Let us turn again to the portion
of scripture that we were reading in the book of Psalms, in Psalm
6. The sixth Psalm, and directing your attention to the words that
we find in verse 3. Psalm 6 and verse 3, My soul
is also sore vexed, but thou, O Lord, how long My soul is sore
vexed that thou, O Lord, are long. In Psalms 6 and verse 3. Of course many of the Psalms,
in fact we might say all of the Psalms, are really in the form
of prayers. And certainly that's the case
with these Psalms that we've just heard in the service been
reading. Remember the opening words of
Psalm 4. Hear me when I call, O God of
my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I
was in distress. Have mercy upon me and hear my
prayer. Psalm 4 is certainly a prayer,
as is the case also with Psalm 5. Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation. hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my king and my gods, for unto thee
will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto
thee, and will look up." These certainly are prayers. And so here in Psalm 6 again
we see David as a man of prayer. Right through the opening part,
the first seven verses, he's addressing himself to God in
his prayer. In verses one to four, some five
times, we find this expression, O Lord, O Lord, rebuke me not
in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. Have
mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me, for my
bones are vexed, my soul is also so vexed, but Thou, O Lord, how
long? Return, O Lord, deliver my soul,
O save me for Thy mercy's sake. And where we have the O before
the word Lord, it indicates that it's the vocative, it's that
noun that is used when we're addressing a person. David is
addressing himself quite clearly then here to the Lord is God. And when we come to the end of
the Psalm, we see that he does not pray in vain. He doesn't see God's face in
vain. What does he say in verses 8
and 9? Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity, for the
Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard
my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer. Oh, he speaks quite clearly then
here at the end of God hearing his prayers. And God does hear prayer. And
He assures us of that, does He not? Those great words that we
find in Isaiah 65, he says, before they call, I will answer. Whilst they are yet speaking,
I will hear when we speak. God hears us, but before we call,
He answers us. We are not to imagine that we
are heard and answered because of our much speaking. It is of
God's mercy that we find answers to our prayers, but He will have
His people come and inquire of Him. This is the promise that
He has given, is it not? That He will hear us when we
cry. And yet, so often, like David, we come with these words
that we find at the end of this third verse. But thou, O Lord,
how long? Or often times we feel that God
is not hearing us, God is not answering us. How long will it
be before the Lord is pleased to grant those things that we
come and ask, those things that we would seek from a good and
a gracious God? But thou, O Lord, O Lord. Let us come to consider the words
of this particular text tonight. And first of all, concerning
David's prayer, I want us to think of that that was the cause
of it. There is something that lies
behind the prayers of David, is there not? Oftentimes, of
course, in the title that we have at the beginning of the
Psalms. We are told something of the circumstances and the
situation that brought David to pen these Psalms. And as I say, these Psalms are
prayers. Now we saw that this morning,
looking at the words of Psalm 18. We were considering the words
there at the end of verse 35. But remember that psalm as a
title that tells us something. Psalm 18 is a psalm of David,
the servant of the Lord, who spoke unto the Lord the words
of this psalm in the day that the Lord delivered him from the
hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said,
and then we have the content of his psalm. But there was a
reason. There's a certain situation that
David has been brought to there at the end of his days because
we saw that that psalm is also to be found at the end of the
second book of Samuel in chapter 22 and chapter 23 of that book,
that second book of Samuel tells that these are the last words
of David. Psalm 18, David is at the end of his life, and as
he reflects, as he thinks back, he remembers all those gracious
deliverances that the Lord had granted to him. So it's a psalm
of thanksgiving. But there are reasons behind
the psalms, even those psalms in which we're told nothing concerning
the circumstances of the psalmist's life. There's nothing in the
title to tell us what was the situation in which David found
himself. And yet I say there is a reason,
and we see a reason in this particular psalm, this sixth psalm. He says
in verse 2, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me, for my bones
are vexed. David was sick. That's what that
would indicate, surely. He's a man who is in a weak physical
condition. And he feels it in his bone.
