Psalm 6
This Psalm is usually regarded as a Psalm of sickness and spiritual anguish. This is the first of the Psalms called ‘Penitential Psalms.’ The others are Psalms 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143. The title declares it to be a Psalm of David.
“To the Chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith.” “Chief Musician” is the Choir Director. “Neginoth” are stringed instruments. “Sheminith” refers to the eighth octave or an eight-stringed lyre.

The title gives us no indication of the circumstances that brought David to write this Psalm.
I. DAVID’S PLEA FOR COMPASSION 1-3
“O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger, Nor chasten me in Your wrath. Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am pining away; Heal me, O LORD, for my bones are dismayed. And my soul is greatly dismayed; But You, O LORD–how long?”
A plea for compassion from God is not uncommon in the Scriptures. There is, of course, the plea of the thief on the cross. There is the plea from Habakkuk in 3:2. Moses pled for the children of Israel in Ex.32:10-12 and again in Nu.14:13-20. David, here, pleads for compassion for himself. This verse is identical to 38:1 with the exception of one word.
A. God’s Chastening 1
“O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger, Nor chasten me in Your wrath.”
David pleads with God not to rebuke David in His anger or chasten David in His wrath. David says the same thing in Psalm 38:1-4. We can see that David is and was very conscious of his own sin (Ps.32:3-4) but he does not tell us to what sin he is referring here in this Psalm. David obviously regards what he is going through as allowed by God because of sin.
We have no idea why God has allowed this pandemic to infect throughout the world, but He knows. We cannot assume personal sin is the cause of each infection. But, no matter what trials we go through, it is always good to start looking at it by first considering the condition of our own hearts before God.
B. God’s Compassion 2-3
“Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am pining away; Heal me, O LORD, for my bones are dismayed. And my soul is greatly dismayed; But You, O LORD–how long?”
The term gracious/mercy/merciful means ‘to be favorably inclined towards.’ Therefore, in this context it means compassion. The term pining away/weak/faint means ‘to hang down the head’ referring to a depressed state of mind. He will describe this further in verses 6-7. Dismayed/vexed/agony means ‘to tremble with fear or trepidation’ as in Ez.7:27.
“The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their conduct I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the LORD.”
The first half of the above verse is an excellent description of the world right now in the grip of this pandemic.
David is pleading for God’s favor, His compassion, because David is depressed, pining away. His bones tremble and his soul is greatly dismayed. He pleads to the Lord, “How long?” ‘How long will you allow me to be like this? How long before you hear my prayer?’ And we might add, ‘How long before this virus is removed?’
II. DAVID’S PLEA FOR DELIVERANCE 4-5
“Return, O LORD, rescue my soul; Save me because of Your lovingkindness. For there is no mention of You in death; In Sheol who will give You thanks?”
David’s question of v.3 leads to his outright plea of v.4.
A. David’s Plea for Deliverance 4
“Return, O LORD, rescue my soul; Save me because of Your lovingkindness.”
David pleads for the Lord to return, as if the Lord had deserted him. We sometimes get into such anguish of soul that we feel the Lord has deserted us. The very fact that we can pray reminds us that God has not left us, no matter what it seems like. So David pleads to God to rescue him, preserve him. He pleads for this based on God’s mercy, His lovingkindness.
And we may look at our world, our nation, our state, our community, and ask for God’s preservation. We can ask because we know, firsthand, His lovingkindness.
B. David’s Praise 5
“For there is no mention of You in death; In Sheol who will give You thanks?”
Some groups like to use this verse as a proof text that at death there is annihilation. They use this verse to teach that a soul ceases to exist at death: ‘soulsleep.’ However, note the word translated mention /remembrance/remembers. This is a word that means ‘a public memorial or memory, a public remembrance’ (Ex.3:15; Ps.109:15). The second line in the verse shows what he means. In the grave, who will give a public memorial, a public giving of thanks before men? David declares that he should be rescued because he cannot publicly praise and thank God from the grave.
But if we hunker down in this crisis, making no attempt to reach out to minister to others, it will be difficult to make this argument for ourselves before the Lord.
III. DAVID’S DEPRESSION 6-7
“I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief; It has become old because of all my adversaries.”
Each thought, in Verses 6-7, builds on the previous one. David begins with the general statement that he is weary with his sighing and ends with an eye that is aged. David’s anguish is affecting him physically. His weeping has caused him to look wasted and old.
David’s problem is his adversaries and he recognizes that this is the hand of the Lord (vss.1-3; Is.45:5-7). The quicker we recognize God’s omnipotence, God’s sovereignty, and our need to abide under His hand in faith, the easier our life will be. It is David’s recognition of God’s role in David’s calamity that brings David to plead with God. Thus is this Psalm produced.
As Believers in Christ, we know that God is actively involved in our lives. No matter the cause of our trials, He is with us through every one of them. He brings about the fulfillment of Romans 8:28 (“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”).
IV. DAVID’S PROMISE OF DELIVERANCE 8-10
“Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping. The LORD has heard my supplication, The LORD receives my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed; They shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed.”
David, even though pleading with God for deliverance, shows that he is trusting God by his concluding statements. David declares that:
A. The Lord Hears 8
“Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.”
The second line of this verse expresses an opposite thought to the first line. David’s enemies, those who do iniquity, can depart from him because the Lord has heard the voice of David’s weeping.
B. The Lord Receives 9
“The LORD has heard my supplication, The LORD receives my prayer.”
Both lines of this verse express the same thought. David declares that God has heard his prayer, his supplication. This carries forward the thought of the last line of verse 8. God has received David’s prayer. God has not rejected his prayer. For God to receive is for God to act. And God has not rejected our prayers because we are accepted in Christ. We are encouraged to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). This brings us to v.10.
C. The Lord Will Act 10
“All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed; They shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed.”
Both lines express the same idea. David’s enemies will be ashamed. They will be dismayed greatly. This will be accomplished by their being turned back, probably because of being dismayed. Where David began with being dismayed/vexed in vss.2-3, now it is those who have attacked David who are to be dismayed/vexed. They will be the ones who are trembling with fear and trepidation. God will act on behalf of David. In this Psalm it has not yet happened. David is expressing his faith in God’s deliverance. Yet he is confident in God’s future aid.
V. CONCLUSION
David was experiencing intense mental anguish. He had fear and trembling. It was affecting him physically. In spite of prayer and trust, David had great anguish. Yet, he still expressed faith in God’s deliverance.
It is possible to have great emotional anguish and still have faith. Crying before God, pleading with Him to act, does not show a lack of faith. While pleading David was trusting. While trusting David was pleading.
The reason David pled for God to rescue him was so that he could continue to praise God before others. Peter also wrote, in 1Peter 2:9, that this is our purpose before the world (“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”). We need to recognize our responsibility of proclaiming the Excellencies of our God to this world. We need to publicly praise and thank Him. That is our purpose for remaining on this earth. We praise Him both by word, and by deed, and by our very life and by our death.
Simply because we as Believers are going through great mental anguish due to circumstances of this life does not mean we lack faith. The truth is that we may or may not. Often we increase a person’s anguish because of false assumptions about them. That is what Job’s three friends did to Job. Let’s not do that to each other or even to ourselves. If you see a Brother in the Lord under a great burden, do what Paul wrote in Galatians 6:2 and come along side and help them bear their burden. If we find ourselves struggling with fear under these difficult circumstances, go to the Lord and to His Word. Seek peace in His presence through His Word. He is the God of all comfort and peace. And, as Charles Spurgeon said, learn the peace of being thrown upon the Rock of Ages.
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