A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress
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?
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?
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.
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.”
Once more, David is in distress-enemies on every side, friends betraying him, family deserting him. David is in such anguish that he literally hurts all over; every joint in his body feels as if he’s been beaten. All David’s attempts to encourage himself have failed and he has wept so many tears he feels his bed will float off at any moment. There is nobody to whom David can turn for help, apart from God.
“O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.” Has David sinned against God? David isn’t certain, but in case he has sinned, David is begging for forgiveness. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.” When nobody else around David will help or encourage him, David must turn to God and beg for mercy.
“My soul also is greatly troubled; but You, O Lord—how long?” Sometimes trials seem endless; just as we have settled one problem, two more pop up. And the more the problems multiply, the less human help we receive; in fact, our friends and acquaintances may assume that we deserve all these problems. Surely we must have committed some secret sin to be in so much trouble!
“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?” David is so depressed that he thinks he is about to die; yet, he still calls on God to save him.
“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.” David is exhausted emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
“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.” Convinced that God has heard and is acting on his behalf, David now rebukes all those attacking him. David does not beg God to kill his enemies, but he does beg that those opposing him will be “ashamed suddenly.” David begs that all his enemies’ slanderous accusations will prove so ridiculous that they will be ashamed to have ever made them in the first place.
APPLICATION: I am writing this Bible study on September 11, 2023, the 22nd anniversary of the villainous attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. If not for the courageous actions of the passengers of United Flight 93, who stormed the cockpit and downed the plane in Pennsylvania, another plane might have flown into the White House. As we have watched several television programs depicting the events of that day, I find myself intensely praying for the survivors, for the families, for all the emergency workers who responded and their families.
The amazing thing about that tragedy is not the number of people who died but rather the number of people who were saved, many of them miraculously. Due to the vigilance of the Head of Security for the World Trade Center, evacuation drills had been carried out quarterly ever since an earlier abortive attack in 1993. It is estimated that those drills alone saved at least 2,000 people. That man was last seen re-entering the building to find others and lead them out; sadly, the buildings collapsed around him. Fire fighters and others led victims to safety and then returned to save more.
Many of these people can identify with David’s sentiments in this psalm. No matter how much time has passed, the cataclysmic events of that day remain fresh in the minds of millions of people. Those who have most successfully recovered appear to be those with a strong faith in God. These people can certainly bear witness to the truths David has described in this psalm.
One family has taken the contributions that have flowed into them to establish a scholarship in honor of their little daughter, a math whiz. Others have found new ways of helping others around them who are grieving.
Psalm 6 and others like it are helpful because we can repeat them when we have no words for our own distress. David’s prayers can become our prayers as well. Whatever you are facing today, remember that God is always with you and that the same God who led those brave people to lay down their lives for others on September 11, 2001, will be with you in your suffering. There is a saying that “When you find yourself at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” I would add, “Hang on, for God is there with you.”
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, You know those who are in distress and hopeless, feeling they have nobody to help. Speak to those people’s hearts, that they will know that You love them, that You are with them, and that You will never leave them or forsake them. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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