"Longing For Praise" Psalm 6-8a Nov 23 2025

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.

Psalm 7:9–10 ESV

Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and may you establish the righteous— you who test the minds and hearts, O righteous God! My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.

Psalm 8:3–5 ESV

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

(Pray...)

Lament

As I mentioned earlier, Book I of The Psalms is made up of 41 chapters - or, 41 psalms

More than half of those fall under the category of “lament” psalms

This is just for Book I - remember, The Psalms is divided into five “books”

Within the entire Book of Psalms, lament is by far the most used genre

Out of praise psalms, royal psalms, wisdom, etc

Depending on how you classify it, there are about 59 lament psalms - out of the 150 psalms altogether

The genre of lament is the largest in the entire book - more than 1/3 of The Book of Psalms

We can’t ignore this

We can’t ignore that within his holy Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit - God allows, and welcomes, and ordains prayers from us that are “lament” in nature

He understands that we don’t have the full picture of what’s happening in our lives

And he allows us to have times of doubt, crying out, even complaining to him

David wrote a large majority of the lament psalms - and he was classified by the Lord as, “a man after his own heart.” [1 Sam 13:14b]

Let’s turn it around - most of the psalms that David wrote are lament psalms - a huge majority of what he wrote

I don’t think we should overlook this fact

The Book of Lamentations is an entire book of the Bible dedicated to the the laments of God’s people

- it’s full of grief and mourning over the fall of Jerusalem

Before we go farther - let’s first ask:

What is a lament?

Here is how I would classify a lament psalm:

“Structured Hebrew poetry that expresses the pain of what we endure in our lives - in light of our relationship with the Lord”

On the other hand, straight out complaining, or whining, or grumbling is the kind of thing Israel did to Moses

What’s the difference?

One maintains faith in the Lord - the other one does not

And here is the important part:

Godly laments in the Psalms preserve the relationship between the psalmist and his God

They implicitly or explicitly acknowledge their close relationship with the Lord - even when they reveal that they feel distant from God

A lament says to the Lord:

“Ultimately, Lord, I love you and trust you. You are my God and my refuge, but I am going through a rough time right now - and it feels like you are distant.”

A whiny complaint says:

“See I told you this would happen. I tried following you, and now look at the mess I’m in.”

They may not say it, but the underpinning of whining is like this:

“If things went MY way, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Do you see where faith is present in an honest lament? But is lacking when we think we know what’s best for us?

That lack of faith says, “I’m better at figuring out things than God is. God is simply out of touch. And I simply know better.”

And to be clear - there are godly complaints in the Psalms - but they’re always different from whining or grumbling

A godly lament or complaint is honest about their situation, but still acknowledges that the Lord is sovereign and in control of the situation

Whiny, grumbling complaints question God and insists that they know better

A godly lament still turns to the Lord - and even cries out to him

Grumbling says that trusting God in the past was a bad idea

A godly lament honestly admits: “I don’t know where all of this is heading, but I still trust in you.”

A godly lament displays humility

Grumbling is selfish and self-centered

Let me ask a question:

What religious god allows laments, like we find in The Psalms?

I can’t think of a religion that allows, let alone encourages its followers to express grief and sorrow like our Lord does

False gods, and pagan gods throughout history are, by nature, insecure

And any expression of sadness, or dissatisfaction becomes a reflection on that god

This is true with tyrannical dictators

Think of some of the kings in the Bible

Can you imagine walking up to King Nebuchadnezzar with a complaint, or concern, or a single doubt?

That would have been a clear sign of treason, punishable by death

Imagine in ancient Rome, walking up to Caesar and tell him, “Things are so bad for me right now - how long will it take for you to help me?”

Or Hitler, or Kim Jung Un?

We serve a mighty God - who understands us, and encourages us to come to him with our problems and anxieties in life

That’s why The Book of Psalms is loved by so many - it touches us emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually

This is why we respond to it as comfort food, but in a profound way

It expresses our heart for God - at the same time, God’s heart is also revealed in The Psalms

Someone wrote this regarding the Psalms:

When grace penetrates into the depth of an anguished soul, joy in the Lord anchors faith, which no one can remove.

[Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms (Revised Edition), ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 127.]