and he desires the Lord to grant him healing. In fact, he was
so sick that he was wondering if this was going to be the end
of him. Was he going to die? In verse
5 he says, For in death there is no remembrance of thee, in
the grave who shall give thee thanks? David is in a very low
place physically. And surely friends, is it not
a truth that when we're in that sort of situation, physically
in troubles, oftentimes does it not come to this that we're
made to be so earnest in our prayers to God, when we're brought
to that low place, when we feel our real weakness and our inability
to do anything to help ourselves, we have to turn to the Lord,
we have to behave like that good King Hezekiah and turn our face
to the wall because we're on the bed of languishing, the bed
of sickness. It makes us so earnest and so
urgent in our prayers to God, and this was David. But David's
distress was not only physical in nature, surely we see in this
psalm that there was also a spiritual aspect to David's situation. Here in the words of the text
in verse 3, my soul, he says, is also sore vexed it's not just
his physical condition that he's feeling in his very bones in
his very being but it's also it's his soul my soul is also
sore vexed he cries out here in verse 3 and observe observe
the adverb that we have he says not just vexed, but sore vexed,
sore vexed. And what does it mean? Well,
it means very vexed. He's extremely vexed in his soul. And so he cries out, but thou,
O Lord, how long? The language is so emphatic.
and so earnestly even that little expression that we have in the
middle of the verse but that but that you see if we omitted
that the verse would still make sense my soul is also so vexed
oh lord how long no he's so minded here to cry to god there's an
emphasis in that little expression, but thou, and then he is so earnest
in his cry to God. How long? How long will he find
himself in this situation? How long before the Lord is pleased
to come and to appear for him and to grant him the deliverance
that he desires? It's a sinner's sense of need,
a sinner's sense of need that lies behind the words of David,
always aware that he is a needy man, not just with regards to
his physical condition, but also with regards to the matters of
his soul. He's dealing here with the great
God, he's dealing with the Lord, the One who has created him,
that One who is the Holy One of Israel, or that God you see
before whom sinless beings, sinless angels have to veil their faces
and cover their feet and they cry, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God
of hosts. And this is the one that David
is having dealings with. There is such a sense of his
need as he comes here to utter his prayers before God. And so his prayer is a real prayer.
We're told, are we not, there in the fifth chapter of the book
of James, something of what real prayer entails. There in the end of James chapter
5, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. And then we're told of Elijah.
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed
earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months, and he prayed again,
and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."
Or the effectual fervent prayer. This is the prayer of Elijah,
you see. He prayed earnestly. What does it say in the margin?
He prayed in his prayer. That's what it literally says
there. Elijah prayed in his prayer. You remember the children's hymn,
I often say my prayer, but do I ever pray? And do the feelings
of my heart go with the words I say? All friends are with those
who really pray in our prayers. This is what David is doing,
he's praying in his prayer. He is earnest with God. The language,
as I say, of the text is such emphatic language. But thou,
O Lord, how long? Doesn't God give us that gracious
word of assurance that if we do but come in such a fashion
as this, with this earnestness and this singleness of mind,
that He will hear us? You shall seek me and find me,
He says, when you shall search after me with all your heart,
or to be wholehearted in our prayers to God and not to be
those who mock Him with our divided hearts hearts that are at the
same time as we are speaking to God running after the things
of time and of sense running after the things of this world
or to set our affections on things of God where Christ is at God's
right hand that's the religion that we should desire When I
say that, I'm not saying for a moment that's the religion
that I am, but I hope that's the religion I desire. To be
one who is sincere before God, an Israelite indeed, in whom
there is no guile. Is that what we long for, that
we might know something of that that Christ said concerning Nathaniel? An Israelite indeed, in whom
there is no guile. We're coming to David here in
the psalm. We see that he was a man who
was recognizing God's hand was upon him in whatever it was that
had befallen him. He felt God was chastening him. Look at the opening verse, O
LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me, in
thy heart's displeasure. And so he prays in verse 2, Have
mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak. Now we know, we know that
this chastening is the evidence of us being the children of God,
whom the Lord loveth He chastened. And scourge at every son whom
he whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, says
Paul, God dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he whom
the Father chasteneth not? It is evidence, this chastening,
this correction, when God takes us in hand and deals with us
and crosses us. And as it were lays his rod upon
us. It's evidence that we are truly his children. And David was a child of God,
the man after God's own heart. But see how David asks here,
that in chastening God does not deal with him in the way of anger.
