Psalm 6 Easy-to-Read Version

To the director: With stringed instruments, on the sheminith. A song of David.

6 Lord, don’t punish me.
    Don’t correct me when you are so angry.
² Lord, be kind to me.
    I am sick and weak.
Heal me, Lord!
    My bones are shaking.
³     I am trembling all over.
Lord, how long until you heal me?^[a]
4 Lord, come back and make me strong again.
    Save me because you are so loyal and kind.
⁵ If I am dead, I cannot sing about you.
    Those in the grave don’t praise you.

⁶ Lord, I am so weak.
    I cried to you all night.
My pillow is soaked;
    my bed is dripping wet from my tears.
⁷ My enemies have caused me such sorrow
    that my eyes are worn out from crying.

⁸ Go away, you wicked people,
    because the Lord has heard my cries.
⁹ The Lord has heard my request for mercy.
The Lord has accepted my prayer.

¹⁰ All my enemies will be filled with fear and shame.
    They will be sorry when disgrace suddenly comes upon them.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

Troubled Souls and the Glory of God

The wailing cry of anguish is the tone of Psalm 6.

The emotional expression in it reaches a fever pitch.

And yet here is the remarkable thing that we’re going to look at about this psalm: the motivating factor for David’s deliverance from the state of his troubled soul is not primarily comfort and reprieve.

What David’s troubled soul longed for the most was the glory of God.

Have you ever been so overwhelmed at the circumstances of your life that all you can do is curl up in the fetal position on your bed and cry?

I know we are trying to be the church and the sun is sometimes shining and then sometimes the dark clouds of an impending Category 5 storm are nearby.

Most of us are pretty strong looking on the outside today, but let’s not pretend or play games here.

For one reason or another, at one time or another – you’ve been there.

Completely in distress – whether it be from the consequences of your own sin, grief over the loss of a loved one, or guilt, or fear, or the utter inability to vent your anger, or debt, or danger.

Anguish in this life is universal.

If I dropped you in a remote part of the world where they spoke another language, you’d not need an interpreter to understand the wailing cry of anguish – it is pretty much a universally recognized, understood sound.

Someone somewhere is in a desperate state of needing immediate assistance.

So, we have David, somewhere in sometime of his life desperately calling out.

Psalm 6 The Message

6 ^1-2 Please, God, no more yelling,
    no more trips to the woodshed.
Treat me nice for a change;
    I’m so starved for affection.

^2-3 Can’t you see I’m black-and-blue,
    beaten up badly in bones and soul?
God, how long will it take
    for you to let up?

^4-5 Break in, God, and break up this fight;
    if you love me at all, get me out of here.
I’m no good to you dead, am I?
    I can’t sing in your choir if I’m buried in some tomb!

^6-7 I’m tired of all this—so tired. My bed
    has been floating forty days and nights
On the flood of my tears.
    My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears.
The sockets of my eyes are black holes;
    nearly blind, I squint and grope.

^8-9 Get out of here, you Devil’s crew:
    at last God has heard my sobs.
My requests have all been granted,
    my prayers are answered.

¹⁰ Cowards, my enemies disappear.
Disgraced, they turn tail and run.

What was causing David this extreme trouble in his body and soul?

Some have wondered if he was ill because of the reference to his bones.

But as one commentator put it: “neither the reference to bones in agony nor the ambivalent word heal necessarily implies some sort of illness.

The agony of “my bones” means the same as “my soul is in anguish.”

The truth is… regardless of his state of health, there are two things that are certainly implied as background to the psalmist’s anguish.

The Primary One is his sin.

In verses 2 and 9 we see that he needs God’s mercy and in verse 1 we see that he fears God’s anger.

So David’s anguish is a compound anguish of his own sinfulness and the sinfulness of others.

A lot of you can testify from experience that both the guilt from our own sin and the ill-intended accusations of others can make us feel physically sick at times.

David had them both going on.

