← Back to sermon library

As we said this morning, that's 
what we'll be looking at this evening. It's a very similar 
psalm in many ways. It's a prayer as most of the 
book of psalms. It is known as a prayer book, 
but it's a specific prayer of David. And again, my credits goes to 
Dr. Dale Ralph Davis for an excellent 
outline to fill in some of the missing pieces in the chapter 
which I drew upon. So Psalm chapter six, we'll read 
it, pray, and then we'll begin. To the chief musician with stringed 
instruments on an eight-stringed harp, a Psalm of David. O Lord, 
do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for 
I am weak. O Lord, heal me, for my bones 
are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled, 
but you, O Lord, how long? Return, O Lord, deliver me, O 
save me for your mercy's sake, for in death there is no remembrance 
of you, in the grave Who will give you thanks? I am weary with 
my groaning. All night I make my bed swim. 
I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of 
grief. It grows old because of all my 
enemies. Depart from me, all you workers 
of iniquity. For the Lord has heard the voice 
of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. 
The Lord will receive my prayer. Let all my enemies be ashamed 
and greatly troubled. Let them turn back and be ashamed 
suddenly. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious and our loving Heavenly 
Father, it's once again with great privilege that we come 
into your presence to open up your holy word. And so, Lord, 
how we pray that you would be gracious, that you would give 
us the Holy Spirit, both to communicate and as a hearer to understand 
the word of God this night. We pray that the Lord Jesus Christ 
will be lifted up, that, Father, you'd be glorified in all that 
is said, and that we would leave here having benefited from the 
word of God. We pray that your spirit might 
come now and that you would be pleased to bless it and own it 
in the ears of each and every person this night. And it's in 
Jesus' precious name we pray, amen. Well, certainly many are 
familiar with the pattern for prayer that's very common, common 
parlance in our day and age, it's acts. We remember that kind 
of, it's an easy thing to remember, acts, A-C-T-S. The A is for adoration, 
when we come to God in prayer, it's good to adore him. It's 
good to adore the God that we, that we worship. The C stands 
for confession. It's good to confess our sins. 
It's a good thing to remember in our prayer time, to confess 
our sins before a holy God. And then to give thanksgiving 
to God. We have much to be thankful for, and so we should remember 
the T in Acts to be thankful. And then finally, the last one 
is supplication in A-C-T-S. The last, of course, is supplication. 
It's a good guide, ultimately, because it stresses that prayer 
is not all about petition. Prayer is not all about supplication. 
If you were listening when I read chapter six of this psalm, we 
could almost scold David because he says, no, no, this whole psalm 
is supplication. I'm doing away with that whole 
idea of acts, A-C-T-S, to adore God, to confess, to give thanksgiving, 
and then to plead, to bring my supplication before God. He goes 
straight to supplication in this whole chapter. And sometimes 
emergencies may demand that we ditch recommended patterns. And 
I'm not suggesting that the ACTS is not a good pattern to have 
in our prayer. But sometimes, if it's an emergency, 
sometimes we might just have to plunge right into petition, 
as David does in this particular chapter. So even in this non-conformity 
to the pattern in prayer, I think David is going to teach us something 
about prayer. And in the first three verses, 
moving to the first point, I trust most of you still have have a 
handout from this morning on the back side was Psalm 6. Let's 
look at this psalm from David's perspective, of course. Let's 
see the agony that David seems to be expressing, that he's forming. 
And ultimately, what's feeding that agony? What's feeding that 
expression of great anxiety? Well, it's right in verse 1. 
