Psalm 6 - Swimming Beds and Rich Men In Hell

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. We have been journeying through the first book in Psalms together, and we are now at Psalm 6, and we're going to dive right into it for today.

The kind of preface for this song says this, for the music director with stringed instruments upon an eight string lyre, a Psalm of David.

So I think the last Psalm that we looked at together, the only thing that David had included in, hey, I think this would go really well with it. He said a flute accompaniment would be great for this one.

For this song, for Psalm 6, he says, man, I want I want the music director to take this one. I think it'd be great with some stringed instruments.

I think it'd be great with an eight string lyre that's doing the, I don't know what kind of thing if you had a something like a guitar solo back in the day, or if it was more kind of like a harp.

I don't know what the style that you would have played it in is, but here he brings all of these things into it. So at least as far as I'm reading, taking my first kind of look at it, I'm like, oh, there's a lot going on here.

This is something that is somewhat momentous. This has a lot of feeling in it. You bring in instruments, you bring in music when you really feel strongly about something.

So all of these descriptions kind of clue is saying, okay, if there's a lot about the musical elements of this, then it's probably something that's got a lot of emotion, that's got a lot of feeling in it.

Let's dive into the verses and see what David feels so strongly about. He says, Yahweh, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, Yahweh, for I am frail.

Heal me, Yahweh, for my bones are horrified and my soul is greatly horrified. But you, Yahweh, how long? Return, Yahweh, rescue my soul.

Save me because of your mercy, for there is no mention of you in death, in Sheol, in the grave. Who will praise you? I am weary with my sign.

Every night I make my bed swim. I flood my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief.

It has grown old because of all my enemies. Leave me, all you who practice injustice, for Yahweh has heard the sound of my weeping. Yahweh has heard my pleading.

Yahweh receives my prayer. All my enemies will be put to shame and greatly horrified. They shall turn back.

They will suddenly be put to shame.

As David walks through this, it's kind of four parts to this particular psalm as he goes through, he starts off by realizing, hey, when there are difficulties in my life, when I have failed, when there is trouble, I know the one that I call out to.

He's not calling out here to Baal. He's not calling out here to another person. He's not calling out to Saul.

He's not calling out to the kings of Egypt. He's not calling out to a nearby king of Edom or Moab or something like that. He knows who to turn to in times of trouble.

He turns to the Lord. Here he says, Lord, Yahweh, do not rebuke me in your anger.

Here he realizes if God treats me the way that I deserve because of my sin, because of the wrongdoing that I have participated in, he says, if God treats me like I deserve, I'm toast. And so he asks God, please do not rebuke me. Don't confront me.

Don't take, don't exact justice. Don't exact the punishment on me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. He says, be gracious to me, Lord, for I am frail.

This is something that's said many times throughout scripture that we are frail. And that part of why God treats us with such patience and such kind of long suffering would be the older term for it.

That he doesn't immediately punish us when we do wrong. It's because he knows that we are simply human. We are frail, that if we were to undergo the punishment of God, we would not be able to stand.

We would be completely obliterated. And so here David asks, God, be gracious to me. And this is God's heart.

This is what he desires to do. It's been said before that grace and mercy is God's normal. His ordinary method is grace.

His special work, the work that is somewhat foreign to him, that he doesn't rely on all of the time, is his punishment, is his judgment.

And man, I think for my life, that is so true, all the times that I have failed the Lord, and yet he has never treated me in the way that I deserved, that all of my sin that should have me condemned, that should have me forever alienated from God,

that should have me alienated from people, no one would want to be around such a selfish person. No one would want to be around such an unkind person. And yet God has continued to pour grace after grace after grace on my life. So I'm here with David.

I feel this. God be gracious to me for I am frail. He says, heal me always for my bones are horrified.

He says, I've got anxiety. I'm freaking out like in the innermost part of my being, and I need you to heal me. He says, and my soul is greatly horrified.

This is contrasted at the very end where the David right now is living in fear, and that it's causing even his physical body to have repercussions because of his anxiety, because of his fear.

Later in verse number 10, he says, all my enemies will be put to shame and greatly horrified.

Those that are currently causing this anxiousness and fear and trouble for David, God will turn it back on its head that those that are pursuing God that are currently experiencing this anxiety, he will then make it so that those that gave them

anxiety, that then they receive it back on themselves that David would no longer be horrified. And he calls out to him. He says, but you, Yahweh, how long if we ask God, how long is this going to last? I'd like to encourage you.

That is a very Biblical question to ask it is one that you can see many times in Psalms that David goes, okay, God, I know you're in control. I know that you are sovereign. I know that you are just.

And so, God, I'm going to ask, when are you going to heal and rescue and save? He says, return, rescue my soul, save me because of your mercy. He says, there's no mention of you in death in the grave who will praise you.

He says, God, if I'm alive, I can praise you. If I'm alive, I can thank you. So, God, please keep me alive.

And that's something that even Solomon would mention in the kind of poems and work of Ecclesiastes.

And I think for us, we ought to realize now is the only time that we have to share Jesus with others, to proclaim God's goodness, his mercy, his truth, how he has called us to live. This life is the only chance we have to tell people that.