O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in
thy hot displeasure. He wants God to deal with him,
yes, but he wants God to deal with him in a kind, and a gracious,
and a tender fashion. That that we spoke of this morning,
thy gentleness, he says in Psalm 18, thy gentleness hath made
me great. That's what he wants. And we
see something very similar in the request that the Prophet
Jeremiah makes in Jeremiah chapter 10 and verse 24, he says, O LORD,
correct me, but with judgment, not in anger, lest thou bring
me to nothing. Oh, it's a fearful thing, is
it not, to fall into the hands of a living God. For God to be
dealing with us, He'll bring us to nothing. And
so Jeremiah prays there, correctly he says, but with judgment. And
isn't God a God with judgment? In the day of his rough wind,
he stays his east wind. He remembers that we're dust,
because he knows our fright. And even when we're in temptations,
he makes a way of escape. that we may be able to bear it
but how with those who feel to come at times and to pray with
this man David when the Lord is dealing with us, rebuking
us, chasing us that he doesn't do it in anger or hot displeasure
we sometimes sing the words of Joseph Hartz in the hymn 304
he says fine would I find my God but fear the means perhaps
may prove severe if thou the least is pleasure
show and bring my vileness to my view timorous and weak I shrink
and say Lord keep thy chastening hand away Can we really bear
the sight of ourselves, the sight of our sins? That's what God
does, you see, when he comes to chasten us. He shows us what
we are. When he deals with us in that
way of righteous judgment, he causes us to see that there's
a reason for all that he does with us. He's never a God who
is directed by whim or fancy. He doesn't take us up as some
plaything. That's not God. in all his ways, in all his dealings,
he's ever a good and a righteous God. Now let us not think here
that David's language in this psalm, David's prayer is some
sort of morbid prayer. That's not the case at all. David
simply feels a reality of what he is before God. He feels a
reality of his own sin. He says here At the end of verse
2, my bones are vexed. The word means dismayed, so dismayed. It's similar, is it not, to the
language that he uses also in another psalm, in Psalm 38. There
is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger, neither is there
any rest in my bones. because of my sin, my loins are
filled with a loathsome disease, there is no soundness in my flesh,
I am feeble and sore broken, I have wrought by reason of the
quietness of my heart." Well, friends, here is what lies behind
David's prayer. There's a cause, there's a reason.
