St. Aidan's Anglican Church
  • Home
  • Worship Online
  • The Preachers Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • The Re-Gathering
  • Youth
  • Cords
  • Prayer Requests
  • Request Pastoral Care
  • Give
  • Grocery Pick Up
  • Statement of Faith
  • Video Archive
    • 2023 Videos
    • Real Lives
    • 2022 Videos
    • 2021 Videos
    • 2020 Videos
  • Sermon Audio Archive
    • 2020 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centered Eternities November 2019
      • The Real Joy of Easter - Holy Week 2019
    • 2018 Sermons
    • 2018 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centred Church Spring 2018
      • A Gospel Shaped Church Fall 2018
    • 2017 Sermon Series >
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
      • The Saviour King Lent 2017
      • The Victorious King Holy Week 2017
      • The Living King Easter 2017
      • The Brother King Fall 2017
      • Worship the King Advent 2017
    • 2016 Sermon Series >
      • Real Obedience Lent 2016
      • Unity of the Church
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
    • 2015 Sermon Series >
      • Real Gifts 2015
      • Real Mission 2015
      • Mission Discerned
    • 2014 Sermon Series >
      • Real Church 2014
      • Real Lives 2014
    • 2013 Sermon Series >
      • Real God 2013
    • Sermon Archive From 2014 - 2017
  • Christianity 101
  • The Psalms Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • The Re-Gathering

the  Preachers  blog

Blogs are posted every Wednesday

A Pleading Psalm

1/14/2022

 
Psalm 6:      Lynne McCarthy    1/14/22

Observe:  David pours out his heart before the Lord in repentance, aware of God’s rebuke for an unnamed sin. He pleads with God to lighten the chastising and rebuke he possibly needs, yet also knows God is merciful (1-2).In anguish of soul he asks, How long, O Lord, how long? (3), while he acknowledges hesed, God’s unfailing love.
Verses 4-7 continue his weeping and crying out. Though David can scarcely pray, he finds that God is indeed near, and …the Lord accepts my prayer. (9b) so his tears are not in vain. At the end, he knows his enemies will not prevail against him – or against God. (10) There’s some vindication; there is definite assurance.

Interpret:   This is both a lament and the first of the Psalter’s six “Penitential Psalms” of repentance. Lament is defined as “to feel loss, sorrow or regret, often expressed in a physical way”, here, through loud weeping. As we learn the Psalms this year, we will read many of his laments, groanings in utter honesty before God.
Heb 12:7 tells us that God chastens out of His love, to show us we are His adopted children. He cares, not because we are perfect, but because He is. David doesn’t know this; the cross is a long way off, so he is not sure of his standing with God. But he does know God is rich in mercy, so he clings to this fact. The strange verse 5, the dead cannot praise God arises from the ancient name for the grave, Sheol. It’s the end (resurrection was not a tenet of the Hebrews’ faith); no praising God from there.
And how do laments end?  Except for Psalm 88, with trust, hope and praise for the Lord of all comfort.  David’s trust despite his bleak circumstances is the basis not only for his laments, but for all his prayer-poems.

Apply:  In our culture, if we have deep sorrow, where do we go?  For problems with mental health, perhaps a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a counselor of some sort. If we need to resolve a dilemma, professional counselors might have the wisdom to pierce through the murk. Perhaps we have a wise, insightful friend gifted with the Holy Spirit’s knowledge and wisdom, whom we can trust to keep confidences. But human treatment or help has its limits.

By now, we should know prayer is our first recourse, though the other means do help. Prayer teams at the 10:30 service pray with us in our struggles (though we can’t do this now). We can request prayer via the church website or the office. The prayer chain is a wonderful means, brothers and sisters committed to praying for these requests. Make good use of them! Small groups or a prayer partner offer other outlets to pray. Every request is confidential, so be encouraged.

Prayer of lament, in whatever circumstance, centres us in God’s merciful love; prayer with others is always a joy to the Lord to receive and answer.
The late Bible teacher, David Pawson, talks about ‘interrogatory prayer’: we ask God questions and know He will answer, not with thunderbolts of revelation but in the way we need. If the psalmist can moan, How long, O Lord? then why can’t we?
We could try memorizing verses (or entire Psalms – starting with a short one!) that have blessed, encouraged or given us a new sense of God’s mercy and love -- no small feat, but we can do it!  It would be a good exercise for small groups to make[LM1]  the Psalms ours.

Ask:  Have I ever let God know how I really feel when I pray? Do I trust Him enough to be honest in my pleadings and yet have deep reverence for Him? Am I patient enough to wait for His answers?

Pray:
   
Lord who knew sorrow, send Your Spirit into my prayers so I can be completely honest and true as I come to you. Show me how to pray the Psalms this year!
Sing:   Psalm 6:    Save Me, Lord   - Jason Silver
              youtu.be/QxfRxB44upM
             Light of Life   - Sons of Korah
             youtu.be/E1eCDR4rzpI
 [LM1]

Comments are closed.
    Picture
    Picture

    Preachers Blog

    In 2023, each week's blog is a follow-up reflection written by the preceding Sunday’s preacher to dig deeper into the sermon topic and explore engaging discussion questions.

    ​Thank you for joining us as we journeyed through the Bible in a Year in 2021 and the Psalms in 2022.  All past blogs remain available if you wish to catch up with any days missed.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Who is Jesus?
At St Aidan's, it's our desire to know our Real God,
to grow as a Real Church and
​ to live Real Lives for Him.

Picture
St Aidan’s Anglican Church
274 Campbell Street | Winnipeg, MB R3N 1B5
Phone: 204.489.3390 Email: staidans.churchoffice@gmail.com
  • Home
  • Worship Online
  • The Preachers Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • The Re-Gathering
  • Youth
  • Cords
  • Prayer Requests
  • Request Pastoral Care
  • Give
  • Grocery Pick Up
  • Statement of Faith
  • Video Archive
    • 2023 Videos
    • Real Lives
    • 2022 Videos
    • 2021 Videos
    • 2020 Videos
  • Sermon Audio Archive
    • 2020 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermons
    • 2019 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centered Eternities November 2019
      • The Real Joy of Easter - Holy Week 2019
    • 2018 Sermons
    • 2018 Sermon Series >
      • Gospel Centred Church Spring 2018
      • A Gospel Shaped Church Fall 2018
    • 2017 Sermon Series >
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
      • The Saviour King Lent 2017
      • The Victorious King Holy Week 2017
      • The Living King Easter 2017
      • The Brother King Fall 2017
      • Worship the King Advent 2017
    • 2016 Sermon Series >
      • Real Obedience Lent 2016
      • Unity of the Church
      • The Servant King Christmas 2016
    • 2015 Sermon Series >
      • Real Gifts 2015
      • Real Mission 2015
      • Mission Discerned
    • 2014 Sermon Series >
      • Real Church 2014
      • Real Lives 2014
    • 2013 Sermon Series >
      • Real God 2013
    • Sermon Archive From 2014 - 2017
  • Christianity 101
  • The Psalms Blog
  • Bible in a Year
  • The Re-Gathering