Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Groanings of Anguish

Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.  My soul is in anguish.  How long, O LORD, how long?  Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love…I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping…My eyes grow weak in sorrow…The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer,” Psalm 6:2-9.

I can just feel the agony in my spirit for David as he was stretched out crying to God in his severe illness.  In this particular case, God had allowed the illness to enter his life in rebuke for his sinfulness.  Regardless of whether his agony was rebuke or at the hand of his enemies suffering is suffering.  We can all relate to this plea of complete desolation in body and soul.  My commentary states, ‘How long expresses the anguish of relief not (yet) granted.   In the vivid language of the OT, eyes growing weak are dimmed by failing strength…by grief…by longings unsatisfied or hope deferred’ p. 796.

longings unsatisfied…hope deferred…relief not yet granted.  Who can relate to this plea this morning a couple of thousands years later?  Who among us feel as if our prayers are bouncing off the back of God as He faces another direction?  We can have the same confidence in God today as David did in his own time of suffering.  Whether we are afflicted in our physical bodies or in our emotional bodies we have the same promises today.  David penned his deepest beliefs in this Psalm.  His question of ‘How long, O LORD, how long’ is his battle cry of belief in his eventual deliverance.  He doesn’t question if God will rescue, heal, deliver and save, but how long will it take before he is rescued.  His prayer in his despair implies that above the discipline, above the circumstances and above the suffering is a God who will deliver and save…a God who hears our cries…and gives mercy to the failing and acceptance to the believer’s prayer. 

If your longings are still unsatisfied this morning…resolution in your situation seems far away… relief from your impossible season has not yet arrived…remember:  As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you…Be strong and very courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go’
Joshua 1:5, 9.

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