God is dealing with him. God is dealing with him. Though he can't understand God's
voice because there's always a mystery in the dealings of
the Lord, the mystery of his providence and though he's afflicted
in his body and longs for healings he recognizes also that God is
dealing with him in his soul and so he's brought to cry and
to call upon the name of the Lord the cause of his prayer,
the reason why he writes as he does, his writing we know under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit but we're not to imagine that
the doctrine of inspiration is such that the Holy Ghost simply
dictates the words and David just writes them down as some
sort of amanuensis, you know in times past people would have
one, two write for them, they would dictate, and the words
that they dictated, they'd be written down. That's not the
way of inspiration. In Scripture, when God, the Holy
Ghost, inspired David to pen these words, He brought David
into such circumstances and situations, he had such experiences in his
soul, that he's brought to write out of the fullness of his own
heart. There is a reason there. But
let us turn in the second place to look more particularly at
the words of the text, the content of this part of his prayer. What does he say? That thou,
O Lord, how long? How short the prayer is. It's
a very short prayer, is it not? He simply asks God, how long? I remember the late Mr. Leonard Broome, the pastor at
Bethesda in Southampton, probably one of the quarterly prayer meetings,
remarking on more than one occasion that these short prayers, these
short prayers are the best prayers. These short prayers. And we have
short prayers recorded in Scripture, do we not? We think of of Peter,
bold, impetuous Peter. Here is the Lord Jesus walking
on the waters, going to his disciples. When Peter knows it's the Lord,
he climbs out of the boat and Peter begins himself to walk
on the waters to meet the Lord. And then suddenly, he seems to
be so much aware of all that's about him, the raging elements,
and he begins to sink. And he cries out, Lord, save
me. Oh, what a prayer. Lord, save
me. And in a moment of time, there
is Peter safe again in the boat together with the Lord. The Lord
did save him. But what a prayer is that? Lord,
save me. And then again, you can think
of that woman, that Canaanite-ish woman, who comes to the Lord
Jesus with her poor, afflicted child, her daughter. The Lord
seems to ignore her. The disciples want her to be
sent away, but she will not be denied. We are told how she,
though a Canaanite woman, she worshipped him. Oh, she worshipped
the Lord Jesus Christ He came unto his own, he came unto the
nation of Israel, he came unto the Jews, and they received him
not. And yet this Canaanite woman, this woman of Syrophoenicia,
she worshipped him. And how did she worshipped him?
In her prayer. And what was her prayer? Lord,
help me. Lord, help me. All these short prayers, friends,
the publicans prayer so short God be merciful to me the sinner short prayers are good prayers
are they not and this is a very short prayer and in many ways
it's a strange prayer that thou oh Lord how long how long must
I wait How long must I suffer? In a sense, it seems that this
is a prayer that David doesn't really finish. He begins to pray.
He's going to ask for something, but he doesn't really complete
the sentence. He only says, how long? How long
what? It's a broken prayer in that
sense. And yet, you see, God takes account of broken prayers.
We have recorded, do we not, the prayer of Moses, the man
of God, a remarkable prayer, Psalm 90, a wonderful portion
of scripture, is it not? But Moses didn't always pray
in that fashion. In Exodus 32 we see an occasion
where words seem to fail Moses as he comes and pleads with the
Lord God God would disinherit the children
of Israel they'd been guilty of the most vile sin Aaron had
made a golden calf and they'd worshipped the calf they may
have said they were worshipping God by means of the golden calf
but it was contrary to what God had said in the Ten Commandments
and there is Moses now in the mount 40 days and 40 nights acting
as their mediator receiving instruction from God and they grow weary
and they do this wicked thing and Moses is sent down from the
mount and God says He will disinherit them He will cut them off in
the wilderness and make of Moses a people that Moses prays for
them There, at the end of Exodus 32, Moses returned unto the Lord
and said, O these people have sinned a great sin, and have
made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book
which thou hast written. And you see, in a sense, it's
a broken prayer. If thou wilt forgive their sin,
what? It doesn't finish. But it begins,
it's indicated. There in verse 32 of Exodus 32. It's a broken prayer. And in
that sense it's like David's prayer here in the psalm. Thou,
O Lord, how long let us not be afraid to come to God with broken
sentences. Not fine words is it. I remember
the late pastor here Mr Matronola saying when he comes to the place
of public prayer and the man's called on to speak in prayer
and he doesn't find it easy some of them already get to put words
together but he said and it stuck with me he says how he liked
it when the man had to beat that prayer out every word every word
he was praying he had to beat it out he had to feel for it
and find it And that's real prayer, is it not? That's real prayer. Sometimes we come like that and
words fail and we're struggling. And our sentences are poor, broken
sentences. But we have that blessed assurance,
do we not, of the ministry of the Holy Ghost. There's not only
one in heaven, who makes intercession before the very throne of God,
but there's one who dwells in the heart of the believer, who
makes intercession also. Those words that we have in Romans
8, 26, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, and
maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. All those broken
sentences, they are according to the will of God. And when
we pray according to God's will, our prayers are sure to be answered. And this is David, you see. This
is how David, the man after God's own heart, prays, Lord, he says,
all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from
them. But thou, O LORD, how long, how
long? Verse 6, he says, I am weary
with my groaning. All the night make I my bed to
swim, I water my couch with my tears. Oh, what prayers are these! Look again at the language that
we have in Psalm 13, another of David's Psalms. And what does
he say? How long will thou forget me,
O Lord, forever? How long will thou hide thy face
from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long Shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? Here we see what along means,
means many things, many things. There we have to come sometimes
with those sort of prayers, do we not? Broken sentences. Although to speak they'll be
not able, always pray and never faint. Prayer is a weapon for
the feeble. Weakest souls can wield it best. All those weak souls. Here's
David then, in all his weakness, I am weak, he says in the second
verse. And yet still he's able to call
upon God and cry to God. It's not fine words, friends,
is it? It's not fine words. It's real prayers that are so
important a part of the true worship of God. not some fine
liturgy. We see that, certainly we recognize
that. You only have to look at the
Book of Common Prayer, 1662. And some, much of it I suppose,
the great majority of that book was written by Archbishop Cranmer. And the collects are beautiful.
