David Bahn – Reflections

O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,
    nor discipline me in your wrath.
² Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
    heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.
³ My soul also is greatly troubled.
    But you, O LORD—how long?

⁴ Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;
    save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
⁵ For in death there is no remembrance of you;
    in Sheol who will give you praise?

⁶ I am weary with my moaning;
    every night I flood my bed with tears;
    I drench my couch with my weeping.
⁷ My eye wastes away because of grief;
    it grows weak because of all my foes.

⁸ Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
    for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
⁹ The LORD has heard my plea;
    the LORD accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
    they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Seth, Lead Minister at St. John preached on Psalm 6 this morning, explaining that it is a psalm of lament. He explained that such psalms typically follow a recognizable structure. The key parts are:

1. Address to GoD
2. Complaint
3. Petition (Request for Help)
4. Expression of Trust
5. Praise

Some laments also include imprecations (calls for God’s judgment on enemies) and confessions of sin if personal wrongdoing is involved in the suffering. 

Seth urged us to use the psalm for our devotions, and provided a resource for us to use to that end. I thought I’d use this idea to shape my own reflections for this week and the weeks to come.

Let’s start with the address to God.

Have you ever gotten caught in phone tree purgatory? “We’re glad you called, and your call is important to us. Press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish, 3 for German, 4 for French, 5 for Italian, 6 for Portuguese, 7 for Swahili, 9 for Chinese…” Then comes, “If you are calling as a customer press 1. If you want to speak to a billing agent, press 2….” Then, “Please enter the last five digits of your customer number. If you don’t know your customer number, press star to go back to the main menu.” Arrrgh!!!

God offers us a much better calling option. More important, the True God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the great Three-in-One, the Alpha and Omega. David starts this psalm speaking to the LORD, Yahweh.

This is an appeal to the personal identifiable God. He is known by his name. He is not merely a spiritual force. He is the God of the covenant with his people. When Moses was sent to Pharoah to release God’s people from slavery, he told Moses that his name was “I AM WHO I AM. Tell them I AM sent you to them.” The divine name YHWH (often pronounced as Yahweh) comes from the same Hebrew root H-Y-H (“to be”), reinforcing the idea that God is the ever-present, self-sufficient One.

We know, now, that God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, who commanded us to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We know God by name, not just as a spiritual force. When we appeal to God in Jesus’ name we’re not sent to a purgatory of phone trees. We have access to the throne of God’s grace. Jesus himself promised, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.” (John 16:23).

Pour out your heart to God. Don’t just shout to the heavens. Don’t merely complain. Call on the LORD in Jesus’ name. He has promised to hear you.