Interestingly – the malice of others appears to be God’s means of discipline for David’s sin.

Here in this psalm David does not cry out to God and ask him to withhold correction and discipline. Instead, because of David’s uneasy conscience he appeals to God’s grace to temper the discipline he knows he deserves.

David knows that his only plea…his only hope… is the mercy of God.

Our Praying When It Hurts

We’ve sung this song by Matt Redman called “Blessed Be Your Name.”

The first verse says,

Blessed Be Your Name, in the land that is plentiful, where Your streams of abundance flow. Blessed be Your name.

The 2nd verse starts out: Blessed be Your name, when the sun’s shining down on me, when the world’s ‘all as it should be.’ Blessed be Your name.

Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise!

But there are other lines in that song too – lines that deal with real life:

Blessed Be Your name when I’m found in the desert place, though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering. Though there’s pain in the offering,

Blessed be Your name.

I love the honesty and validity of that song.

When everything in life is as it should be, prayer is easy.

It tends to be vague and general.

It rolls out of our mouths, and it doesn’t even have to come from very deep inside.

You know the prayer – the one you don’t really think about, but you’re supposed to pray out loud so you end up saying something like,

“God, thank You for this day and thank You for everything.” Really? It’s like tossing a hand grenade. It’s so unspecific, you’re bound to hit something!

But then there are prayers like the one where you say,

“God, whatever it takes to change my completely messed up life, just do it!”

There are prayers in the hard times.

There are prayers in the harder times.

There are prayers in the hardest times.

There are prayers in the most catastrophic of times.

Those prayers are all different.

Prayer in the hard times is more like an arrow shot straight for the mark.

We tend to get very specific.

We tend to speak more from our hearts.

Psalm 6 is a prayer that David fired off that’s more like an flaming arrow.

It was obviously written during one of his many hard times in his life:

Psalm 6

O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long? Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.

At first glance, David may just sound like someone who’s going through a devastating hardship in life.

“Well, forget Psalm 6!

This isn’t a happy Psalm!

Not by a longshot!

I want something a little more upbeat – something that isn’t written in a minor key! Let’s read something David wrote when life was peachy, sunshine, roses!”

But I want us to see there’s something for us to do in regards to praying in the hard times of life – something besides swallowing them, just ignoring them.

In other words, I want each of us to get more skilled at praying when it hurts.

I believe that this Psalm can help us with that.

First, it will help us to…

I. Get In Touch With the Reason for Sorrow

Why does David ask God to turn to him?

(verse 4) Where has God gone?

Why is David’s couch soaked with tears?

Look again at verse 1:

“O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.”

Rebuke…discipline.

David recognized that sizable part of the problem in his life were his own sins.

The fact is much of the sorrow we’re faced with in life is mostly our own doing.

Look at the faces of inmates down a row of prison cells and understand that our own wrong choices can bring us sorrow.

Look at the faces of the homeless aimlessly walking the streets or in a shelter. It grieves me greatly that nearly all of them go to great lengths to hide their face.

It can bring us sorrow because we don’t like the consequences: We don’t like traffic tickets, stitches, or being grounded by our parents when we are wrong.

Those things happen to us, with resolve, we suffer through them, and if we’ll be honest with ourselves, they’ll happen because we chose to do what was wrong.

1 Peter 4:15

“If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.”

1 Peter 4:15-16 The Message

^14-16 If you’re abused because of Christ, count yourself fortunate. It’s the Spirit of God and his glory in you that brought you to the notice of others. If they’re on you because you broke the law or disturbed the peace, that’s a different matter. But if it’s because you’re a Christian, don’t give it a second thought. Be proud of the distinguished status reflected in that name!

That’s not the only reason our sin makes us sorry.

There’s a very real form of suffering called guilt that David seems to speak of in this Psalm.

Most of us are familiar with that concept of Guilt.

Have you noticed; dogs have a unique way of looking guilty.

Now, scientists tell us that they don’t really “feel guilty.”

