Psalm 6

O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline in your wrath. Be gracious to me O LORD for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.

I think there is a Psalm for every mood of life, every season of life, every emotion of life, every hope and dream and fear and despair of life. A Psalm that I may not resonate with today may be one that I completely identify with tomorrow.

Often in the church we hear, “Oh, you shouldn’t think like that”, “You shouldn’t talk like that”, “You shouldn’t feel like that”. We get legalistic with our thoughts and feelings and words somehow thinking that if we deny the negative that God will bless us – that is paganism and superstition. We are to wrestle with our souls, with our hearts and minds; we wrestle we do not deny. There is a Psalm for just about every situation, every wrestling match of life as well as just about every joy of life.

It is sad that the church does not know the Psalter. Not to take anything away from composers and lyricists, but there is no music and there are no lyrics that compare to the Psalms and songs found elsewhere in the Scriptures. What? You do not hear the music in Psalms? Try spending more time in Psalms – weave them into the tapestry of your life.

There are places in the Psalms, such as Psalm 6, when our frailty and fear is expressed, along with our desperate need for God; we are in the valley of humanity looking up to heaven. There are other Psalms when we find ourselves seated in the heavens and looking down on earth; our need for God is no less; in these Psalms of exaltation and victory we see things from God’s perspective – acknowledging that He is the source of overcoming, joy, and salvation.

I may not be “in” Psalm 6 when I read it today, but I may very well return to Psalm 6 this evening in pouring out my soul to God. Psalm 6 may be one I share with a friend in need today, showing him that for ages we have cried out to God for help in our fear and weakness and weariness. The Psalms portray the human condition and the Divine Character, the essence of humanity and the nature of God – Psalms was once the hymnal of the church, we would do well to know it as the hymnal of our lives.