Psalm 6 | The Lord Hears
Note: This post is part of a series of brief devotional reflections upon the Psalms. Before reading the devotional below, take a moment to open your Bible and read the entirety of Psalm 6:1-10.
“The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.” - Psalm 6:9
The psalmist has sinned against the Lord, and the fleeting pleasures of whatever sin he decided to gratify have now left him wallowing in the restlessness of knowing he has turned his heart away from the Lord. In the words of this lament, we see the great king of Israel brought low before a King far greater than he. Has your soul known this place of restless anxiety after the bitter realization that you have turned your back on God? It is one thing to agree with the idea that ‘we do not deserve God’s love’. But it is another thing altogether to actually experience the ugly truth of this reality after we have willfully wandered from our Savior yet again.
But, beloved, all is not lost for the truly penitent heart. For it is within the solemness of sincere repentance that the blessed fountain of mercy for sinners flows deepest, widest, and most swiftly to our rescue. In the hour of our contrition, beholding the immeasurable contrast between our Lord’s divinity and our depravity, our proud hearts are humbled as they should be. And in a strange gospel-paradox, it is when we are brought low in this way that God stoops down to lift us up and seat us at the table of his redeeming love yet again. It is while we are on our knees, pleading for the mercy purchased by Christ to be freshly applied to our sin-stained hearts, that the Spirit of Life runs to meet us with tidings of good news and assurance, (Luke 15:20).
This psalm is a reflection of the process our hearts must go through as we acknowledge our sin, confess it honestly to the Lord, repent in sincere godly sorrow, and then rest ourselves entirely upon the shed blood of Christ which God has promised will cleanse us from all iniquity. We must ever-remember that it is not by any goodness of his own that the psalmist concludes, “The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.” Rather, it is in the honest confession of his own faithlessness that he is acquainted again with the unceasing faithfulness of God.
If you are a christian, resting by faith alone upon the atoning work of Christ in your stead, then you must always end your confession of sin with confidence in God’s pardon. All the mercies that will ever be needed for the children of God have been purchased by Christ and are ready to be dispensed. Even on your worst day, the day of your greatest failure, if you come to God in sincere repentance and faith you will not only find “plentiful redemption” (Ps. 130:7), but also renewed assurance that God’s faithfulness was never dependent on your own.
The God of all grace is listening; he hears the pleas of his believing people. Therefore, let us go to him with confidence through our great High Priest who has opened the way of salvation for us, (Heb. 4:15-16).