They just put on that face because it has a tendency to stop the yelling when you find out what they did.

We don’t like it, but the feeling of guilt is truthfully a good thing, if you’re a guilty person – and Romans 3:23 admonishes us that we are all guilty of sin.

Romans 3:23-24 Easy-to-Read Version

²³ All have sinned and are not good enough to share God’s divine greatness. ²⁴ They are made right with God by his grace. This is a free gift. They are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ.

It’s like the light on the car dashboard that comes on when there’s a problem.

Now, that red light on the dashboard may have been annoying – maybe even distressing – but it has a purpose.

It indicates that there’s a problem.

Driving on down the road absent addressing the problem could damage the car.

Guilt is that way.

That stressful feeling that you get when you lie, that nervous feeling you get when you see someone you’ve mistreated, that uneasiness that sweeps over you when you cheat someone – that feeling is guilt, and it’s a warning light that you have a problem, definitely something which needs to be fixed and forgiven too.

The answer isn’t to ignore it or run from it.

You need to get in touch with the reason for your sorrow, deal with the reason.

Guilty feelings shouldn’t be wasted!

They’re supposed to send us to God.

The way we get rid of them is for Him to take away our guilt, so that we don’t have to feel guilty anymore!

I love the passage in II Corinthians 7 where Paul talks about some of the strong words in a previous letter he wrote to them. Make a note Paul did not say God wants you happy. In fact, he says the opposite.

2 Corinthians 7:8-13 Easy-to-Read Version

⁸ Even if the letter I wrote you made you sad, I am not sorry I wrote it. I know that letter made you sad, and I was sorry for that. But it made you sad only for a short time. ⁹ Now I am happy, not because you were made sad, but because your sorrow made you decide to change. That is what God wanted, so you were not hurt by us in any way. ¹⁰ The kind of sorrow God wants makes people decide to change their lives. This leads them to salvation, and we cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has will bring death. ¹¹ You had the kind of sorrow God wanted you to have. Now see what that sorrow has brought you: It has made you very serious. It made you want to prove that you were not wrong. It made you angry and afraid. It made you want to see me. It made you care. It made you want the right thing to be done. You proved that you were not guilty in any part of that problem. ¹² The main reason I wrote that letter was not because of the one who did the wrong or the one who was hurt. I wrote so that you would realize, before God, how very much you care for us. ¹³  And that is what was so encouraging to us.

When you are feeling sorrow, consider if you yourself are the reason for it.

If so, you have some Psalm 51 level of changing to do.

There’s another source of sorrow, though, and we don’t control it. It’s…

2. Other Peoples’ Sin

In verse 7 David says, “My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.”

Life has always had its share of sorrow caused by other people.

Someone steals your money, you suffer because of their theft.

Someone bullies you at school, you suffer because of their meanness.

Someone says something mean to you, you suffer because of their words.

Someone treats you rudely, you suffer because of their selfishness.

There are definitely times when our sorrow is caused by someone else’s sin.

Even diseases and natural disasters and death itself are a part of a creation that has been tainted by Adam and Eve’s sin – just because they beat me to it.

But even in the middle of all that unfair suffering that you didn’t cause, God is doing something with you. 

Hebrews 12:4-11

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons…God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been disciplined and trained by it.

Do you realize that when you suffer at the hand of someone else’s sin it’s an opportunity for God to grow you and mature you?

When we get in touch with the reason for sorrow in our life, we are far better equipped to handle it.

David’s Psalm here is an open study of the source of our sorrows.

It’s also a way that we can…

II. Restudy the Reasons We Can Ask for Help

From a very young age, our parents teach us that if we are ever lost or in trouble, and we find a sheriff or a policeman, you can go to him for help.

He will be a safe person, and he’s there to help you.

By the way, parents, I’m glad that’s still a good thing we can teach our children.

We can ask for help when someone is there to help us.