I think about the story of the rich man in Lazarus, that the rich man who lived his whole life in disregard of God, of ignoring God and ignoring people.

It wasn't just his beliefs were against God, but his behavior too was against God and against what God had called his people to be. And so at the end of his life, it says he lifted up his eyes and he was in hell.

And his thought after he asked for water for himself, then he thought, hmm, I've got five brothers and I don't want them to be here. He says, could you have Lazarus go back? He noticed he doesn't in the account.

He doesn't say, OK, let me out and I'll give me 24 hours and I'll warn my brothers and then I'll come back. Or he doesn't volunteer himself. He says, OK, I know why I'm here.

There's no question on that. He says, but Lazarus, who is in Abraham's bosom, that area of and basically where God's people were, he says, hey, could Lazarus go and grab, could he go tell my brothers because I don't want them to be here?

And I think if that's the case of those that are in the afterlife right now, that they wish they could tell their loved ones again, hey, don't don't do what I did. Don't follow where I went. This isn't it.

You need to follow and turn to God. I think that we ought to take advantage of that because here there is no mention of you in death in the grave who will praise you that we have just a limited amount of time to make a difference here on earth.

Let's do it with everything that we are. That kind of third section, he says, I am weary with my sign every night and make my bed swim. He's it's kind of a cartoony thought almost racism crying so much and I'm making my bed swim.

It lifts off the ground because of all the tears that I am crying. He says, my eye is wasted away with grief. He says, I've cried so much like, you know, my eyesight is going.

I've grown old because of all my enemies. And I think here too, we can see a picture of Jesus that he was the one that in his humanity, he experienced all the emotions that we do.

He was the one that like David here, his bones are horrified, his soul is greatly horrified. Jesus was the one who sweat great drops of blood. He was the one that prayed, you know, God, if it's your will, if it's possible, let this cut pass from me.

He says, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.

And I think as David works through his grief, works through his sorrow, works through his soul anguish that we can see Jesus who went through the ultimate soul anguish for us, that his sorrow, his grief, his things were all done for love of us, that

it was because he loves us so much that he went through these incredibly hard times. So when we go through hard times, know that you're not alone, that Jesus knows what it's like to feel those emotions and that he is right there with you.

Verse number 8, he says this in the last section, leave me all you who practice injustice, even though David has felt horrified, that he has felt scared, that his eyesight is going because of how much he's been crying, the fact that he's crying out

to God saying, okay, God, I know I deserve punishment, but I'm asking you, don't punish me, like give me your grace, give me your mercy, even though he knows he's in that situation. He is then saying for those that would come alongside him and go,

okay, well, you know, God isn't really working out well for you. So why don't you just go our path? Why don't you sacrifice to Baal? Why don't you turn to this group of people or turn to this thing of trust instead of the Lord?

And he goes, nope, all y'all get out of here.

Even though God hasn't rescued me, healed me, returned to me, saved me, been gracious to me yet, even though he hasn't shown all of that, even though he hasn't fixed my situation, there's no way I'm going with you guys.

I know who God is and I'm going to stay with him. He says, for Yahweh has heard the sound of my weeping. He says, God knows when I cry.

He says, Yahweh has heard my pleading. Yahweh receives my prayer, says they shall turn back. They will suddenly be put to shame.

I think of Psalm 34 will be at in something like five or six weeks where it says those those that look to the Lord are radiant. They're shining in the light of his presence. Says they will never be put to shame.

Wanted to just read that verse real quick from Psalm 34. Taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Fear the Lord, you as saints, for those who fear him, there is no lack of anything. I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears. They looked to him and were radiant, and their faces will never be ashamed.

If you trust in God, if you trust in the Lord today, there will never come a time where you will regret having done that. For all of eternity, you will be able to say God was a safe place to put my refuge and my trust in.

So today, realize your state before God, that just like David, just like all of mankind, you are not perfect. If God were to deal with you the way that you deserve, the way that I deserve, we would be toast.

But he has been gracious to us, and we can call on him to be gracious to us. We can call on him when we have that anxiety and fear, when we are crying and in dire emotional straits because he's been there.

He knows what it's like, and he will come and strengthen and comfort and give us peace.

Let's take advantage and use the time that we have here on earth to praise him, to tell others about him because there will come a day in which we can no longer do that. So let's make the most of the time.

And then let's, even in times of difficulty, even before God answers our prayers, even before he rescues us, let's choose to side with him, because those that side with him will never be ashamed.

Even if it looks like other people might have it easier at some different points, let's never abandon our worthy God. Hope that be a challenge to you today. I know I was ministered to by looking at those verses.

I can see why David put so many emotional things in there. He's dealing with anxiety. Three, you know, three times in that Psalm, he uses the word horrified.

Talks about his bed swimming with tears. It's a very emotional thing. But he comes back to hey, God's heard me.

God heard my plea. God will rescue me. God will save me and be gracious to me.

Today, that's who God is for you. So rest in him and tell others about him. See you tomorrow as we look at Psalm 7.

Not entirely sure how I'm going to work it out yet, but actually wrote a song from Psalm 7 several years ago. And I might try and include that at the very end of the podcast. Thank you