David starts off by saying, do not rebuke me in your anger, 
chasing me in your hot displeasure. There may be some sin that God 
is chasing David for. We really don't know. God does 
not want, sorry, David does not want God to deal with him so 
severely. We know certainly that in the 
first verse, but he wants him to moderate his anger towards 
David. And we'll come back to this later, 
what exactly is David talking about? I'm not sure we'll ever 
be able to totally answer that question, but certainly David 
does not want God to deal with him as severely as he is. And 
we look at verse 2a, David mentions the problem of weakness. He says, for I am weak, I'm faint, 
I'm withering. I'm starting to ultimately get 
wiped out with whatever he's dealing with. It's quite treacherous, 
it's quite burdensome, whatever it is. It's almost to the point 
of wiping him out. It's difficult to know whether 
these descriptions are literal, are they metaphorical, figurative, 
or are they literal? I'm not sure we will ever know. Certainly verses six and seven 
point to some kind of Physical exhaustion, if we read verse 
6 and 7, I am weary with my groaning, all night I make my bed swim, 
I drench my couch with my tears, my eyes waste away, because of 
grief it grows old, because of all my enemies. So certainly 
there's some kind of physical exhaustion. Add to this problem 
the problem of fear, if we read 2B to 3A. It says, O Lord, heal 
me, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. So there seems to be a problem 
of fear in the soul of David that he is praying for, that 
he goes right to supplication. David appears to certainly genuinely 
be terrified. Whatever it is that's terrifying 
him, as I say, we do not know, but something is terrifying him. It might well be the disfavor 
of God. If we look at verse 1, certainly it would appear to 
be some disfavor on the part of God. O Lord, do not rebuke 
me in your anger, nor chase me in your hot displeasure. It could 
be sickness. Verse 2 refers to some sickness. 
My soul is greatly troubled. It could, in other words, my 
bones are troubled. Heal me, is what he's asking 
there in verse 2. If you read verses 8 and then 
10, it seems to be the threat of enemies. Verse 8. Depart from 
me, all you workers of iniquity. Verse 10, let all my enemies 
be ashamed and greatly troubled. Let them turn back and be ashamed 
suddenly. So it could be a disfavor of 
God. It could be sickness. It could 
be threat of enemies. It could be all three. We don't 
know, but certainly whatever it is has caused David to feel 
deep anguish, deep terror, and so it's straight to supplication 
that he goes. If we look at verse 3b, the problem 
of time seems to contribute. to David's agony. He says in 
verse 3b, he says, but you, O Lord, how long? Certainly, can't this 
often be a problem with God's ways? You know, David's how long 
of verse 3, how long will you allow this to go on? Why don't 
you intervene is really what he's saying. Why don't I get 
relief? Why is God waiting? Why does God hold off from bringing 
me relief? We say that God will intervene sooner or later, but 
often seems to be later and not sooner. And David is as much 
troubled with God as he is with the present circumstances. And 
sometimes we can be in the same situation. We can find ourselves, 
we have a calendar, we can say, well, I can hold on until the 
end of this day, or I can hold to the end of the week, or I 
can hold to the end of the year, but I must find some relief from 
God. God's calendar and our calendar often don't match up. So I don't 
propose to have a tidy, you know, tied-up package here as to the 
reasons why God allows us to wait other than, because David 
certainly doesn't seem to give us any reason why God is waiting 
to bring him some relief, other than it's not about, it's about 
God's glory and not about ours. That's all we can say when it 
comes to God perhaps not answering a prayer according to our schedule. 
Romans 8, 28, what does it say? And we know that all things work 
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called 
according to his purposes. Those are hard words. And we 
know that all things, all things mean good and bad. When the good 
things happen, it's easy to give praise to God. Oh yeah, we see 
how these things are working out for good. But what about 
when it's a bad thing? What about when it's something 
that's deeply troubling, as it was troubling David here in this 
sixth chapter of Psalms? So they're hard words, but they're 
very true words when we consider that Romans 8, 28 passage, that 
all things work together for good, and all means good and 
bad. Perhaps David's most pressing 
matter is that he's under the displeasure of God. Perhaps that's 
the thing that really is the greatest anxiety to David if 
we reach verse 1. nor chasing me in your hot displeasure." 
