Praise Through the Discipline

(1) O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
(2) Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.
(3) My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?
(4) Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.
(5) No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?
(6) I am worn out from 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 ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.
--Psalm 6 KJV Bible
 
This lament psalm of David is the first of seven Penitential Psalms or Psalms of Confession. These songs are confessions of sin and expressions of humility before God. The full list of seven includes Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. It is said that in the early church believers used these psalms individually and corporately when expressing sorrow to God for their sins.
 
In verses 1 through 3 we see that David has sinned against God and that David realizes God is rebuking him for his actions. We see later in the psalm that God is apparently using David's enemies to punish David. In verse 3 we see that David feels he as endured this punishment long enough. He asks God how long it will continue.
 
In verses 4 through 5 David tries in two strategies to reason with God. First, he asks God to stop the torment because of God's faithful love--the Hebrew "hesed," the lovingkindness. Second, David tries a practical approach, telling God he wants to continue praising him, but he can't do it when he is dead. And David feels close to death from all is suffering.
 
In verses 6 and 7 David tells us that God is using David's enemies as the instrument of David's chastening. We also see by the extent of David's sorrow that they are doing a pretty good job of make David's life miserable—David is cried out from his sorrow.
 
Finally, in verses 8 through 10, David warns his enemies to depart, confident that God will answer his prayer. David speaks as a king purging his kingdom of evildoers. This particular psalm must have been especially close to Jesus' heart, for we have a record in the gospels of Jesus quoting verse 8 on at least two occasions, if not three. The first was while Jesus was clearing the temple of the merchants and money changers (Matthew 7:23). The second was in a parable about the timeliness of salvation (Luke 13:27). And a third time might have been during Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 26:41).
 
At the end of the psalm, David's cries to God for mercy become shouts of confidence that God has heard his prayer. The shame of David at the opening of the psalm is transformed in to the shame of David's enemies as David expects God to soon deal with his enemies.
 
O God, when you discipline me through circumstances, help me to remember that You do it in love and You do it to better me. Help me to praise You even through the discipline.
 
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