Have Mercy On Me!
Psalm 6

Have you ever had a “Why me” kind of day?  I heard about a man standing innocently on the subway platform, waiting for the doors to open.  A train came, the doors opened and a man standing on the train on the other side of the subway door lost his lunch the very moment the doors opened!  The doors quickly closed and the man was left standing on the subway, wondering, WHY ME?  Psalm 6 is a song that wonders something similar to that!

These early Psalms lay a foundation for these magnificent hymns of praise.  Psalm 1 contrasts the godly man with the ungodly man, and this is a continuous theme within the Psalms.  Psalm 2 tells us of man’s war against God’s Messiah.  Psalm 5 is the first of the imprecatory Psalms, and Psalm 6 is the first Psalm of repentance.  Some of the greatest penitence passages in Scripture are found in Psalms, and this is considered the first of the Penitent Psalms.

How do you respond to the chastening of the Lord?  David says, “Rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure” (Psalm 6:5).  He does not say, “Do not rebuke me,” which speaks of correct or discipline.  Neither does he say, do not chasten me.  But he does pray, do not correct and chasten me in your anger or hot displeasure!  David knows that the Lord will chasten all of his children in love, and not in anger. 

One of the easiest things for us to do is to think that God is angry or displeased with us when we are chastened of Him.  The fact is this: God does not chasten us in judgmental wrath but in corrective love. 

Do you despise, resist, collapse or quit when God chastens you?  Or do you accept it and submit to it?  Are you angry at God?  Have you hardened your heart to Him, and do you complain and gripe against him? Do you find yourself questioning His love and wisdom?  We despise His chastening if we question what the Lord is allowing, how long He is allowing it, or why he is allowing it at that moment in time.

The Psalmist cries to God: “Have mercy on me, because he was in the following three conditions:

1. He was WEAK and in PAIN!, v.1-4

• He experienced Real TROUBLE: his body and soul were vexed.

v.2: By bones are vexed.
v. 3: My soul is also sore vexed.

This word “vexed” means weak and troubled, terrified and horrified.  He uses this word three times in this Psalm (v.2, 3, 10).  Do you remember when Joseph’s brothers found out that Joseph was indeed alive and had power of life and death over them?  They were vexed.

Genesis 45:3: And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.

In 2 Chronicles 26:20 it is used of Uzziah being thrust out from doing the priest’s work in the Lord’s house:

0And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.

Ezra 4:4: Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

“Vex” means to trouble and to feel thrust out of God’s sight and presence.  David finishes this Psalm praying that his enemies be ashamed and sore vexed! (v.10)

1. The Trouble was in Real TIME: But thou, O LORD, how long?

“How long” is a question we all ask.  This question is asked many times in Scripture, and at least sixteen times in the Psalms.  Trouble comes in real time.  For David, it was not imaginary trouble, they were not fantasy enemies or pretend problems.  They were real troubles in real time.  And he wanted to know HOW LONG he had to endure these troubles.

Psalm 13:1, 2:  How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?  2How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

Psalm 35:17: Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.

Psalm 74:10, 11: O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? 11Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.

Anyone who has believed in Christ and sought to follow him has had this experience:  The Lord does not seem to do what we ask, when we ask it.  We pray and do not get an immediate answer.  We like to know HOW LONG.  Like children on a trip, we ask God, “HOW LONG until we get there?”  How long will I have to deal with this trouble?  If I know how long I have to endure a particular situation, then I can better handle myself.

In the midst of his pain, he prays for God’s deliverance.  “Deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake!” (Psalm 6:3b)

2. He was WEARY of the STRAIN, v.4-7

There was excruciating tension, pressure, and hurt in David’s heart. 

• The strain of death was upon David (v.5).  Would he live?  H realized that if he died, his body would be still and unable to give praise.  David had seen the eerie stillness of a dead body where lips would lie silent. 
• The strain of sleeplessness was upon David (v.6).  Life has its strains.  Sometimes strain in relationships result in a sleepless night.  He was weak (v.2), and he was also weary and waxing old in his weeping.
  
• The strain of grief was also upon David (v.7).  His eyes were failing because of the grief and the tears that continually flowed from them.  Grief speaks of irritation and frustration.

3. He was WEEPING in Prayer, v.8-10

He commands his enemies to depart from him because God heard the voice of his weeping and his prayers.  He places his confidence in the power of God, and entrusts himself to Him!

When you are weak and in pain; weary of the strain, and weeping in prayer, never forget that God will have mercy upon you.  His mercies are new every morning!