The language is lovely. But what is it to read those
fine words? because they don't use it anymore.
But it's just an outward force. Sooner come with our poor prayers,
our broken sentences. Desire that we might have that
in our hearts that is real before God. Such furnished and urgent
desires after Him. The preacher tells us in Ecclesiastes
chapter 5, Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God. Be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not what they
do. Be not rash with thy mouth. Let not thine heart be hasty
to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, thou upon
earth. Therefore let thy words be few. Few words. And that's what we have here
in David, is it not? But thou, O Lord, he says, how
long? All the content of his prayer. His real prayer. In his broken
sentence. And then what is the result?
What's the consequent? of all this praying that we have
in the first part. The first seven verses are really
David's prayer. As I said at the outset, he is
addressing himself to God, O Lord, he says, O Lord, O Lord. And
he cries out and then he acknowledges that his prayer was accepted. The end of verse 8 and verse
9, The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath
heard my supplication, the Lord will receive my prayer." We have
three statements, three parallel statements. In principle he is
saying the same thing over and over again. He's repeating himself. But that's not vain repetition.
The Lord Jesus gives instruction concerning prayer, does he not?
When you pray, he says, use not vain repetition like the heathen
do. They think that they shall be
heard for their much speaking. Be not thou like unto them. It's not vain repetition. It's
not coming to God, you see, with a multitude of words and saying
many wonderful things. What does David do here? He pleads
in terms of the mercy of God. In verse 2, Have mercy upon me,
O Lord. In verse 4, O save me for Thy mercy's sake. He pleads mercy. He pleads the
mercy of God and in that sense his prayer is not unlike the
publicans prayer remember the publican that the Lord Jesus
speaks of there in Luke 18 those two men who go to the temple
at the hour of prayer the ones the Pharisee who congratulates himself before
God speaks thus with himself I thank you that I am not as
other men are and so on I'm not like this publican, or I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the poor publican, how he
stands afar off, so ashamed he cannot lift up his eyes to heaven,
smites upon his bosom, cries out, God, be merciful to me,
a sinner. It's the same as David, have
mercy upon me, O Lord, Oh, save for thy mercy's sake. What is this mercy? Well, the
word that's used there in Luke 18 and verse 13, God be merciful,
is the word propitious. God be propitious to me, a sinner. And that means, it means that
to plead for mercy is to plead Christ. It's to plead Christ. See how the Lord Jesus is spoken
of in Romans chapter 3 and verse 25. We read of Jesus Christ whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. The Lord Jesus Christ is a propitiation. Now, the word that we have there
in Romans 3.25 An interesting word, because
it's used on just one other occasion in all of the New Testament. That same word, exactly the same
word is used in Hebrews 9 verse 5. And there the apostle is describing
the furnishings in the tabernacle, in the temple. And he speaks
of the mercy seat. The mercy seat. It's the same
word. And so going back to Romans 3.25 we could read it like this,
and God has set forth to be a mercy seat through faith in his blood. All remember the mercy seat.