Is there anything worse than the loss of a friendship? If 
you lose a friendship, that's disheartening. Is there any agony 
worse than the loss of friendship with God? What did David say 
in Psalm 32? Just turn your Bibles to Psalm 
32. It's a psalm of confession. I think we see very much the 
heart of David in Psalm 32, when he lost what we might call the 
friendship of God through David's own sin. Psalm 32, verse three, 
I'll read three and four, says, when I kept silent, my bones, 
is silent about his own sin with Bathsheba. When I kept silent, 
my bones grew old. Through my groaning all the day 
long, for day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality 
was turned into the drought of summer." So we see there in that 
passage in Psalm 32 that the loss of friendship with God was 
terribly agonizing to David. So what can David, God's servant, 
do when he's under Yahweh's displeasure? Well, simply pray, and that's 
what he did in verse 2. In verse 2 it says, Show grace 
to me. Heal me, Yahweh. So ultimately, we go to the God 
who brings wrath with a plea of bring mercy. Would we not? 
If God can bring wrath upon us, would we not go to that same 
God and seek for His mercy? Think of Peter on the shore of 
Galilee. What had Peter just previously 
done to the Lord Jesus Christ? He denied him three times. And 
who does Jesus come and have a meal with? But Peter, the very 
one who denied him. And so there's that sense of 
that agonizing, pressing matter upon Peter. And what does Jesus 
do? But Jesus comes and he heals. He has mercy upon the one who 
really didn't deserve the mercy, but God gives him mercy. So we 
could say we could see Peter in verse 1, and we see the Lord 
Jesus coming to him in verse 2, having mercy upon him. What 
about a father or a mother having to discipline their children? 
Lots of parents here with young children. It's not a pleasant 
thing to have to bring a rod of discipline, whether it be 
a physical rod or the hand, upon a little one's rear end in order 
to discipline them, but there is purpose for that. That discipline 
comes, but into whose hand do those small children run? They 
run into the very hands that brought them great discipline. 
So, because they know there's love there. They know there's 
a consoling, that's a consoling hand as well. So it's a hand 
of displeasure, but it can also be a hand of consoling. And so therefore, we see the 
same idea with God here in the first two verses. The idea drives 
David's plea in verse 2. David knows that the God who 
is a striking God is also the God who's a healing God. He strikes 
in verse 1, he heals in verse 2. So in the same way as our 
children, we would want our children to come to us in order to seek 
our love and seek our affections, even after we've disciplined 
them, And they just do it. Well, wouldn't we do the same 
thing to our God? Ought we not to do the same thing to our God? 
Proof of this is found in Isaiah. There's a good passage, there's 
just one verse. Isaiah chapter 19, if you turn to Isaiah 19, 
I think you'll see that it's a good description of this God 
who strikes, but also a God who heals. Isaiah 19, verse 22. There's Isaiah speaking. And the Lord 
will strike Egypt. He will strike and heal it. They will return to the Lord, 
and He will be entreated by them and heal them. So once again, 
because I read that pretty quickly, I'll just read it one more time. 
You may have been turning, Isaiah 19, 22. And the Lord will strike 
Egypt. He will strike and heal it. They will return to the Lord, 
and He will be entreated by them and heal them. So that brings 
encouragement. I trust that we are encouraged. If we feel that 
the striking hand of God is upon us, in whatever our circumstances, 
whatever it is that's troubling us, that yes, that might be a 
striking hand, but God's also a healing hand. So it's to God 
we would want to go. Well, David then brings the argument 
in the next three verses, verses four to seven, having brought 
his petitions to God right off the bat. Remember, he went against 
the acronym of Acts. He went straight to S, straight 
to supplications. Now he's going to bring his argument. 
Notice that David now brings his argument in verse four to 
seven. He presses his reasons upon God. In the middle of his 
emergency, whatever that emergency is, in the middle of it, it was 
in the first three verses, David now argues his case. He tells 
Yahweh why he should and why he must deliver him. So he's 
using argumentation even in his prayer. We may say, well, that 
doesn't sound right. Well, if David is doing it, then 
I would suggest that we have warrant to do the same thing. 
to use argument in our prayer. Verse 4b, how does he argue? 
Verse 4b says, oh, save me for your mercy's sake, or because 
of your covenant love, is really what he's saying. The argument 
rests in the character of God, which we spoke about this morning. 
Because of God's character, we can argue with his character 
in mind. The word there, mercy, It really means covenant love. 
Here, the Hebrew word that is used is called chesed, or the 
word is chesed. We've heard Pastor Butler speak 
of chesed in our Bible study upstairs on Wednesday night. 
