From there this morning, so Psalm 6, let's read together.
It says, O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing.
Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord, how long?
Turn, O Lord, deliver my life.
Save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you.
In Sheol, who will give you praise?
I am weary with my moaning.
Every night I flood my bed with tears.
I drench my couch with weeping.
My eye wastes away because of grief.
It grows weak because of all my foes.
Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea.
The Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled.
They shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.
And as we come to God's word this morning, let's just pray together as we open God's word together.
Let's pray.
Father God, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for this Psalm of David, Father.
Father, we thank you that we can read your word in our own language as well and that we can understand it.
Lord, we just pray as we open your word this morning that you would help us to understand more and more.
By your spirit, would you illuminate the words that we read this morning.
Father, would you speak through me this morning with the words that I say be from you and be your words, Lord.
Help us and change our lives through your word this morning.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
We live in a world that's full of pain, full of distress, full of hearty, death, sorrow, disruption and corruption, don't we?
We live in a hard and broken world and we've been reminded of that recently in recent events that have gone on, both here in Carragalline but also in passage in the last week.
We know that this world is hard and it's broken.
And in your personal lives, I'm sure that you felt that this world is hard, this world is broken.
Maybe you're struggling with a physical illness or maybe even a sinful temptation or maybe you're mourning the loss of a loved one.
But you know that this world is hard.
And David knew that this world was hard.
And when he wrote this Psalm of the Ment in Psalm 6, he knew that this world was hard.
But there is still good news, even in this hard world, even in this difficult world, there is still good news.
And that good news is that God invites us to cry out to him in the midst of our distress.
God invites us to cry out to him in this broken world, in the midst of this distress.
And he hears us.
And that's what I want you to see today.
I want you to see that you can cry out to the Lord in your distress and he will hear you.
Cry out to the Lord in your distress and he will hear you.
So as we come to this first section in Psalm 6,
in verse 3, David mentions that he's greatly troubled.
He says, my soul is also greatly troubled.
So today, as we look at this first section,
you're going to see that you can cry out to the Lord when you are greatly troubled.
I'm going to read from verses 1 to 3 again.
In verse 1 it says,
O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing.
Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord, how long?
David is greatly troubled.
He is greatly troubled in this first section of the Psalm.
But why is he greatly troubled?
Well, in verse 1 we see that he pleads to the Lord not to rebuke him and not to discipline him.
Not to rebuke him and not to discipline him.
And one thing that we know is that God needs to rebuke and discipline his people
only because of their imperfections.
Only because of their sinful actions.
Only because of sin in their lives.
God needs to rebuke and discipline his people sometimes because of that.
And David might be in the midst of that rebuke and discipline right now as he writes the Psalm.
He might be feeling the weight of that.
And we know that God rebukes or, well, he disciplines us as his people because of our sin.
And he disciplines every single one of us in the same way that a loving father would discipline their child.
But that discipline, it never feels good in the moment when we're being disciplined.
And David knows that that discipline doesn't feel good in that moment.
So as David's dealing with this sin problem, as he's dealing and going through this rebuke and this discipline from the Lord,
he then starts to ask for God's grace.
He needs God's grace in the midst of this discipline, in the midst of this difficulty, in the midst of this sin problem.
Look at verse 2.
Instead of saying, do not discipline and do not rebuke, he is now saying, do give grace and do heal.
He is using more positive wording in the second verse.
Do give grace and do heal me, Lord.
Heal me from what?
Well, he says that he's weak.
He says that he is languishing.
At least in my translation, he says languishing.
I didn't know what that word meant.
But essentially, languishing means like this, like just completely unable because of your weakness.
You cannot move.
You're just completely weak.
It's like an exaggerated weakness.
So in the midst of this weakness, David cries to the Lord to give him grace and help.
David knows that even in this weakness, he can cry out to the Lord and God will give him grace.
He has hope that God will give him grace.
That's why he cries out to the Lord.
