whether they were trying to take his life or just spreading rumors about him is unclear.
The enormity of his problem is indicated by the fact that he is in fear for his life in some manner, Psalm 6:4-5.
Whatever the case may be, the Psalmist by confession of sin to God and calling out to Him in anguish has received his request for mercy from the Lord.
“Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” Psalm 50:15.
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me [to confess to God].” Psalm 51:1-3.
“When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” Proverbs 16:7.
“Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity…” for the Christian this phrase may be taken in two ways. If one is being attacked as the Psalmist was, God will turn these people away from His child.
On the other hand the workers of iniquity may be the friends and associates of the Christian, in this case, when the Lord hears the Christian, it may be that they would cease to associate with those who are ungodly or even sinful Christians.
For any Christian who finds themselves in the same predicament as the Psalmist here the wisest advice is for them to fix their eyes on Jesus, because He is the only one who can rescue or see you through any circumstance.
The disciple Peter walked on water until he took his eyes off of Jesus.
“So He [Jesus] said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him…” Matthew 14:29-31a.
“…he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save Me!’ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him…”
Remember this.
Psalm 6:1-10, I Am Weak taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 4-15-15, updated on 5-4-23.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.