It means devoted love that pledges never to let us go. We're in 
his grip. A setting of the will to love, 
regardless of how you respond to me, and remarkably, even how 
I feel. So that is what is being referred 
to here when when David says in verse 4b, oh, save me for 
your mercy sake, for your chesed, for your covenant love. And that's 
the kind of love that God has for us. Turn with me to 2 Samuel 
22, 2 Samuel 22 and verse 51 as for an example of this chesed 
love. 22 and verse 51 of 2 Samuel. He is the tower of salvation 
to his king and shows mercy, that's hesed, and shows hesed 
to his anointed, to David and his disciples. descendants forever. Isn't that remarkable? To his 
descendants, that's us, that's you, that's me. We are his descendants. We are the descendants of David. His prayer is to show chesed, 
or show mercy to his anointed, to David and his descendants. If we think of the, I'm not gonna 
read it, but in 2 Samuel chapter seven, we have the Davidic covenant, 
and ultimately, God has promised to be true to David or faithful 
to David in that Davidic covenant, and we are included in that Davidic 
covenant. So I trust that that would be 
another argument to, in a sense, marshal up to God when we are 
in deep distress, the kind of distress that David finds himself 
here in Psalm chapter 6. So to paraphrase David's argument 
here in verse 4, basically he's saying, save me for you have 
pledged yourself to deal lovingly with me, and I'm holding you 
to your word. Save me for your promise to deal 
lovingly with me, and I'm going to hold you to your word. is 
really what he's saying. It's an argument that rests on 
God's promise, and beneath that, holding it up, holding up the 
promise of God, is like a foundation. It's built upon the character 
of God. If we believe in the character of God, then we can 
rest assured that our arguments are going to be on firm footing. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., he had 
been in World War I and He came back to fight in World War II 
as well. Obviously, he was an older man 
by the time he came back to World War II. He was one of the few 
fighting generals that the Americans had. He'd been in North Africa, 
and he'd been in Italy. And then on the eve of D-Day, 
he demanded that General Eisenhower allow him to go ashore with the 
first wave of attack at Utah Beach. He was 57 years old, crippled 
with arthritis, having to use a cane to get around. and he 
wanted to hit Utah Beach. What was his argument? Here's 
what he said, quote, my men expect it of me. I'm the son of Theodore 
Roosevelt. Or one could paraphrase and say, 
I have to. It's who I am. It's part of my 
character. So David's argument is similar 
to Theodore Roosevelt here, Jr., similar to this. He's resting 
in Yahweh's character, in the sort of God that God is declaring 
himself to be. And sometimes this may be our 
only stay in times of trouble. What God has said about himself 
is true, and he will do it, and we have to believe that. It's 
the truth of God. How massively important, I think, is the doctrine 
of God? What is it in our London Baptist 
Confession of Faith? It's chapter 2. after the scriptures 
is chapter one. Chapter two is God, the doctrine 
of God. That's how important certainly 
the divines felt that the doctrine of God was. Why? Because it's 
the foundation upon everything that is in the Christian life. 
All of our promises, all of our prayers ought to be based upon 
that foundation of who God is. So having a good understanding 
of who God is will certainly benefit us in our prayer life. 
So bringing before God the character of God is an argument we can 
muster in our prayer life, and God's covenant love for his people, 
God's chesed love, and that's something we can marshal in our 
prayer life. You have hesed love for me, and 
for that reason I'm calling upon you for whatever my plea is, 
whatever it is you may be going through. Just remind yourself 
of that hesed, that covenant love. David's second argument 
centers on giving praise and giving thanks. If you look at 
verse 5, 5a, for in death there is no remembrance of you. The 
verb remembrance has to do with expressing praise and worship, 
as the next line suggests, verse 5b. I'll read 5a and b. For in death there is no remembrance 
of you. In the grave, who will give you thanks? Or who will 
give you praise? The grave is the realm of the 
dead. Obviously, we know that. His argument is, if I die, if 
I succumb, if my enemies overtake me, overcome, and they get to 
me, And if you don't rescue me, well, there's going to be one 
last person to praise you. There's going to be one last 
person to sing, O thou great Jehovah, or O for a thousand 
tongues to sing, or praise my soul, the king of heaven, to 
his feet thy tribute bring, or there's going to be one last 
person to sing, a mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. So it's not that David had no 
hope beyond the grave. David's not saying in verse five 
that somehow he's bribing God, that you must keep me alive. 
