Do Not Rebuke Me In Your Anger
Devotional
Companion to the Psalter
A Devotional Guide to the Psalms
Object:
Be gracious to me, O LORD,
for I am languishing;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones
are shaking with terror ...
Turn, O LORD, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
-- Psalm 6:2, 4
Theme: Prayer for recovery from grave illness
Outline
1-3 -- Cry for healing of body and mind.
4-7 -- Continued pleading with an attempt to reason with God.
8-10 -- Joy and confidence return.
Notes
• Lament -- Penitential
• The first of seven Penitential Psalms (6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143).
• Severe illness is the occasion, giving pleasure to evil enemies.
• The plea is based on God's grace, his steadfast love.
• Sheol, the abode of the dead, was regarded with dismay by both Israel and all the ancient world, a diminished shadowy existence, cut off from joy, something to be dreaded. Note similar references in 30:9; 88:10-12; 115:17; and also Hebrews 2:15. (See the note on "Life And Death In The Psalms" in the introductory pages.)
For Reflection
• Is sickness to be thought of as punishment? Some suffering comes from our sin, but Jesus sets limits on that outlook and suggests a different way of regarding it. (See John 9:1-3; Psalm 103:3.)
Prayer
Lord God, you have seen what sin has done to us all, bringing in its wake sickness, suffering, and death. But you have won for us the victory bringing us new life. Restore us to health, that we may live to enjoy and serve you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
for I am languishing;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones
are shaking with terror ...
Turn, O LORD, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
-- Psalm 6:2, 4
Theme: Prayer for recovery from grave illness
Outline
1-3 -- Cry for healing of body and mind.
4-7 -- Continued pleading with an attempt to reason with God.
8-10 -- Joy and confidence return.
Notes
• Lament -- Penitential
• The first of seven Penitential Psalms (6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143).
• Severe illness is the occasion, giving pleasure to evil enemies.
• The plea is based on God's grace, his steadfast love.
• Sheol, the abode of the dead, was regarded with dismay by both Israel and all the ancient world, a diminished shadowy existence, cut off from joy, something to be dreaded. Note similar references in 30:9; 88:10-12; 115:17; and also Hebrews 2:15. (See the note on "Life And Death In The Psalms" in the introductory pages.)
For Reflection
• Is sickness to be thought of as punishment? Some suffering comes from our sin, but Jesus sets limits on that outlook and suggests a different way of regarding it. (See John 9:1-3; Psalm 103:3.)
Prayer
Lord God, you have seen what sin has done to us all, bringing in its wake sickness, suffering, and death. But you have won for us the victory bringing us new life. Restore us to health, that we may live to enjoy and serve you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.