But this weakness and this pain, it goes further than just this languishing word that he uses.
He says, my bones are troubled and my soul also is greatly troubled.
David is describing his entire being.
His bones and his soul are completely troubled.
They are completely broken.
He is broken.
He is weak.
He is broken.
This reminds me of like curling up in a ball, right?
When you're so weak and you can't move and you curl up in a ball and you don't know what to do with yourself.
But in that weakness, David cries out to God.
He cries out to God.
David's a man of God, isn't he?
We know that throughout the Bible.
David is a man of God and he has an understanding of God's grace.
He knows that God's grace is the only thing that he needs to sustain him and help him when he's greatly troubled in this weakness.
Maybe you, like me, have felt completely weak and broken because of your sin before.
Because of a sin problem in your life.
Maybe there's a sin issue in your life and you keep asking God for forgiveness.
Maybe you even tell God, I'm not going to do that again.
I won't turn back to that.
But day after day, night after night, the same struggle comes back.
Maybe you're struggling with self-control or anger.
Maybe it's jealousy or gossip.
Maybe you're struggling with a specific sin problem in your life.
Does that sin problem make you weak?
And do you ever try to get through that sin problem with your own strength?
I think that's one of the urges that we, as humans, that's one of the things we kind of lean towards,
is trying to get through our sin problems with our own strength.
Don't we?
We try to sort it all out ourselves.
We try to be the problem solver.
Right?
I love flying.
I love traveling.
I love going to other countries.
I love seeing the world.
But there's one part in flying that I don't like.
And that part is the turbulence.
And my brain goes straight to the worst thing that could possibly happen.
The worst thing that could possibly happen would be if I heard, if we felt this turbulence,
and I heard a massive loud noise, and then this alarm starts blaring,
and then before we know it, we're plummeting towards the earth.
And it's thrown back on my seat.
Time freezes.
Imagine if that was happening, right?
Time freezes.
You're thrown back on your seat.
There's nothing you can do.
But then your brain starts to go, how can I get out of this?
How can I save myself?
It would be quite ridiculous.
Maybe I can crawl out onto the wing and steer the steering flaps to fix the plane.
Or maybe I can get out to the engine and I can fix the problem that's going on.
Maybe I could even walk up to the cockpit with no flying experience whatsoever
and pull us out of this mess.
That would be pretty ridiculous, wouldn't it?
It would be pretty ridiculous.
Now the only person that you could turn to in that moment, right,
as the plane's plummeting towards the earth,
the only person you could turn to would be the pilot.
Would be the pilot in the cockpit,
because the pilot in the cockpit is the person who has control of the plane,
has all the knowledge of what's going on in the plane,
and knows exactly what's going on.
He's worked with these, or they've worked with these planes all their lives,
and they know what's going on.
And they're the only ones that you can look to to save you.
And it's similar with your sin.
We can't fix our sin by ourselves.
We can't fix our sin problems by ourselves.
Only God, by his grace,
only the one who created you,
who knows all things,
and knows who you are,
only he can help you by his grace.
And he will,
as we cry out to him.
And that's what David's encouraging us to do.
David cries out to God,
and asks for God's grace,
and asks for God's healing,
in the midst of this sin problem.
So you can also cry out to the Lord,
when you're greatly troubled,
because of sin problems in your life.
When sin overwhelms you.
When sin knocks you down.
When you're weak.
When you're curled up because of your sin.
When you don't know what to do.
Cry out to God.
In verse 3,
David kind of finishes that part in verse 3,
and he says,
but you, O Lord,
how long?
How long?
This kind of,
this shows us another level
of this struggling that David's going through.
He's kind of impatient with it.
He's crying out to God,
can you just,
can you just do it now?
Can you just help me now?
And maybe,
maybe you've been through that as well,
in your life.
Maybe you're suffering with a sin problem,
and you just ask God,
help me right now.
I just want to be out of this right now.
Sometimes God doesn't,
doesn't bring us out of it immediately.
Right?