These are ultimately rabbit trails, I don't want to go down. I don't 
think David's suggesting that there's no praise of God in the 
grave, because ultimately we know we'll be in heaven, praising 
God. But David's assuming that the whole purpose of his life 
is ultimately to do what? To praise Yahweh. Not to make 
a better living, not to get a higher standard of living, It's not 
to get a superb education and beyond everyone else. It's not 
to advance rapidly in our profession. It's not to excel in the sport 
that perhaps we take, that we've taken up. Even more spiritually 
speaking, it's not to become a better, more spiritual Christian. 
That's not the whole purpose of the Christian life. The purpose 
of the Christian life is to praise God. Simple as that, to praise 
God. That's our whole purpose in life. 
And so David's prayer in verse 5 may expose us if we say, well, 
what's wrong with death? Well, really, there's only one 
answer to what's wrong with death, because I won't be able to stand 
here at Free Grace Baptist Church or in the pew and join in the 
singing of, I greet thee who my Savior art, my only trust 
and Savior of my heart, or any of the hymns that are in our 
wonderful hymn books. because that's ultimately the 
whole reason for existence on this earth. So we don't want 
to die, why? Because we'll leave an empty spot in our pew. There'll 
be one less person to sing praises to our God. So that's what God 
is, or David's argument, part of his argument. is centering 
on giving praise and giving thanks to God. I will not be here to 
praise you. I will not be here to thank you 
if you don't rescue me from whatever circumstance he finds himself 
in. David's third argument underscores the misery that he is in. Let's 
read verses six and seven. I am weary with my groaning. 
All night, I make my bed swim. I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of 
grief. It grows old because of all my 
enemies." Does God need this information? No, I don't think 
God needed the information. David does a great job in terms 
of listing, well, here's the things I'm going through, here's 
how it's wrecking my life, Here's the consequences of whatever 
circumstances he's dealing with. So God didn't need the information, 
but what does this have to do with an argument in prayer? Well, 
again, back to the assumptions. What does David assume about 
God? He assumes that God is merciful. 
He assumes that Yahweh will be touched with pity at the condition 
that he describes here in those two verses. It will also somehow 
touch God's heart. David's prayer is assuming that 
the Father has said a covenant love for him. You see in your handout there's 
many passages. I bolded two passages, that's only two I really feel 
I have time to read tonight. I'm going to read Matthew chapter 
9. I'd like you to turn your Bibles please with me to the 
first one and the last one. Matthew chapter 9 to give this 
sense of David's argument underscores the misery that he is in. And 
so David's prayer is assuming here that the Father has said 
love for him. The father is like the son, and 
the son is like the father. And so what we know to be true 
of the father, we can assume to be true of the son, and vice 
versa. Matthew chapter 9, chapter 9, verses 35 to 36. It says, make sure I have the right passage. 
I'm in chapter 10. There we go. Chapter 9, 35 to 
36, yes. Then Jesus went about all the 
cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching 
the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every 
disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, 
He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary 
and scattered like sheep, having no shepherd." That's our God. 
That's our God who has said love, covenant love. So, marshal that 
up in our arguments, that we know the character of God, and 
we know that if we say to God in our prayer what our circumstances 
are, He has compassion for his people. And let's turn to Hosea. Hosea just comes after Daniel. 
And as I say, on your own time, you can look up those many other 
passages that speak of this has said love. So Hosea chapter 11 
and the first 11 verses. And just consider this has said 
love that I've spoken of. The first 11 verses. When Israel 
was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my 
son. As they called them, so they 
went from them. They sacrificed to the bales 
and burned incense to carved images. I taught Ephraim to walk, 
taking them by their arms. But they did not know that I 
healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, 
and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. 
