A Troubled Soul - Psalm 6 (Psalms 6)

3:00In 2 Samuel chapter 11, get there real quick. 2 Samuel chapter 11. You remember what happens in chapter 11 of 2 Samuel? David's sin with Bathsheba, right? You remember what happens when, and what does he do? He actually takes another man's wife and he actually kills, has Uriah killed in the process. So Uriah is very faithful to David. David takes his wife and has Uriah killed in battle, staged murder, if you will. Then in chapter 12, David comes to him. I mean, Nathan comes to David and confronts David and said, you have done this great evil, confronts him with the sin. And this is what he says in verse 9. Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword, with the swords of the sons of God's enemies. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me. Me. So, what's happened in this is David has sinned against God. He has despised God.

4:38And so, what happens is in verse 11, David, God says, Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household. I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all of Israel. And so, David's going to experience a little bit of his own medicine.

5:18He is going to have an uprising from his own household, from those who David would expect would be loyal to him. He is going to experience the overthrow or the conspiracy against him from those who he would expect would be his friends. Kind of like what he did for Uriah, right? Uriah would have expected if anybody would come to his aid and could be trusted, it would be his king. So, chapter 13, so there's a consequence for David's sin. It's heavy. Heavy.

6:02And so then in chapter 13, what happens is Amnon, one of David's sons, rapes one of David's daughters, the sister of Absalom. And so you talk about a dysfunctional family here. This has got it. This is many wives, children, different. So you have, and then David is made aware of what Amnon did. And in chapter 13 and verse 21, now when King David heard of all these matters, he was very angry, but he didn't do anything about it. And so David didn't deal with it properly. There is a lack of justice in David's own administration. And so Absalom, who feels like his sister has not been properly treated or justice has not been served, it creates an uprising. And so David, then Absalom.

7:30Rises in revolt in time, and so David has to flee. Horrible sin, injustice. And so now David is dealing with this. But God has made a promise to be faithful to David. And so it's in that background we enter into these Psalms: David on the run, and what his soul is going through. And so let's look at Psalm 6. So the trouble is a mix, is a very complicated mixture. It's a mixture of personal sin, personal failure to administer justice, and a bunch of enemies that would love to overthrow him and use that as an excuse to rise up against him. It's a strange mix of all of this. It's not so clean that David has just been pure and innocent and he's got these outside forces. It's a complicated issue. It's complicated, as we might say today, right? It's just complicated. And his sin is part of it. His failure to act and do what he's supposed to do at the right times is part of it. And then there are those who seize the opportunity.

9:00To bring him down on account of this. All of this is in this mix. So we meet this troubled soul in Psalm 6. And just to give you how I've divided the psalm, first division I put after verse 3. You can see it up there. And then I have a short little section in the first part of verse 4. And then the third part of the psalm starts in the middle of verse 4 down through verse 7. And then the fourth part of the psalm, fourth division, I've put between eight and nine. So if you want to divide the psalm or draw lines, that's where I've drawn the lines. Okay, so let's just walk through this.

9:56This troubled soul and the salvation he finds, even after all that has happened. This soul finds salvation in the Lord. So first of all, let's meet this troubled soul. How he describes it, O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord. Lord, for I am languishing. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul is greatly troubled, but you, O Lord, how long? How long is this going to go on for?

10:42Now it's interesting when you start the beginning of Psalm 3, the picture of distress coming upon David is that of a rising tide just coming in over his head. In chapter, in Psalm 4, the distress or the stress that's coming over him is pictured like a confining, pressing weight down upon him. But then when you come to Psalm 6, this distress is not from the outside as much. It's from the inside, though we're going to get to the outside in a little bit. It's no longer pictured as something outside coming in, pressing down, but it's something on the inside.

11:33It's something, it's like a plant without moisture. Have you ever seen a plant that just doesn't just one day just says, I can't go anymore, you need to water me? And you said, well, it's like that's what this stress, it's zapped his energy. It's like a distress of soul that is taking away his strength. And his energy. It's an internal sickness, and it has, though it is a spiritual trouble, he feels it in his bones, doesn't he? It impacts his body. It's a stress so deep that he can physically feel it. It zaps his energy. You ever experienced a depression like that or a down date that you're a distress that it just literally just takes the strength out of you? Well, that's what David is dealing with here. Oh, Lord, and what is it? What's happening to him? Oh, Lord, rebuke me not in your anger. So at the opening line, he's dealing with sin in his life. He's mindful of he is deserving of God's wrath.

12:59He is deserving of a rebuke, but here is his plea: don't rebuke me in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. It's very frightful. One of the most horrible sights I've ever witnessed is a big dad manhandling his son. Son wouldn't be quiet. And just, I was on a plane one time, and he was just shaking this kid. And I almost got to the point to where I got up. I was about to get up and just apprehend him.