If I go to visit my doctor at her office, and I look at her medical school diploma on the wall, that’s a sign to me she’s someone who can help me with medical issues.

I find 3 reasons in this Psalm that reassure us that we can ask for God’s help in hard times.

The first one has to do with ourselves, and then the next 2 have to do with something that’s true about God.

Do you want to be able to ask God for help?

Then come to Him with…

1. A right heart

When David writes Psalm 6, he’s not only acknowledging that he needs help from God, he’s also acknowledging he needs forgiveness and mercy from God.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Being sorry for our sin – to the point where it causes us to mourn, is one of the first prerequisites for asking God for His help.

If you’re heart isn’t right in this matter, if you think you can ask God to help you feel better without ever wanting Him to change you, you’ve neglected to pay closest attention to the first reason you can ask God for help.

Psalm 51:10

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

If you can’t have genuine heartfelt regret for your sin against God, then you have no place to ask Him to help you with it.

I wonder how often we’ve failed to ask God’s help because, deep inside, we’re unwilling to deal with something in our lives that we know shouldn’t be there.

Satan somehow convinces us to hang onto it, and the result is we forfeit God’s help because we know we can’t ask for it.

Let it go!

Get rid of it.

Bring a heart to God that’s ready to be whatever He wants you to be, and you’ll find that you can ask Him for the help you need. That one is very much up to us.

2. God’s mercy

David was very open with God about his sin and his littleness. He said,

Psalm 51:4

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

So often we get frustrated that there isn’t more justice on the earth.

I’m pretty sure I don’t want to plead with God for justice for me.

What we need to appeal to is God’s mercy.

We need to be thanking Him daily He hasn’t dealt with us according to our sins.

I can tell you, there’s a whole lot more peace to be found in appealing to God’s mercy than trying to convince Him He owes me better than what I’m getting!

James 2:13b Mercy triumphs over judgment!

That’s a triumph I’d like to have.

(3. God’s glory)

A 3rd reason we can ask for God’s help is His glory. Actually, the basis for all true requests that we make to God is His glory. That’s the point of v5 “No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave?” In other words, “Lord, if I’m killed off, there will be one less person on earth to bring you glory.” Someone put it this way, “Churchyards are silent places; the vaults of the sepulcher echo not with songs; Damp earth covers dumb mouths.”

Even though he was asking God for help, David realized that the reason he could do that was because he was seeking God’s glory. Think about that the next time you want to ask God for something. James said,

James 4:3

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Our lives need to be lived to bring glory to God.

You are not your own, you were bought with a price.

The reason for all true prayer is ultimately to bring God glory.

You can ask for help.

If you need some reassurance of that, Psalm 6 is a prayer of David, a man who had frequently, magnificently messed up, asking God for help! Does he get it? …

III. Look at the Difference Prayer Makes

David’s struggling through.

He realizes his own failings.

His enemies are pressing in.

He realizes he’s going to need to throw himself on God’s mercy, that there are some reasons he’s even able to do this at all.

David has been praying honestly before God.

Suddenly, in verse 8, there’s a change:

Psalm 6:8-10

Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping. The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

(1. Real repentance)

One of the ways you can tell if someone has truly changed from his former way of life is by the changed attitude he has toward sin.

In fact, that’s the main change in the life of anyone who accepts Jesus – your whole attitude toward sin. Someone who has repented of sin may still stumble, but that person will hate the sins that cost His Savior’s blood.

It will make you want to say, “Away from me, all you who do evil! Get it away from me!” Like Jesus, we have to cleanse the temple!

We have to throw out the money changers!

Look at the difference that prayer makes here in David’s words!

(2. Genuine Tears)

In other cultures, even though the language is quite different from English, there are some things that are universal.

One is the word, “Hey!” Another is a smile.

That’s the same everywhere.

Another one is tears. When you look into the eyes of someone who’s deeply suffering, there’s no need for an interpreter. Tears mean the same in every language. David knew that his tears were something God truly understood.