He doesn't bring us out of it immediately.
But notice that David doesn't just stop crying out to God.
He doesn't turn away from God
just because God doesn't answer him immediately.
Right?
David doesn't stop crying out to God
because he knows that without God,
he can't be saved out of this.
Without God's grace,
he can't be helped out of this sin problem.
So David cries out to the Lord
when he's greatly troubled because of his sin.
But David also cries out to the Lord
in the fear of physical death.
He cries out to the Lord in the fear of death.
Look at verses 4 and 5 with me.
Turn, O Lord.
Deliver my life.
Save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death,
there's no remembrance of you.
Ensure who will give you praise.
David is now,
instead of having this sin problem
that he's struggling with,
he's now got this physical fear
that he's kind of struggling with,
this fear of death.
This physical fear of death.
And David pleads to the Lord
to deliver his life,
to save his life,
to help him.
But why?
Why would God,
why would God help him?
Why would David know
even that God's going to help him?
Well, because of the Lord's
covenantal love,
because of his steadfast love.
And that's what David mentions there
in verse 4.
Save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
This is a love,
the steadfast love has been mentioned
all the way throughout the Bible.
This is a covenantal promise
that God has made
with his people
from Abraham
to Moses
to the disciples.
And he also makes it to us.
He also makes it to you,
this promise.
This covenantal promise,
this steadfast love,
a promise of steadfast love,
he's made that promise to you.
And we know that when God
makes his promises,
he doesn't let you down.
He doesn't just give up
on the promises
that he makes to you.
He doesn't just say one thing
but act in the other way.
He's consistent
all throughout history
and to his people
he gives this steadfast
covenantal love.
So you can today
cry out to the Lord
in the midst
of this fear
of physical death
and he has promised
that through Christ,
if you're in Christ,
he promises
his steadfast love
to you.
And this means
in the midst
of your biggest fears,
in the midst
of physical pain,
you can cry out to him.
This is the promise
that David is resting on
throughout this psalm.
He cries out to the Lord
in this fear of death.
Look at verse 5 again
with me as well.
For in death
there is no remembrance
of you.
Ensure who will give you praise.
David is specifically worried
about not being able
to praise God
and remember God
after his death.
That's what this kind of
points to,
that he might not,
he wants to continue
to remember God,
he wants to continue
to praise God
and these are both
really important parts
of David's life
and this should be
really important parts
of our lives
as God's people.
Hebrew belief
in this time
was that there wasn't
like a hope
of heaven.
They didn't really know
where they would go
after death.
They mentioned Sheol here.
Sheol is like this
grey state of death.
Right?
But for us,
we've got the rest
of the Bible.
We know the whole story.
We know more
now than they did then.
We know that Christ came
and that Christ rose again.
But we might still feel
the weight of this
physical death
in our lives.
We might still feel
a fear,
maybe not even just
for your own life
but also for
your family's lives.
And one day,
and it's a fact
that one day
every single one of us
are going to die.
Every single one of us
on this earth.
But I want to encourage you
that when you feel
the weight of this
physical death,
cry out to the Lord.
Cry out to the Lord
and he will help you
because he loves you.
Because he gives
his steadfast love
to you,
his people.
And if you don't know
him today,
he welcomes you
with open arms
to come and cry out to him.
He welcomes you
in the midst of your
physical suffering,
in the midst of your
suffering with sin.
he welcomes you.
Remember Jesus
who knew
the pain
of physical death.
He knew
what it was like
to suffer.
He knew
what it was like
to be mocked,
to be beaten
and then he went
and hung on a cross.
He took
the weight
of God's wrath
on his shoulders
and he did that
as a substitute
for us.
He stood there
in our place
so that if we
repent
and believe
in the Lord,
if we turn away
from our sins
and believe in God
and cry out to the Lord,
he promises
to save us.
Remember that
we know more
of the story,
of the full story
of the Bible
than the Hebrews
did at this time
when David was writing.