13:47Thankfully, he stopped. But it's, and you've heard, and you've read in the news, probably a mom getting so angry with her baby or and just shaking the baby. It's a frightful, it's a frightful picture, and it has terrified his soul. You can imagine if God were just to have it out with us, like just pick us up, and just, I'm so upset with you. I mean, he'd just shake the life out of us like that, right?

14:21And so, and by the way, there's a lesson for us there. Parents, never discipline in anger, right? Friends, don't let your anger, don't let your anger out on anyone. You know, it is a frightful thing. Don't let anybody have to bear up under your wrath. It's a frightful thing, and especially those who are weaker, right? And helpless. And so that's David right here. Lord. I know I deserve to be rebuked. I know I deserve to be disciplined, but please, please don't do it in your anger. I could not stand it.

15:14Look what he says in verse 2. Be gracious to me. These are these commanding prayers. They're these prayer. Be gracious. Please, you must be gracious to me, for I am fatigued. I am languishing. I am faint. My energy, my strength has gone out. Heal me. Heal me. That's the idea. Heal me, O Lord. I am, for my bones are troubled. And the word there is filled with terror. My bones are terrified. My soul is also greatly terrified. What is terrifying him?

15:59Well, for a moment, he's terrified because of his personal sin and with the notion that now God is my enemy. Now that's troubling when you get to a point in life when you think, you know, God is my enemy. He'll never forgive me. He is mad. He lives mad at me. I am just an object of his wrath. But here's the psalmist crying out: Be gracious, show favor to me, even though he has sinned greatly. And we just walked through some of the things. I mean, you cannot find a more horrific crime in all of Scripture, except for Judas, perhaps.

16:55Be gracious. He knows something about God. Show favor. In spite of this, show favor. I'm not deserving. Heal me. And that's an interesting concept there. Heal, cure me, rebuild me, refresh me. I am faint. I am fatigued. I'm like that plant that is just out of strength and life. Refresh me. Same word is used in Ezekiel 47 and 8, speaking about the waters coming out of the new temple that will go and that will refresh. And wherever they go, they touch, they heal, and all the waters become clean and refreshed.

17:40And that's that picture here: heal me. So it's a spiritual trouble with physical manifestations. How long, O Lord, how long? So that's our troubled soul. Justly being rebuked in the consequences of his sin, and God has given him over to experience some of the consequences of his sin for the consequences of not administering justice and all that went into this. But God has not abandoned him, and that's what painfully scares him. And so, then, that's our troubled soul. That's his condition.

18:39Now, second, I want you to see a desperate plea, a desperate plea. Look at what he says in verse 4: Turn. That's that imperative plea. You must turn. Return. It's actually even return, O Lord. Turn. Deliver me. Deliver my life. Deliver my soul. That's the same word. Deliver my soul. My soul is greatly troubled. It's terrified. Same word here. Deliver my life. He's not just talking about his physical life. He's talking about his soul. Deliver my soul that is greatly terrified. Put it in a state of rescue permanently. Put it in a state of being delivered. Turn to me. You must turn to me, O Lord. You must. Deliver my life. Save me for the sake of your steadfast love. But look at the three commands there. And he's earnestly praying, turn to me, O Lord, deliver my life. Save me from sure ruin.

19:52That's his plea. Look, I'm down. I'm down. I am in this extremely terrified and troubled state. This is where I am. You can do one of two things when you come to these places in life. You can look up or you can move on. And let me tell you something. David looked up even in the midst of all that he sure he had the thought, you deserve this, you brought this upon you, you're part of all. And yet he knew God well enough. Yes, that's our problem. We live in this world, we get ourselves in trouble. Sin is a thief, it's a robber, it destroys.

20:48And when you come to these stages in life, look up. Look up. And that's his prayer. Turn, you must turn. Deliver my life. Put me in a state of rescue and save my soul from ruin. So that's his plea. Now I want to look at three reasons for his prayer. And so here is where he's going to stand before God, and he's going to, I've brought this prayer before you. I know I'm deserving your rebuke, and your wrath is justly upon me.

21:36And now he's saying, please save me, please deliver me, please return to me. And now he's going to go on the reasons why God should, or why he hopes that God would hear his rationale. God, this is why I want you to turn, deliver, and save me. First of all, look at the end of verse 4: for the sake of your steadfast love. That's the first reason. My soul is terrified. Save me because of your steadfast love. And there's that Hebrew word, Hesed, one that you need to really remember. Don't even know how to translate it. It shows up as because of your loyalty, because of your loving kindness, because of your mercy, because of your steadfast love.

