Ps. 6: Grace for the Groan

Intro:

Review from last week:

Psalm 4 a song about anger- did anyone buy the book?

When was the last time you found the problem and solution to be in the same thing? Car, exercise, food, marriage, money,

This is poetry, “The Message” presents an interesting read to compare to your translation because it is written more in line with the contemporary rephrasing of what the word for word translations say. A Dynamic Equivalent, which seeks the message/meaning of the text over the form

This is a “Penitential Psalm”. The first of 7., where the author cries out to God because thier sin has caused emotional and physical distress. Different than a Psalm of “Lament”

Scripture does connect physical sickness to sin in different locations

John 9:2 “And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?””

Turning:

rebuke/discipline—grace/healing

great trouble---deliverance

no remembrance—praise

Weary with moaning, grief, and foes—Hearing th sound of my weeping, plea, accepted prayer

plea to the LORD—Assurance He heard

Outline:

The Problem and the Solution: “O LORD (4x)” (vs. 1-3)

The Request: “Turn…Save Me” (vs. 4-5)

The Present Reality: “I am Weary” (vs. 6-7)

The Assurance: “The LORD has Heard” (vs. 8-10)

Summary: I am greatly troubled.

dealing with sin is enough to make our bones shake, isolation during sin is enough to make our souls shake

who do I address

How do I deal with

Illustration:

Prayer:

The Problem and Solution: “O LORD (4x)” (vs. 1-3)

Pre-Script

To the choirmaster- the music director. Last Week, Mr. Reider reminded us that these pre-scripts are actually a part of the hebrew text. In the hebrew text this pre-script is labelled as verse 1.

with stringed instruments- some have “upon an eight string lyre, or the 8th Octave (the distance between the same note, 8 notes). Potentially to take us from the lower note of lament to the higher note of confidence (Go to the PIANO)

I do not have an 8 string lyre, but I do have a Mandolin! Can anyone play it?

according to the “Sheminith”- transliteration of the Hebrew word

1 Chronicles 15:21 “but Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres according to the Sheminith.”

A Psalm of David- David is going to take us from the bottom note, to the octave above.

The Problem: 2 Negatives of Sin (vs. 1)

O LORD- YHWH, this is how the poem starts, with the LORD

rebuke me not- “yakah”, “carries a legal or parental connotation; it implies a rightful authority to judge and correct” (The New International Commentary on the OT, 103)

in your anger- David is pleading with God to stop chastening him! It is not a request not to be corrected, it is a request for the anger not to continue

Jeremiah 10:24 “Correct me, O Lord, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.”

nor discipline me- “yasar” “carries more of a sense of instruction than it does punishment” (The New International Commentary on the OT, 103)

in your wrath- don’t forget Psalm 4:4 “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah”. God is right to be angry with sin! It is not right, he is against it.

So, the question is, “should we take the preposition “in” anger and wrath to be instrumental or causal?

Instrumental: “do not rebuke me by means of your anger”, the Lord is a teacher

Causal: “do not rebuke me because you are angry”, the Lord is Judge

Hebrews 12:6 “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.””

The Solution: “2” Possitives of Grace (v. 2)

Be gracious to me

O LORD- YHWH

For I am languishing- “weak”, frail

Heal me

O LORD- YHWH

For my bones are troubled- “vexed”, terrified, horrified, shake. He is feeling it all the way to his bones, his whole body is wracked with pain

Ps 38

The question: How Long (v. 3)

My soul

is greatly troubled- vexed, terrified

But you

O LORD- YHWH

How long?

Israel in Egypt- 400+ years

Joseph in prison- 3 years

Jew in Babylon- 70 years

Woman with issue of blood- 12 years

David’s consequences for sin- 7 years of famine, 3 months of enemies constantly pursuing him, 3 days of plague

David is no stranger to waiting: to join his brothers, to be the crowned king, to build the temple,

Application/Implications:

Renew the Mind (the Scriptures):

What caught your attention in this section?

Which verses or words would you like to study a little more this week?

Engage the Heart (humility vs. pride):

Do you ever find that God’s timing/soveriegnty is often the problem and the solution at the same time?

God is right to be angry over sin. For example, how Hamas is treating others is wrong. You and I should be angry about these things.

Where are you today, do you see God as more of the reason for your problems or the solution?

What is it that has your soul and body troubled these days? what has you saying...”How Long?”

Transitional phrase: When we sin, we have a problem with God and yet that same God is also the solution to our problem. But, sometimes we hold off in repenting, sometimes the rebuke and discipline of the LORD goes longer than we would like. So what do we do?

The Request: “Turn…Save Me” (vs. 4-5)

Steadfast Love (v. 4)

Turn- 180 degrees

O LORD

Deliver my life- my soul

Save me

for the sake of

Your steadfast love- “mercy”

Sheol (v. 5)

For- listen to his argument, it is not just because he is uncomfortable.

in death

there is no remembrance

of you

for

in Sheol- KJV grave, the place of the dead

who will give you praise?