We know more
of the story now
and we know
that Jesus
not only died
but he also
rose again.
And now he sat
at the right hand
of the Father.
And in this truth,
in this truth
that Jesus died
and he rose again
and you can come
to know him
and believe in him,
we also don't need
to be worried
about
not giving God
praise after death
and not remembering
God after death.
We don't have to be
worried about that
anymore
because
we will stand
with God in heaven
for all of eternity.
we will be with God
in heaven
for all of eternity.
Remember what John
said in Revelation 7
verses 9 and 10.
He said,
after this
I looked
and behold
a great number
that no one
could number
from every nation
all tribes
peoples
and languages
standing before
the Lamb
clothed in white robes
with palm branches
in their hands
crying out
with a loud voice
salvation
belongs to our God
who sits on the throne.
And one day
every one of us
who is in Christ
every one of us
who believes
in the Lord
will stand
before him
praising
and worshipping him
for all of eternity.
Through God's
steadfast love
we will be saved.
We will stand
in heaven.
So cry out
to the Lord
today
when you feel
the weight
of physical death.
You feel the fear
of physical death.
In the fear
of physical death
in the fear
or in your sin problems
when you're greatly troubled
you can cry out
to the Lord
but you can also
cry out to the Lord
as David did
in your weeping.
Cry out to the Lord
in your weeping.
Look at verse 6 and 7
with me.
David says
I am weary
with my mooning.
Every night
I flood my bed
with tears
I drench my couch
with weeping.
My eye
wastes away
because of grief
it grows weak
because of all
my foes.
David is in great sorrow.
He is greatly troubled.
He is in great pain.
And to us
it might seem
that David uses
quite a lot of exaggeration
throughout this psalm
when he says
my eye
wastes away
because of my grief
I flood my bed
with tears
I drench my couch
with weeping.
It might feel
quite over the top
for us
but to David
that doesn't feel
over the top at all.
That's a reality
for him
right now.
This is the reality
in David's life
right now.
In verse 7
we see for the first time
that David's actually
facing against
some human foes
and human enemies.
David had a struggle
throughout his life
with some human enemies
and this is the first time
in this psalm
that we see
these enemies
introduced
which caused
David massive distress.
David's not
in an easy life situation
so what he says
what he's saying
isn't over the top
at all
they actually feel
really
quite real
for David
to say
that my eye
wastes away
with grief
and maybe for you
today
these words
they don't feel
over the top.
if you've had
a serious moment
of suffering
in your life
maybe you've
worn the loss
of a loved one
or experienced
deep physical pain
these words
probably feel
very real
for you
today.
You may have felt
like your eyes
are wasting away
because of all the crying.
you may feel
like there's no tears
left
you may feel
like the pillow
that you're crying
into is soaked
with your tears
that it's drenched
with tears
this is what
David's feeling
and you can understand
that today as well
I think we can understand
that today as well
this suffering
that David's facing
isn't just a temporary
one time suffering
it's consistent
it's constant
it's
at night
right
it says
every night
I flood my bed
with tears
and I drench my couch
with weeping
so it's not just that
Mike but it's also
on his couch
during the day
this is somewhere
that David sits
similar to a sofa
for us
he sits on his couch
and he cries
and he weeps
it's not just a
one time struggle
this is a daily
struggle for David
he's devastated
devastated
with all that
is surrounding him
and he feels weak
he's suffering
he's helpless
feels alone
maybe
but what does he
choose to do
in this suffering
in this weeping
well he cries out
to God
cries out
to the Lord
one of my biggest
fears in life
is receiving
that phone call
from a family member
or a friend
telling me
that something
serious has happened
you pick up
the phone
you hear that
distressed voice
something serious