I stooped and fed them. He shall not return to the land 
of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king because they refuse 
to repent. And the sword shall slash in 
his cities, devour his districts, and consume them because of their 
own counsels. My people are bent on backsliding 
from me. Though they call to the Most 
High, none at all exalt Him. How can I give you up, Ephraim? 
How can I hand you over Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zebulun? My heart churns within me. My 
sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness 
of my anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim, 
for I'm a God and not man, the Holy One in your midst. And I 
will not come with terror. They shall walk after the Lord. 
He will roar like a lion. When he roars, when his sons 
shall come trembling from the west, they shall come trembling 
like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria. 
and I will let them dwell in their houses, says the Lord." 
So that's a God of great chesed, covenant love. So David, the 
psalmist, never meant to reduce prayer to an exercise in logic, 
but as believers, we may, we could, we ultimately should follow 
the biblical pattern here and marshal and use the best arguments 
we can in our prayers. Because bringing requests, sorry, 
bringing reasons for our requests for help in prayer may do one 
of two things. First of all, it may show us 
how shoddy sometimes our concerns are, because as we speak them 
out loud to God, we can see, yeah, those really are poor, 
shoddy reasons that I would be asking God to relieve me from 
whatever it is I'm dealing with. Or it may even encourage us if 
we're able to muster a cogent case. If we're able to marshal 
a good case of argumentation with God, well, that's only gonna 
encourage our prayer life. That's only gonna encourage us 
if we can marshal verses before God. God, this is the kind of 
God you are. You are a God who has said covenant 
love for your people. And I want to give praise, I 
want to give thanks to you. If I continue to be downtrodden, 
if I continue to be distraught, I'm not going to be at Free Grace 
Baptist Church singing praises, singing out of our wonderful 
hymn book. And so ultimately, argument in prayer shows us that 
we're called to be To be thinking in our worship when we worship 
God were to be thinking and that's certainly a good reason why we 
should Argue in our prayer life as David does here in this in 
the sixth chapter of the Psalms Finally for the last point David 
finds assurance There's good things to be said at the end 
of this at the end of the chapter in verses 8 to 10 David shows 
us that that the assurance he finds in it comes eventually 
in verses 8 to 10 and There is a sense of assurance. Verse 10 
shows the actual deliverance. It's still in the future, and 
he's still okay with that. That's where faith comes to play. 
That's where our faith needs to come to play. Remember, God 
is not a genie. God doesn't just come to our 
demand. But based on that future assurance, 
the psalmist can defy his enemy in verse 8a. He says, depart 
from me, all you workers of iniquity. Whatever the enemy was, whether 
it was disfavor with God, whether it was sickness, whether it was 
enemies, verses 8b to 9, David's assurance rests on the certainty 
that Yahweh has heard him. Let me read verses 8b to the 
end of 9. For the Lord has heard the voice 
of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. The Lord will receive my prayer." 
So prayer ultimately lays hold of the God who changes things 
and who in prayer Changes you and me and sometimes maybe that's 
the reason why we're why difficulty comes our way. It's for our own 
It's for our own sanctification. It's perhaps just to change us 
and in that there's benefit. There's good. There's good finally 
a word of encouragement verse 8b Just reading 8b. It says for the Lord has heard 
the voice of my weeping What a way to describe prayer the 
voice of my weeping the same can be stated in Romans 8.26, 
remember we referred to that this morning, Romans 8.26, and 
Psalm 6.8, they may have been the forerunner to Romans 8.26, 
where the Spirit groans with murmurings that we can't even 
put into specific words. They're just murmurings, they're 
thoughts in our heads, which the Lord does hear, and the Lord 
is able to understand and bring encouragement to us. Perhaps 
Psalm 6-8 is a forerunner, as I say, of Romans 8-26. Something 
to think about. Certainly underline verse 8b 
in your Bibles. You can go through a lot in this 
lower world with a text like that and a God like that, can't 
we? For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. So no matter 
what your circumstance, no matter what your difficulty, just to 
know that God hears. God has that, has said love. God hears our weeping and ultimately 
He will answer that prayer to His glory. So Psalm 5 and 6, 
just to rehearse a little bit for what we read this morning 
or what we looked in this morning, they're both very similar. They 
have similar headings. If you look at chapter 5, what is the 
heading? To the chief musician with flutes, 
a Psalm of David, chapter 6. To the chief musician with stringed 
instruments on an eight-stringed harp, a Psalm of David. So they 
both have similar headings. This implies that this psalm 
perhaps was to be used in public worship, I would suggest, by 
God's people. And the significance is that 
there will be more who will come before God in prayer and will 
need the assurance that God sees and hears them here. If we just 
flip over to Isaiah 38.5, there's a passage in Isaiah 38.5 that 
I just want to encourage you with, because to me it's a great 
encouraging verse. 38 verse five. I'm dealing with a new Bible, 
and so the pages don't turn as quickly as you'd like to. 38 
verse five, it says, Go and tell Hezekiah, thus says 
the Lord, the God of David, your father. I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Surely 
I will add to your days 15 years. So God saw, and he heard, and 
he answered. And that's a great encouragement. 
