[Guest devotion from my brother Chris]
Frank David
Psalm 6 devotion
The Psalms are often cited for inspiration, calming,
strengthening and guidance.
Consider the
23rd Psalm. It flows effortlessly from
the mouths of the majority of Christians and offers hope, peace and comfort,
speaking of a caring, loving and actively involved God who is our keeper and
shepherd through life's troubles and travails.
David's inspired words in the Psalms can serve as spiritual solid ground
in an otherwise shaky world.
The Psalm we're considering today is very different from the
23rd Psalm.
The Message translation's clear, plain and simple verbiage
speaks to my heart directly, so I have chosen to cite it for Psalm 6 for the
purpose of this study.
Psalm 6: 1-3
"Please God, no more yelling, no more trips to the woodshed. Treat me nice for a change; I'm so starved
for affection. Can't you see I'm black and blue, beat up badly in bones and
soul? God, how long will it take for you
to let up?"
How many times have you been in the place David was when he
wrote this?
How often have you felt like
you simply couldn't take anymore and that you'd somehow lost God's favor?
There are two biblical characters that
always get my attention with their bold, somewhat audacious approach to God;
They are Moses and David.
I used to
judge them both quite harshly thinking, "I'd never address God, the
creator of all things, in such a disrespectful manner!" I was wrong though.
God WANTS us to be frank and honest with him. He WANTS us to speak to him directly, openly,
honestly. He already knows what truly
lies in our hearts.
When we sugar coat,
soft sell, or tone down our words out of some misguided desire to show respect
for God's feelings, we miss out on realizing the potential peace that can come
from an honest, sincere prayer conversation with God.
David isn't being disrespectful here, he's
"saying it like it is". He's
being frank. Let's consider the next
verses to see how he continues this prayer conversation with his Creator.
Psalm 6: 4-7
"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! 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."
Think to the times of extreme trial in your life. The times when things were so dark that you
wanted to scream out to God and beg him to stop it all; to take away the pain and
sorrow and suffering.
Did you? Did you follow David's example and speak your
feelings in vivid, bold, audacious detail?
God loves you, so much that he gave He sent Jesus to take your place and
buy your freedom.
Imagine then that a
God who loves you THAT much would love to HEAR your voice.
Speaking to him daily about your successes
and failures.
Your fears and
concerns.
Your questions and
triumphs.
David shows us that God wants
us to cry, laugh, sing, question, scream and be real in our prayer conversations
with God.
To bring this short Psalm to a close, David offers us the
hope that we too can have EVERY time we pray to our God.
Psalm 6: 8-10
"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. Cowards, my
enemies disappear. Disgraced, they turn
tail and run."
Dear Lord, use David's example of frank, honest and real
prayer conversation with you to inspire me to do the same. Reassure me that you, my active and living
God, hear and answer my prayers. In
Jesus name, Amen.
TIP: click the Bible Reference and then "more
details" to get hyperlinks that open Bible Gateway
What's the big
deal about Jesus?
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