has happened
you have to get
to the hospital
immediately
this is possibly
one of the hardest
situations that I
could imagine us
going through
as a family member
or a friend
a loved one
is going through
serious illness
there's nothing
that we can do
to help in those
situations
all we can do
is we sit
and we can weep
and we can cry
out to the Lord
it can be one
of the most
loneliest places
one of the loneliest
feelings
for us to be
weeping
in those situations
by someone
maybe in a hospital
bed
and maybe you felt
like that in your
life
maybe at some
point in your
life
or maybe you even
feel like that
right now
something's happened
and sorrow's all
around you
there's nowhere to
go and you might
feel trapped
but there is one
place that you
can turn
one person that
you can turn to
and he does hear
us
and he does love
us
through his
covenantal
his steadfast
love
we can turn
and we can cry
out to the Lord
just as David
did
you can cry
out to the Lord
in your weeping
cry out to the
Lord
and he will give
you comfort
and he will give
you peace
in these most
difficult times
of your life
so as I've
encouraged you
today
cry out to the
Lord
in your weeping
cry out to the
Lord
when you're
greatly troubled
when you're
in the fear
of physical
death
cry out to
the Lord
but when we
cry out
we don't cry
out to one
who doesn't
hear us
we don't cry
out to just
no one
we don't cry
out without
hope
but instead
as David
does
we cry out
to the Lord
in confidence
as the Lord
who hears us
we cry out
to the Lord
in confidence
look at verses
8 to 10
with me
David says
depart from me
all you workers
of evil
for the Lord
has heard
the sound
of my weeping
the Lord
has heard
my plea
and the Lord
accepts my
prayer
all my enemies
shall be ashamed
and greatly troubled
they shall turn
back and be put
to shame
in a moment
the entire tone
of the psalm
completely changes
at this moment
the entire tone
David isn't just
weak
he isn't just
moaning
he isn't just
languishing
he isn't just
weeping
now he stands
in confidence
why does he stand
in confidence
how can he stand
in confidence
confidence
because of the
Lord
because of who
the Lord is
look at verse
8 to 9 again
the Lord
has heard
the sound
of my weeping
the Lord
has heard
my plea
the Lord
accepts my
prayer
David has
confidence
in the
Lord
in the
Lord
so when we
cry out
to the Lord
today
we cry out
in confidence
I wasn't a
very confident
child
and I
hated it
in school
when I had
to present
in front of
the class
bring a
presentation
in front of
the class
I hated the
idea of
having to
make up a
full presentation
and stand in
front of the
class
all eyes on
me
I hated
the idea
it was one
of my biggest
fears as a
kid
the week
leading up
to it
was awful
nights
of preparation
of anxiety
of your heart
racing
you don't
think you
can do it
and then
that day
comes
that day
comes
and you're
about to
get up
in front
of the
whole class
and panic
setting in
you feel
your palms
sweating
you have
no confidence
in yourself
you don't
think you
can get
up
but then
what if
somebody
walked
through
the
door
what if
your parent
walked
through
the
door
your parent
the one
who's
helped
you
through
all of
this
week's
preparation
leading up
to it
the one
who has
calmed you
throughout
your life
who knows
exactly
who you
are
and knows
exactly
how to
calm you
down
knows
exactly
what
you want
to hear
and what
you need
to hear
what if
your parent
walked
up to
you
just
before
you
got
to
that
presentation
sat
down
with
you
and
chatted
you
through
it
calms
you
down
your
entire
mood
would
change
wouldn't
it
your
entire
mood
would
change
you
aren't
scared
your
palms
aren't
sweating
anymore
your
heart
stops
racing
because
you
have
confidence
because
your
parent
stands
there
with
you
and
helps
to
give
you
that
confidence
and
in a
similar
way
we
can
have
confidence
when
we
are
distressed
because
the
Lord
is
with
us
the
Lord
helps
us
the
Lord
confidence
David
opened in
verse 8
with a
line of
confidence
he says
depart
from me
all you
workers
of evil
depart
from me
this line
of confidence
he has
authority
he's now
speaking as