Remember the events recorded in Leviticus chapter 16, the
great day of atonement. The great day of atonement. The
one day in all the year when the High Priest and only the
High Priest was permitted to enter into the Holy of Holies. He could go beyond the second
vial into the Holy of Holies. And what was there? There was the Mercy Seat and
it was upon the top of the Ark of the Covenant. You remember
that chest? that was made of shitting wood
overlaid with pure gold and they were to place the tables of the
Lord, the Ten Commandments there in that chest, that ark and there
was a lid, a covering, it was the Mercy Seat and on each end
of the Mercy Seat there were cherubims and their wings were
overshadowing the Mercy Seat And God said that there He would
meet with Israel, Exodus 25, there He would meet with Israel.
That was His throne. And on that great day, the Day
of Atonement, the High Priest was to go and He was to take
the blood of sacrifice and He was to sprinkle it before the
mercy seat, upon the mercies. He was making atonement. Making
atonement for all the sins of the people. on that great day
of atonement, sprinkling the very throne of God, the Mercy
Son. And it's all a type, of course, of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the Mercy Son. He is the one who has made the
great sin-atoning sacrifice. Propitiation. It speaks, you
see, of the wrath of God. And if God is angry with the
wicked, God can by no means clear the guilty. His justice must be satisfied. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that One who has come and satisfied the divine justice and made the
great sacrifice. There's mercy. What is David
doing here? He's pleading Christ, have mercy
upon me, O Lord. O save me for Thy mercy's sake,
for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Mercy Saint. And how different it is for us,
friends, only the High Priest could enter, the Holy of Holies. That one day, the Great Day of
Atonement, how different for us, as we come in Christ's name
in this Gospel day, in whom we have boldness and access with
confidence, says Paul, by the faith of Him. Oh, we have boldness. Let us therefore come boldly,
says Paul, to the Hebrews, boldly unto the throne of grace, which
is the mercy seat, that we might obtain mercy and find grace to
help in every time of need. David, you see, he is looking
to Christ, he's pleading Christ, And Christ says, Whatsoever ye
shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. And so we're to come. We're to
come trusting in Christ and then we have that assurance that we
will not come in vain, our prayers will be heard, our prayers will
be answered. Or David says, But thou, O Lord,
How long? Return, O Lord. Deliver my soul. O save me for Thy mercy's sake. We do not wait upon Him in vain.
We might think at times that God is long time answering our
prayer. The psalmist says in Psalm 40,
I waited patiently for the Lord. and the margin tells us that
it literally says in the Hebrew in waiting I waited in waiting
I waited for the Lord and that waiting is not some passive thing
or there's such earnestness and such urgency where there's waiting
in waiting and he says he inclined unto me and heard my cry God
hears us We're to rest in the Lord, we're to wait patiently
for Him and He will hear us and answer us. In the appointed time
He'll do it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
that we might learn then from David's experience. Why are these
things written? I said this morning how I was
struck only recently once again by those remarks in some of the
writings of Bernard Gilpin as he reflected on his own experience
remember what we said this morning he was an evangelical clergyman
and yet though schooled in those things and well schooled with regards to
the great doctrines of the gospel He realized that he had no real
experience in his soul concerning those things. And in that sense
he found that the book of Psalms was in many ways close to him.
It was a dark book, a difficult book. And he said it was as the
Lord dealt with him in his soul that it opened up to him. That
God, as God deals with us in our experiences that we can enter
into these things and understand why these things are written.
They are written for our learning that we, through patience and
comfort, through endurance and comfort of the Scriptures, might
have hope. Oh, let us be those then who
desire that the Lord Himself would instruct us, even from
the experience of this man, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the
man after God's own heart, He says in his prayer, My soul is
also sore vexed, but thou, O Lord, how long? Amen.