Daily Devotional • August 27
Psalm 6
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror.
3 My soul also is struck with terror,
while you, O Lord—how long?
4 Turn, O Lord, save my life;
deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who can give you praise?
6 I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
7 My eyes waste away because of grief;
they grow weak because of all my foes.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my supplication;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror;
they shall turn back and in a moment be put to shame.
Meditation
…every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with weeping… (Psalm 6:6)
The night watch can be brutal. Somehow every trial of the midday seems to be amplified at night. Worry for the teenager out past curfew torments the parent getting ready for bed. The word of discouragement from the worker’s boss can become a soliloquy between the time his head hits the pillow and he finally falls asleep after midnight. Unresolved dissension between the married couple becomes a mental war before the morning light creeps through the bedroom blinds. Not to mention those moments in life when it seems that all of your friends have abandoned you.
Have you ever “drenched your couch with weeping”? What do you do when you “flood your bed with tears”? Some will get up and make a plan made up of lists, action items, and things to do that will resolve the crisis. Others simply languish without any sleep. Some will pace or take something to “calm the nerves.”
The Psalmist cries out to the Lord. The Psalmist prays and lays every despair from every corner of life before the throne of God. Did you notice how the voice of the Psalmist grew more confident as the Psalm progresses. “Rebuke me not,” he began. “Be gracious,” he continued. “Save me for the sake of your steadfast love,” he exclaims, as he makes ready the detail of his complaint. Here he is at his most vulnerable. The night watch can be brutal. But the example of the Psalmist can lead you toward the morning light and the assurance that “the Lord has heard your plea.” Speak aloud the deepest fear that will not let you go at night. Seek release from the demon that torments. Rest, finally, in the promise that “the Lord has heard your plea.”
The Very Rev. Timothy Kimbrough is the director of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies and the Jack and Barbara Bovender Professor of the Practice of Anglican Studies at Duke Divinity School. He was previously dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville, Tennessee.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Ijesa North East – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
Mockingbird Ministries