22:30Carries all of that. It's that core of who God is. He is faithful. And he has promised something to David. I will not take my spirit from you. I will not. I will stay with you. I will raise one up from your own household to sit upon your throne. I will build a house for you. This is the covenant that God has made with David. And even this gross sin and gross defection, this gross display of David's unfaithfulness to God, to Uriah, to Bathsheba, and to his nation, to his army, and to everything.

23:11Yet he can appeal to God's steadfast love. Lord, for the sake of your covenant loyalty, save me. You made a promise for the sake of your faithfulness, your mercy, your renown, for the sake of who you are. This is who you are. You have mercy upon those who don't deserve it. For the sake of your mercy, save me. Second reason, for the sake of God's praise. First reason for his prayer is for the sake of. God's love, for his steadfast love. Second is for the sake of God's praise. Look at what he says in verse 5. For in death there is no remembrance of you. In Sheol, who will give you praise?

24:15Who is going to give you praise? In death there is no mention of you. There's no remembrance of you. Who will give you praise? Let me live so that I can declare who you are. I want to go on declaring who you are. I want to go on knowing your goodness and putting the people around me in a state of praise of you. And after all that he's done, it's quite a statement. I don't want to go to the grave.

24:56I want to remember you in life. Help me get through this. I want to praise you. I want your glory to be seen in my life. That's what true living is about. And I want that to be me upon this earth. So, Lord, save me, because in death there's no remembrance of you. Who is going to give you praise? So the second, third, first reason is for the sake of God's love. Second reason is for the sake of God's praise. And then the third reason for his prayer is because he's saying, I just cannot go on like this. I cannot continue to live like this. Save me because I can't go on like this. Look at what he says. Verse 6, I am weary, as I am exhausted, tired, fatigued, energy gone, and I am weary with what? With my moaning. With my moaning. Listen to this picture. Every night I flood my bed with tears.

26:15The Hebrew literally is talking about swimming here. And if you have some translations, it may even bring up the word swimming. Every night I cause my bed to swim. That's a lot of tears. That image, you know. Every night I flood my bed with tears. He is racked with deep consternation over his personal sin, the opportunity that that sin gave to his enemies, the perplexities and all that's dealing with that. It is just an emotional weakening. Straining time. I drench my couch with my weeping. So not only is my bed swimming, but my couch is just soaked with my tears. My eyes waste away because of grief. They've failed. They're worn out. My eyes have become gold. Yeah, you go home and go and cry and cry and cry and cry until your bed starts swimming, and they're going to be worn out.

27:29And that's what my eye wastes away because of grief. It grows weak because of all of my foes. So now his attention has gone not just from his personal inside, but there are those outside that are adding to this distress of his. And so you have this, you know, certainly in the first few verses, you see this internal grief. In fact, this is the first of the penitential Psalms. This is the first one. If you want to talk, you want to look about how to come and confess and be penitent before the Lord. Well, this is the first Psalm. The church picks it up early in the centuries, and this becomes one of the first of seven. There's seven of these Psalms to the Psalter that really show us what true repentance. Looks like, and this is one of them. And now he's turned, he's shifted gears, and he's brought into his foes.

28:43And who are these foes? Well, it doesn't say, he's just got a lot. David had a lot of them. But the foes are the ones, and it's translated, it's a verb, actually. The foes. It's not a noun, it's actually the ones showing hostility to me. It's a verb. The ones, my rivals, the ones who are currently rivaling me right now, the ones who want to bring me down, the ones showing hostility to me. That's who these are. And so who are they? I don't know. And obviously, there's personal sin. Obviously, if this is associated with Absalom's rebellion, then of course there's all kinds of conspirators, all kinds of people involved in the mix.

29:38And God is publicly humiliating David for his lack of covenant faithfulness. His sin is out in the open. But what's going on here, and what you have here in this psalm, it's this unusual mixture. We see a man at the opening who's being hounded by his soul. And the consequences of it. And then we see these enemies who want to bring him down. Perhaps, I believe, as a consequence of his sins. In other words, they're not ones who are coming around to try to see him reunited with God, but they're the ones that are saying, aha, you're done, you're out. And they see his sin as a means to beat him down, keep him down, to turn public opinion against him. They are seizing the opportunity of David's sin, perhaps, and this is how I would understand them: is that they are using his sin as an opportunity to bring him down. And they themselves are wicked workers of evil.

