Tears On Your Pillow?

O LORD, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in thy wrath.

2 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.

Psalm 6:1-2

Have you ever hurt so bad in your spirit that your whole being ached? It is one thing to hurt because of our own sinfulness as we endure the ugly consequences of our disobedience to God. But, it is another to hurt at the hands of others. To feel oppressed and terrorized is indeed a most fearful state, and to feel as such is common to all humanity at some time or other in life. However, it is precisely then the people of God have a refuge unlike any other in the world. Proverbs 18 says, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”

In Psalm 6, David cries out to God with the oldest prayer of God’s people – “Lord have mercy”. It seems his soul is burdened, though we are not sure just why. Perhaps because of his own sinfulness, yet he doesn’t confess his sin in this particular Psalm. However, he does confess to the Lord his weariness. His soul aches from all his troubles to the point where he can feel it in his bones (v 2,3). This Psalm is numbered among the so called, 7 Penitential Psalms (6,32,38,51,102,130,143) which offer contrition and lamentation along with a remembrance of God’s mercy and faithfulness, and a plea for forgiveness.

Are you hurting so bad you can’t even find the words for you pain? Or perhaps you’ve hurt so long, that you are now numb to the pain. Staying humble before God and crying out to him in the night is critical to not getting lost in despair. God’s people must never despair of hope. Though there may be darkness all around us, we must remind ourselves that “joy comes in the morning” (Ps 30). There is always hope for God’s people.

Even as David lamented to God of his pain, so too we can hear the cries of Jesus to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. They both knew the Lord heard their prayers (v 8,9). They both knew He would give them them strength to face another day. You can too. If your life is filled with tears on your pillow, lift your eyes to the Lord. His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.

Shalom,

Pastor Brad

image credit: https://whisper.sh/whisper/0512b755a064d14433457457049c9b91b1f078/I-can-hear-your-heart-crying-out-for-me

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