Spurgeon “Churchyards are silent places; the vaults of the sepulchre echo not with songs. Damp earth covers dumb mouths” (Treasury of David, 57).

Application/Implications:

Renew the Mind (the Scriptures):

What caught your attention in this section?

Which verses or words would you like to study a little more this week?

Engage the Heart (humility vs. pride):

What is the request of your heart today? What would it look like for God to “Turn…and save” you today? Have you asked, specifically?

Do people knowtice when you are not there? One of David’s arguments is that if he doesn’t recover, if he dies, who will give the Lord praise. In what ways does our presence at home or work incorporate the praise of the LORD and His deliverance?

How is one way that you can remind yourself of the steadfast love of God this week? What song, what verse, what reminder?

Enlist the Body (Words, actions, emotions):

When you sin, how long does it take you to turn to God in repentance? Is that time getting shorter? This is a sign of maturity.

Transitional phrase: David makes his request based off of the steadfast love of God. Not his merit, the wrongness of the offenders, or the trivial nature of the circumstance. He does not belittle his sin or excuse it. So what has this done to him personally?

The Present Reality: “I am Weary” (vs. 6-7)

Weary Tears (vs. 6)

I am

weary with my moaning- “sighing”, groaning, things are getting old and he is done with what has been going on.

“God’s people may groan, but they may not grumble”- Spurgeon

Every night

I flood my bed with tears-

I drench my couch with my weeping

Verse 6 is the main focus of the Psalm

Wasting grief (vs. 7)

My eye- why not eyes plural?

wastes away-

because of grief-

it grows weak- or “dark”

Deuteronomy 34:7 “Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.”

because of all my foes- who are his foes? “The most likely explnanation is that the foe are those who assume the Psalmist’s physical suffering is a divine punishment for some sin, and thus the sufferer experiences a double sort of pain: a physical and emotional pain on the one hand and a social and spiritual pain on the other” (The New International Commentary, 105).

There is a consistent belief during this time that physical sickness was judgment for sin. Think the book of Job. So not only is David feeling the sickness, but also the judgment of others.

Application/Implications:

Renew the Mind (the Scriptures):

What caught your attention in this section?

Which verses or words would you like to study a little more this week?

Engage the Heart (humility vs. pride):

Have you found yourself, your spouse, your co-workers, your kids to be sighing more often lately? Has there been more complaint than usual going around?

Have your nights been marked by emotional exhaustion and physical fatigue? Are you finding it hard to get out of the cycle of grief, like your days are getting darker? That is exactly what David communicates here. Are you ready to “Turn” to something other than yourself? Are you ready to seek deliverance from a trusted source?

Do you see the steadfast love of God as being able to address the sigh of your soul? Would you like a different flood to strengthen your heart and body?

Enlist the Body (Words, actions, emotions):

What emotion seems to be dominating your soul these days?

What circumstance or sin is wearing you out?

Who or what has become your greatest foe in the last couple of weeks?

Transitional phrase: The struggle is real! The sin in David’s life has caused emotional turmoil. This is a blessing because it has caused him to rely on the steafast love of God. There is no guarantee that circumstances will change or that consequences will lessen, but there is one Assurance that David walks away with...

The Assurance: “The LORD Has Heard...” (vs. 8-10)

My weeping (v. 8)

Depart from me

all you workers of evil- “pracitce injustice”,

for the LORD-

has heard the sound

of my weeping

My plea (v. 9)

The LORD-

has heard my plea

The LORD-

accepts my prayer

“…to be caught up both in God’s grace and in God’s anger. The psalm thus shows that there is an indissoluble link between lament and faith. Lament is not the absence of faith or an expression of faith being tempted into despair. to lament is to speak preciselhy from the position of faith, fom a position wichi recognizes that the Lord hears the cries of those who suffer nad is not indifferent totheml To lament is to lay claim to God’s heses with the faithful expectation that the Lord will vindicate the lowly” (The New International Commentary on the OT, 107).

My enemies shame (v. 10)

All my enemies

shall be ashamed-

and greatly troubled- verses 2-3, horrified, terrified

They shall

turn back- This sounds like an answer to his plea in verse 4

and be put to shame in a moment- this answers the question in verse 3 of “How long?”

Application/Implications:

Renew the Mind (the Scriptures):

What caught your attention in this section?

Which verses or words would you like to study a little more this week?

Engage the Heart (humility vs. pride):

The assurance that David is given is not found in the change of his circumstances but in the fact that the LORD has heard the sound of his weeping, his plea, and accepted his prayer

Transitional phrase:

Discussion Starters:

Where am I today, do I see God as more of the reason for my problems or the solution?

What is it that has my soul and body troubled? what has me saying...”How Long?

If I want God to “Turn” and deliver me, what will it look/sound like to “Turn” to Him

Summary: I am greatly troubled

Song: Lord reign in me

Benediction/Looking ahead: INVITE PEOPLE TO THE CAFE