30:51So we've looked at a troubled soul, we've looked at his desperate plea, we've looked at three reasons for his prayer, and now I want you to see that God hears such cries for help. When cries like that start going up from the earth, God hears them. He hears them. Look at what he says in verse 8: Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping, the Lord has heard my plea, the Lord accepts my prayer, all my enemies. Enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled. They shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

31:38So he starts out and God hears such cries. He knows that we cannot go on like this. He knows that David could not go on like this. And he accepts us. He accepts the penitent, those who are the true one who repents. Look at what he says here, verse 8: depart from me. So now he's turned his attention to his enemies. But look at what he calls them: depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, of evil. Does that sound familiar? Have you ever heard that phrase before? Depart from me, workers of evil or of iniquity? Let me read to you just some things that Jesus said in Luke chapter 13, verse 27. Let me just back up and read. Verse 23, they're on their way to Jerusalem, and someone said to him, Lord, are there just a few who are going to be saved? And he said to them, Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, Lord, open up. Us, then he will say to you, I do not know where you are from. Listen, there's a day of salvation. Right now is a day of salvation. Turn to him right now. Call upon him right now. Come to you. This communication that God has given to you, speaking from his word, is his invitation for you to come to him. He is talking to you. He wants to be in a relationship with you. Accept by faith the words that are being proclaimed to you. Repent. Bear fruits, keeping with repentance. Turn to him. Believe. That's what, because there's coming a time when you can't do that. And this is Jesus. There's just a few going to be saved. And he goes on. And then he's saying, then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence. You taught in our streets. We knew you. In fact, we heard your name proclaimed. We went to church. We did all that. And then he will say to you, and he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves being thrown out. And they will come from the east and the west, from the north, and the south, and they will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. God, he goes on, and some of them who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.

34:43And so here is David speaking to these workers of evil, and Jesus talks about, uses that, picks up that phrase many other times as well. And this word for depart, it's a command. And you know what he's saying? Leave me alone. In fact, it's more like put distance between us. That's the depart from me. There needs to be space between us. And there's coming a final day, final day of judgment, where Christ himself will say, depart. I want space between all you workers of evil and my people. I want them to have space.

35:36No more Cains coming in and molesting the Abels. I want space. You see, there's an ultimate day of judgment coming, and that judgment day is salvation for God's people. The day of judgment is a day. Of salvation for God's people because he puts a space between all those workers of evil and his people. The beautiful thing about the gospel is, you don't have to be a worker of evil. You can turn to him. You can turn to him even as you hear me speak.

36:26Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea. The Lord has accepted the Lord accepts my prayer. In other words, he heard my prayer. He accepts my prayer for his namesake, for the praise, and because he knows I can't go on like this. He has heard my plea. Save me, deliver me, put me permanently into a state of well-being. He has heard my cry.

37:06So, all of you who are pursuing me, you better turn back. That's what he's saying. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled. And when we started this psalm, who was greatly terrified? The psalmist. I thought God was my enemy. I was troubled. I was terrified that my strength had gone. This distress took everything out of me, and I was greatly terrified because I was thinking that God was my enemy. At the end, it's like, no, all my enemies shall be ashamed, they shall be embarrassed, and they shall be terrified because they will meet God as their enemy.

38:01They shall turn back, and they shall be put to shame in a moment. You see, God hears such cries for help, he hears the troubled soul cry out, and he saves the troubled soul. And he saves them through judgment, and he saves them through mercy. He accepts us, he accepts the repentant. So, in his mercy, according to his steadfast love, he receives us. So, he saves on account of his mercy, and he puts us in a will, but he also saves through judgment. That is putting distance between us and everything that harms our soul. And so, that's what David is speaking to. All these workers of iniquity, all those workers that would entice, bring him in, bring him down, all of that. And we've got to be people with the same disposition. Lord, depart from me everything that would harm my soul, that would bring me into reproach with God. I mean, there are people, there are things, there are places you don't need to be going. There are some things that you need to just put some distance between you and whatever worker of evil.

39:48But know that all that's coming to an end. So, we've met a troubled soul. We heard his desperate plea. We heard the reasons for his prayer. And we saw that God hears such cries for help. So let us learn from the psalm, psalmist, and learn to cry out. And don't wait for the devastating days. Practice crying out to him daily and walking with him. But certainly. When these depressing days come upon you, turn to Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we recognize that one of the greatest terrifying notions that we could ever entertain is that you are not our friend, that you are set against us. But as we pour through the pages of Scripture time and time again, we are reminded over and over and over as if it's the main thrust of the whole scriptures that you are a forgiving God. You receive all who come to you. You hear our cries and you attend to our prayers. So, Father, nobody is beyond your mercy. Nobody is beyond your help.

41:20Father, if there be any here that are sitting now under judgment, your judgment, under your frown, and they know it, I just pray right now that they would look up and ask for your forgiveness and receive you into their lives. Father, go with us this week. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.