Psalm 6

Psalm 6 is another psalm of David

David begins pleading with the Lord to not rebuke or discipline him

Then he gives his reason in verse 2:

Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;

Be gracious to me, Lord - I am weak - I am frail

I am nothing under the your arm of wrath

David is pleading with the Lord

Many commentators point out that he argues his case before the Lord like an attorney

“Don’t discipline me in your wrath - I’m frail and weak”

In verse 4 he appeals to God’s love:

Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

He is lamenting to the Lord

Verses 6-7:

Psalm 6:6–7 ESV

I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.

The rest of the psalm is David telling his enemies to depart because the Lord has heard his weeping and his prayers

Psalm 7

Psalm 7 is another psalm by David

Again, he is seeking refuge from his enemies

He begins:

Psalm 7:1–2 ESV

O Lord my God, in you do I take refuge; save me from all my pursuers and deliver me, lest like a lion they tear my soul apart, rending it in pieces, with none to deliver.

He appeals to the Lord based on his own righteousness

He tells the Lord to let his enemies overtake him if he’s at fault

He’s certainly not saying that he’s perfect - but in this instance, he’s confident that he’s innocent

So sure he’s not at fault he prays this to the Lord in verse 6:

Psalm 7:6 ESV

Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

David seems to be drawing on the “wisdom” psalm, Psalm 1 - where there is a distinction between the righteous and the wicked

Nowhere is it implied that righteous people are perfect

We are righteous because of our faith in Jesus

I like verse 10:

Psalm 7:10 ESV

My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.

And later, David issues a warning to the wicked in verse 12:

Psalm 7:12 ESV

If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow;

In other words, God has reserved his wrath and judgment for those who ignore him - and turn away from him

Psalm 8

And now we finally come to the first “praise” psalm in Psalm 8

It’s also known as a Song of Creation

In one sense, a praise psalm is a welcomed change of course from all the laments

On the other hand, our praises to the Lord become even more - because he listens to our laments

He is a God who hears us - do you ever stop and think about that?

Not only does he hear us, he hears us in the context of our situation

God is not a God who could care less about our sufferings

God never says, “I don’t care what you’re going through - you better obey me”

He hears our praise - and he also hears our laments - and he hears our requests

What a mighty God we worship

When we stand before a God like that - after we’ve made our petitions - sometimes, all we can do is to just praise him

David does not make a request in this psalm

David doesn’t focus on his enemies or his situation - he just praises God

There is only joy, and praise, and admiration of what God has done and who he is

Let me ask - have you ever just stood in awe of how great and how majestic the Lord is?

This psalm is David, standing in awe of the Lord

He mentions the name of the Lord - which he did twice already

And here he is - starting off, praising the name of the Lord

Psalm 8:1 ESV

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

David begins and ends Psalm 8 with the same refrain

God’s name can be trusted - God’s name is worthy to be praised

God grants salvation, and redemption, and protection for all who call on his mighty name

God’s covenantal promises are sealed and guaranteed by his name

God’s name reveals who he is

By God’s name, he refreshes us, and forgives us, and restores us

There is nothing higher - on earth, or in heaven, than the name of the Lord

God assures of his promises to us by his name - since there is nothing higher

Worshipping God’s name acknowledges what he’s done for the world - and what he’s done for us individually

How long has it been in your life since you’ve praised the name of the Lord?

How long has it been since you came to him in prayer - with no requests, no agenda - only with praise on your lips?

How long since you’ve just thanked him and praised him?

Take the cue from this psalm and praise his name!

In fact, I urge you to pray through the psalms

Don’t just read them

Read them, but tell the Lord you agree with the psalm your reading

Make their words your words

We’ve gone through the first eight

I urge you to read them on your own - and actually pray them to the Lord

Now, this isn’t a legalistic command I’m giving - and some imprecatory psalms might not be appropriate

But when you come to praising God - like Psalm 8, learn to pray it to the Lord

Praying through the Psalms will transform you to God’s will and purpose

I’m going to abruptly stop right here

As I was studying this last week, I realized there is much more to say on Psalm 8 - and I don’t have the time to fully go into it here

Yes, it is a messianic psalm and yes, it points to Jesus

We’ll look at it in more depth next week - and we’ll look where in the NT it is quoted

For now, I encourage you to read it - if you haven’t read it already, I encourage you to read Psalm 1-8

I counted - it’s only a total of 82 verses

(Pray...)

We will be here next week

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week

Benediction

Heb 13:20-21

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus,

the great shepherd of the sheep,

by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight,

through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Communion

(Pick one…)

Matthew 26:26–29 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Luke 22:19–20 ESV

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he com

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