Psalm 56:8 Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll…

Too often we’re taught to hide our tears – especially if you’re a man.

Tears are an admission. Tears mean weakness. Tears mean dependence.

I want to tell you, the manliest of men ever to live cried real tears. John 11:35

And if we’re engaging in real, effective prayer, it’s going to involve some tears sometimes.

God isn’t turned off by that.

“…the LORD has heard my weeping. The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer…”

Genuine tears are a definite part of the picture here. And so is the last part!

In conclusion, Psalm 6:3 is a emotionally poignant expression of the psalmist’s very deepest anguish, loudest pleading with God and longing for deliverance.

This verse, along with the larger context of Psalm 6, offers a powerful reflection on human suffering, trust in God, and the timeless significance of lament. It too serves as a source of encouragement and comfort for believers, reminding them of God’s faithfulness, God’s mercy and compassion in the midst of life’s trials.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 16 The Message

16 ^1-2 Keep me safe, O God,
    I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
    Without you, nothing makes sense.

³ And these God-chosen lives all around—
    what splendid friends they make!

⁴ Don’t just go shopping for a god.
    Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
    like brand-names.

^5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
    And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
    And then you made me your heir!

^7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
    is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
    I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

^9-10 I’m happy from the inside out,
    and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
    that’s not my destination!

¹¹ Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
    all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
    I’m on the right way.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/

Psalm 51:7-15 The Message

^7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
    scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
    set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
    give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
    shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
    or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
    put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
    so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
    and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
    I’ll let loose with your praise.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

A Daily Prayer for Every Christian

Psalm 51:10-13 Complete Jewish Bible

^10 (8) Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,
so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.
^11 (9) Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my crimes.

^12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;
renew in me a resolute spirit.
^13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,
don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.

“It happened to me because I did not think it could happen to me.”

That’s what a homeless man said to me after getting involved in a relationship that almost destroyed his marriage, his children almost being taken from him.

Taking the “reasonably good” life he had made for himself and his family for granted, He never thought anything like that could, would, ever happen to him.

He’s not alone.

It’s easy to think we are immune to sin and temptation. Many of us go to church and try to live right. Sometimes we even shake our heads when others fall into sin, and more than one Christian has said, “That will never happen to me.”

But that’s when we become extremely vulnerable. Paul warns against that when he says, “Watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).

We would do well to make David’s prayer in verses 10-11 our daily prayer.

No matter how strong we might think we are or however good our intentions might be, in our own strength we are never going to be a match for Satan.

David was speaking from life long experienced when he prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.”

Take some time over the next few days to memorize that prayer, or write it out and put it on your refrigerator door or bathroom mirror. Pray it often. Only with God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit do we have the power to resist temptation.

In the face of sin and separation from God, grace is a refreshing stream that restores salvation. But the joy of salvation is found only when we realize and accept the forgiveness, grace, and restoration God has given us — when we drink from the stream of grace. The joy of salvation is sustained in a changed lifestyle, changed mindset, and an ongoing recognition that we walk with God.

Search Me, Investigate Me, Test Me, and Uphold Me

I believe that deep, abiding joy is largely missing in much of the church today.

I have heard Christians say, “We did not do enough when we had the chance, We prayed down a revival in our church, we did not give revival a real chance.”

Yet revival cannot happen by prayer alone. There cannot be any such awakening unless people hunger diligently for God’s Word. And they must wholly commit, sacrifice their lives to being guided and governed by the Scriptures. We cannot obtain heaven’s joy until the pure Word has convicted us of our backslidings.

When David was disobedient, he tried to hide it from everyone, he tried to cover it up and in doing so, all of his bones felt like they were crushed within him, he utterly lost the joy of the Lord, a joy would only be restored by true repentance.

David knew this, so he prayed, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. . . . Purge me” (Psalm 51:2–3, 7). David also prayed to regain what he had lost: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (Psalm 51:12).