Yahweh has given us a Savior who in the days of his flesh, 
when he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and 
tears to him who was able to save us, from death and he was 
hurt. Sorry, let me just, I was reading Hebrews, which I'd written 
out here, but I'd like us to turn to Hebrews 5, chapter five, 
verse seven. And this will be our last passage 
that we'll turn to, Hebrews chapter five, verse seven. So the significance 
here, just to reiterate in Isaiah and now in Hebrews chapter 5 
verse 7 that we're going to read, is that there will be many more 
who are going to come after the days of David and come after 
the days of the Lord Jesus. That's us in our day and age. 
And we're going to come before God in prayer. And we'll need 
the assurance that God will see us and God will hear us. And 
that's a significant thing to be aware of in our daily living. What does Hebrews chapter 5 verse 
7 say? It says, who in the days of his 
flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with 
vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from 
death and was heard, because of his godly fear. So again, 
that sense that God heard the Lord Jesus Christ and he healed. So be encouraged this night. 
Psalm 6, 8, Isaiah 38, verse 5, Hebrews 5, verse 7. Take that 
into your prayer closet and have confidence in Yahweh, that Yahweh 
does hear, he does answer, It's that that ought to be what will 
bring encouragement to us as Christians as we face another 
day, as we face another week, as we face another year, that 
we would know that this God has said love, a covenant love for 
us, his people, and he will hear us and he will heal. Now again, 
just a reminder, it may not be in our timing. It may not be 
the way we would like to see it answered or timed in answer 
to our prayer, but the fact that he hears us ought to encourage 
all of us. The fact that he will answer 
us ought to encourage all of us. So take that into your prayer 
closet this week, and I trust that you will be encouraged to 
ultimately find great assurance in the God that we love, the 
God that we know to be true in this particular chapter of the 
Psalms, and I trust that we can take it and pray it in this coming 
week. Well, let's pray. Our gracious 
and our loving Heavenly Father, we again pray, Father, that you'd 
be pleased to bless the things that are said this evening. How 
we praise you, Father, that you are a God who does care, that 
you are a God who does see, that you are a God who does heal. 
And how we pray, Lord, that just as you saw and healed in the 
life of the Israelites and the passage in Isaiah, you saw the 
Lord Jesus Christ and the agony that he suffered in the garden. 
you attended to his needs, how we pray, Lord, that we too would 
see that you are a God who does hear, a God who does heal. Even 
now, in this day that we live in, 2019, these many years later, 
that you are the same God. You are the same yesterday, you 
are the same today, and you are the same forever. How we pray, 
Lord, that you would be pleased to cause these truths to be rooted 
into our hearts, that when we are faced with difficulty, when 
we are faced with with those situations and those circumstances 
that are beyond our own control. And we seek after you with great 
supplication to know that you are a God who does hear and that 
you are a God that does heal. And we pray, Lord, your blessing 
upon these things cause us to be prayers this week according 
to your word. And we just ask these things 
in Jesus' precious name, amen. Well, the piano will play, and 
after the piano has played for a period of time, then we will 
be dismissed.