Psalm 6

To the chief musician on Neginoth, upon Sheminith,

A psalm of David.

1 O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger,

neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

2 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am weak;

O LORD, heal me, for my bones are vexed.

3 My soul is also sore vexed;

but thou, O LORD, how long?

4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul;

oh save me for thy mercies' sake.

5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee;

in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

6 I am weary with my groaning;

all the night make I my bed to swim;

I water my couch with my tears.

7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief;

it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.

8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity;

for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.

9 The LORD hath heard my supplication;

the LORD will receive my prayer.

10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed;

let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

JW: David being sick both in body and mind, because he had offended God, presents his misery before him, ver. 1-3; begs the return of his favour, ver. 4-7; Assures himself of an answer of peace, ver. 8-10.

[On verse 5:] 'Remembrance' - He speaks of the remembrance or celebration of God's grace in the land of the living, to the edification of God's church, and the propagation of true religion among men; which is not done in the other life.

[On verse 6:] 'With my tears' - It well becomes the greatest spirits to be tender, and to relent under the tokens of God's displeasure. David who could face Goliath himself, melts into tears at the remembrance of sin, and under the apprehension of Divine wrath, and it is no diminution to his character.

[On verse 8:] 'Hath heard' - By the workings of God's grace upon his heart, he knew his prayer was accepted. His tears had a voice, in the ears of the God of mercy. Silent tears are no speechless ones. Our tears are cries to God.

[On verse 10:] 'Ashamed' - of their vain confidence. 'Return' - repent of their sins and return to their obedience.

I love Wesley's interaction with this Psalm. I think he's right on. And for one who is often accused of being more of a prose sort of theologian, John Wesley here is perhaps at his poetic best, particularly in his depiction of tears and weeping. To note that David's "tears had a voice...[as] cries to God" is beautiful! I suggest that here we see the connection, as we see elsewhere, of the Spirit and water.

Do you recall what Paul says about praying and the Spirit in Romans? "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." I'm not suggesting that all it takes is to shed a few tears or get emotional to get God to hear you, but there are times when the Spirit does this very thing that Paul says, and I believe that it is exampled here in David's prayer. "Jesus wept." John Wesley broke down uncontrollably in tears in a worship service two weeks after his brother, Charles', death. It is said that Handel, during his composition of the 'Hallelujah' chorus of 'The Messiah' fell prostrate and was weeping in view of the glory of God and his Son Jesus Christ. And that was before he actually heard it sung and played.

In the end, though, tears are not the end...not in this Psalm, not in the Spirit-filled life of following Jesus. They are helpful so far as they go, but the cry for mercy is followed by the cry for walking the path of righteousness. That path is not easy, and invokes us to pray for and love our enemies. That's the other thing I really like about what Wesley brings out in this Psalm: a right way of approaching the passage against the enemies as praying for their 'repentance' rather than their destruction.