Ezra told the people rebuilding Jerusalem, in essence, “You have hungered so long for God’s Word and allowed it to work in your hearts. You have repented and mourned, and God is pleased. But now it is time to rejoice! Take out your handkerchiefs and wipe away your tears. It is a time for uncompromising joy!”

The glory of the Lord fell on Israel, and the people spent the next seven days rejoicing: “All the people went their way to eat, and to drink . . . and to make great mirth, because they understood the words that were declared unto them” (Nehemiah 8:12, KJV).

The Hebrew word for “mirth” here means “gladness, happiness.” This isn’t just a good feeling, but a deep, inner exuberance. It is clear to everyone around that this wellspring of uncompromising joy has only come from God in heaven.

When God’s Word is revered, the result is an outpouring of genuine “Jesus joy.”

Test Me, Cleanse Me, Uphold Me With A Willing Spirit

Psalm 51:7-13 Complete Jewish Bible

^7 (5) True, I was born guilty,
was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.
^8 (6) Still, you want truth in the inner person;
so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart.

^9 (7) Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
^10 (8) Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,
so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.
^11 (9) Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my crimes.

^12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;
renew in me a resolute spirit.
^13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,
don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.

David’s request to be sustained (thoroughly supported) with a willing spirit (a heart quick and ready to respond) could be viewed as a culmination of the Lord creating in him a clean heart, giving him an unwavering spirit of obedience, not grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) and a restoration, renewal of his joy.

The Evidence of Being Sustained by the Lord with a Willing Spirit:

1. Remembering and rejoicing (vv.1-3) that the Lord:

• Stooped down,
• Drew the believer out of the pit of despair and destruction,
• Gave a place to stand and a path that leads to flourishing, and
• Gave a new song to the Lord of all mercy.

2. Understanding foundational truths:

• Happy/blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord (whose ultimate confidence is in the Lord). Those who TRUST/DEPEND upon the Lord display trust by not turning to, or seeking counsel from, the self-sufficient proud or those who believe lies.
• The Lord has multiplied our joys beyond measure and we continuously recount the tender mercies of the Lord (vv.5, 11).
• The Lord delights in heart-felt obedience. We are to delight to do the will of the Lord with an open ear (receiving the Scripture) and treasuring the Word in our hearts.
• We are to speak of his tender mercies, proclaiming the goodness/mercy of the Lord (vv. 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b). 

QUESTIONS:

1. How does the reality of verses 5 and 11 lead to an “unspeakable obligation” on the part of those who have received mercy?

2. What lies do we most readily believe in our current culture?

3. How do we speak of the mercies of the Lord (Malachi 3:16)?

4. To whom should you speak within the next two weeks regarding the mercies of Jesus in their life?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 32 Complete Jewish Bible

32 ⁽⁰⁾ By David. A maskil:

⁽¹⁾ How blessed are those whose offense is forgiven,
those whose sin is covered!
² How blessed those to whom Adonai imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no deceit!

³ When I kept silent, my bones wasted away
because of my groaning all day long;
⁴ day and night your hand was heavy on me;
the sap in me dried up as in a summer drought. (Selah)

⁵ When I acknowledged my sin to you,
when I stopped concealing my guilt,
and said, “I will confess my offenses to Adonai”;
then you, you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Selah)

⁶ This is what everyone faithful should pray
at a time when you can be found.
Then, when the floodwaters are raging,
they will not reach to him.

⁷ You are a hiding-place for me,
you will keep me from distress;
you will surround me
with songs of deliverance. (Selah)

⁸ “I will instruct and teach you
in this way that you are to go;
I will give you counsel;
my eyes will be watching you.”

⁹ Don’t be like a horse or mule
that has no understanding,
that has to be curbed with bit and bridle,
or else it won’t come near you.

¹⁰ Many are the torments of the wicked,
but grace surrounds those who trust in Adonai.
¹¹ Be glad in Adonai; rejoice, you righteous!
Shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

https://translate.google.com/