Spring Harvest’s ‘Route 66 Through the Year’ is designed to take readers on a tour through each of the 66 books of the Bible over the course of a year, with each day’s reading featuring a short passage and comment written by a variety of Spring Harvest speakers.
I have contributed notes for this week, looking today at Psalm 6.
Read: Psalm 6
The Psalm reminds us that we have moments – sometimes long moments – when we suffer physical pain of some kind, inner emotional turmoil, and fear about the future; perhaps we are even faced with death, threat from enemies, or a sense of God’s anger. And it gives us a voice with which to cry out to God. It might also, like other Psalms, provide a way of moving from anguish to a sense of assurance.
In reflecting on God’s discipline of him, David cries out for mercy (6:1-3), turning to God in his suffering, asking for healing. He does so, because this time of discipline was also a time of distress (6:4-7); and so he appeals to God save him ‘because of your unfailing love’, reminding God of his covenant commitment to his people.
In his time of discipline, he cries for God’s mercy; and in his time of distress, he pleads for God’s love. And he expresses the confidence that this will give way to deliverance (6:8-10). Apparently, nothing has changed the circumstances by the end of the psalm, but he is certain that the prayer has been heard, which brings a measure of much-needed relief and hope.
Where do we go for mercy we don’t deserve, for faithful love when all else fails, and for hope of deliverance? In God alone, and in Christ alone.
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