For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 6 – Anguish

1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
    or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;
    heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is in deep anguish.
    How long, Lord, how long?

4 Turn, Lord, and deliver me;
    save me because of your unfailing love.
5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
    Who praises you from his grave?

6 I am worn out from my groaning.

All night long I flood my bed with weeping
    and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
    they fail because of all my foes.

8 Away from me, all you who do evil,
    for the Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
    the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;
    they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

A. Find Out:    

1. Who was David concerned about? v.7,10
2. How was he feeling? v.2,3,6
3. What did he ask the Lord not to do? v.1
4. What did he ask the Lord to do? v.4
5. What did he fear? v.5
6. Yet what assurance came? v.9,10

B. Think:

1. How is anxiety shown to have physical out-workings?
2. What signs are there of David’s depth of feeling?
3. Why do you think David came to a place of assurance?

C. Comment:

     David is again conscious of people around him who are against him. It is not a casual thing but something that has caused him deep anguish. He has spent a night weeping and groaning, his body feels exhausted and deep inside he is in anguish. In his weakness he calls to the Lord and pleads for the Lord not to deal severely with him, for he feels almost too weak to be able to cope with it. He asks for the Lord to deliver him and he relies on the Lord’s unfailing love as the ground on which he comes. Lord, he seems to say, if I’m dead, what point is there in that? I won’t be able to praise and worship you then! Please save me from them.

     Suddenly the tone of his praying changes (v.8) and he suddenly has the assurance that the Lord HAS heard and the Lord WILL respond. That’s often how it is with intercessors: as they pray and pray, there suddenly comes an inner witness by the Spirit that the Lord has answered. Do we know that type of prayer? Truth sets us free if we are Jesus’ disciples, more often than not when we read His word, but it is His Holy Spirit who witnesses within us that it is the truth, and that often comes AS we pray and keep on praying.

D. Application?

1. Anxiety can completely take all our strength away and leaves us feeling exhausted.
2. Commit it to God – Philippians 4:6,7