Our way often lies through a vale of tears,
but there is One whom we can trust in the greatest straits and difficulties and who can dry our tears and stop our pains.
To Him let us betake ourselves waiting upon Him in earnest prayer.
Psalm 1
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.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 6 – Deliverance in Trouble
This is the first of the Penitential Psalms, the other six being Psalm 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143. The earliest verses are a wail, but the psalm ends in a song. It is like a day of rain which clears at evening.Sheminith is a musical term signifying “octave.”
The elements of the psalmist’s sorrow are given in Psalm 6:1-7. The pressure of God’s displeasure, soul-anguish, sickness, soul-depression, an enemy’s opposition—all these were ingredients in his cup of bitterness. How touching the plea–I am weak! How expressive the broken sentence, so often on Calvin’s lips–How long! And that prayer, O Lord, heal me, includes the mental as well as the physical.
The certainty of deliverance looms in sight in Psalm 6:8-10. The consciousness of having been heard steals over the soul as a glint of light in the hospital ward. The answer may not be at hand, but it is sure, I John 5:15. Weeping has a voice: God interprets sighs. When God returns to us, because we return to Him, our enemies turn back. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 6:3—But Thou, O LORD, how long?
You have been long in coming, love says. So miserly are we of the minutes, so leaden-paced is the beat of the pendulum, when our heart stands on the tip-toe of expectation. Moments lengthen to hours when we suffer and await deliverance, just as hours contract to moments when the heart is young and gay.
How long, Lord, ere the trial cease?—When we are entering into the furnace, we like to make bargains with God that it shall not last beyond a certain hour; but He never tells us, lest patience might miss her perfect work. He says simply, It is enough to suffer one moment at a time.
How long, Lord, ere deliverance arrive?—Long ago we sent for reinforcements; and since then the battle has been waxing more fierce. We have looked eagerly to the horizon to see the relieving column, clear-cut on the sky line; but in vain. We think we can hold out no more. We have strained at the oar to the last degree of strength and if some deliverance does not come to us, the fourth watch of night will see us drifting helplessly to destruction. “Where is thy God?“ the enemy cries (Psalms 42:10); and we are tempted to think ourselves forsaken and forgotten.
How long, Lord, ere the Advent break?—He said that He would come quickly—but the weary centuries pass; and, strain our ears as we may, we cannot detect his princely footfall along the corridor of time.
Cease, fond heart, thy complaining. Delay is not denial. He counts a thousand years as a day. He is coming on the wings of every wind; already He is nigh, even at the doors. Never a moment too early—but not a moment too late. —Our Daily Homily