Psalm 6

Psalm 6 NKJV

A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress To the Chief Musician. With Stringed Instruments. aOn 1An Eight-Stringed Harp. A Psalm of David. 1O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure. 2Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled. 3My soul also is greatly troubled; But You, O Lord—how long? 4Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake! 5For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks? 6I am weary with my groaning; All night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears. 7My eye wastes away because of grief; It grows old because of all my enemies. 8Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. 9The Lord has heard my supplication; The Lord will receive my prayer. 10Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled; Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.

Be Worshipful The Pain of Discipline (vv. 1–3)

Eight times in the psalm David addresses God as “LORD—JEHOVAH,” the covenant name of God, and the address in verse 1 is repeated in 38:1, and see Jeremiah 10:24. When God deals with His children, usually He first rebukes and then chastens, just as parents first warn disobedient children and then discipline them (Heb. 12:5–6; Prov. 3:11–12). According to Hebrews 12:1–13, chastening is not punishment meted out by an irate judge but discipline given by a loving Father to help His children mature (see Rev. 3:19). Sometimes God chastens us in order to deal with our disobedience, but at other times, He chastens us to prepare us for what lies ahead. It’s like the training of an athlete for a race. David thought God was angry with him, but that wasn’t necessarily true. However, when you consider that he was surrounded by foes (v. 7), evildoers (v. 8), and enemies (10), and that his body was weak and in pain and his soul troubled, you can see why he felt like he had a target on his back.

A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Psalms Exegetical and Critical

The Church has with propriety made this Psalm the first of the seven penitential Psalms (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143.).

The eight stringed harp is the word Sheminith and is most likely a bass harp.

Prayer- תְּפִלָּה

Supplication- תְּחִנָּה Favour

Luke 13:27 NKJV

But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’

V. 8-10

Be Worshipful The Joy of Deliverance (vv. 8–10)

At this point, there’s a sudden and surprising change from suffering to joy, an experience recorded in other psalms (22:22; 56:10; 69:30). It doesn’t matter whether this change occurred later or immediately after David prayed, but he felt healing in his body and peace in his heart and mind. Perhaps word came to him that the enemy had retreated or, better yet, had been defeated, and he knew God had heard his cries. Or maybe his circumstances hadn’t changed at all, but David felt God’s witness in his heart that all would be well. The Lord had heard his weeping and requests and had accepted his prayer.