one with
authority
in the
same way
in verse 10
he says
all my
enemies
shall be
ashamed
and greatly
troubled
David's
not the
one that's
greatly
troubled
anymore
but his
enemies
are
he stands
with
confidence
and
authority
now
David's
speaking
of human
enemies
specifically
that are
probably
seeking to
kill him
we know
this in
David's
life
we don't
know
exactly
when the
psalm is
in David's
life
but we
know
that in
David's
life he
was chased
by human
enemies
one of
those human
enemies
being Saul
and his
armies
who chased
David
but we
do know
that David
was saved
out of this
and God
delivered him
and David
cried out to
the Lord
in the midst
of his
human enemies
and now he
speaks as
one with
confidence
in the midst
of his
human enemies
and I'd
imagine
for us
today
hopefully
there's no
one in
here that
has a
human
enemy
seeking to
kill them
at least
I hope
not
but we
do all
have a
common
enemy
we do
have a
common
enemy
and that
enemy is
the devil
1 Peter
chapter 5
Peter writes
your adversary
the devil
prowls around
like a roaring
lion
seeking someone
to devour
the devil
prowls around
seeking someone
to devour
the devil's
our enemy
and he
seeks to
devour
us
and this
reality
can give us
great distress
this can be
really worrying
for us
this can cause
us to weep
this can cause
us to be
greatly troubled
this can cause
us to be
scared
but this
psalm
gives us
confidence
that as we
crawl out to
the Lord
as we cry
out to the
Lord in
this
in the midst
of the devil
he will hear
us
when the
devil prowls
around
tries to
devour
us
tries to
pull us
away
from God
tries to
tempt us
and pull
us into
that sin
that we've
been struggling
with
we can cry
out to the
Lord who's
more powerful
than this
enemy the
devil
and he
the Lord
will hear
your cry
for help
David now
stands as
one with
confidence
he's no
longer curled
up he's no
longer languishing
as I said
he's not
greatly troubled
he's not in
fear of death
he's not
weeping
but he is
standing as
one whom
the Lord
has heard
we saw
little glimpses
of David's
confidence
throughout the
sand
didn't we
in verse
2
David said
David understood
that God
would give him
grace
he said be
gracious to
me
so he had
some sort
of understanding
of God's
grace
later on in
verse 4
he remembers
God's steadfast
love as well
that covenantal
love that God
has promised
throughout all
of time
so David
did have
confidence in
the Lord
as he was
crying out
to the Lord
even in
the midst
of his
when he was
greatly troubled
in the fear
of physical
pain
and when he
was weeping
he had
confidence
so when you
cry out to
the Lord
today
when you're
greatly troubled
because of sin
and the fear
of death
when you're
weeping
in any
circumstance
in your life
whatever you're
going through
you can cry
out to the
Lord
with confidence
that he's
heard you
that he'll
respond to
you
so cry
out to the
Lord today
in whatever
situation
you're facing
do you know
him personally
do you know
the Lord
personally
do you know
him as your
saviour
God welcomes
you with open
arms today
to cry out
to him
cry out to
him
trust in him
believe in him
and he will
save you
and if you're
one of God's
people this
morning
all of us
face trials
every one of
us will go
through hardships
in our lives
but in the midst
of all of these
hardships
cry out to
the Lord
cry out to
God
in your
distress
and he
will hear
you
let's pray
Father God
we thank you
for your word
this morning
thank you
that this
psalm
of lament
is
maybe so
real
for some
of us
this morning
Father
thank you
that you
provide this
psalm for
us
even in
the midst
of our
distress
Lord
thank you
that you
hear us
thank you
for your
steadfast
love
thank you
for your
covenantal
love
all throughout
history
until now
thank you
for sending
your son
to die
for us
on the
cross
thank you
that now
we can
stand
and cry
out to
you
in confidence
so Lord
help us
today
help us
through our
lives
to cry
out to
you
in tragedy
in hardships
in our sins
in our
physical pain
help us
to cry
out to
you
and we
know
that you
will hear
us
Lord
be with
us
today
we
do
love
you
Lord
and it
in
Jesus
name
we
pray
amen