Peter Barnes | Psalm 6
SERMON NOTES
PRAYER IN THE DAY OF TROUBLE
Psalm 6; 2 Samuel 15:1-12
– Augustine of Hippo died reading the seven penitential Psalms. The context for David may be the rebellion of Absalom.
1. God chastens His people.
– 6:1-3, 6-7; see Heb.12:5-6
– Peter Craigie sees the context as illness but verse 10 points to enemies.
2. Prayer in a time of great distress.
– ‘How long, O Lord?’ Richard Baxter: ‘Yet kill not me, but kill my sin.’
– appeals to God’s covenant love (6:4), David’s desire to praise God in this life (6:5), and God’s pity for David’s sad condition (6:6-7; see 103:14)
3. Assurance of answered prayer.
– 6:8-10; sudden change in direction, and David has assurance.
– Bernard of Clairvaux: ‘How often has prayer found me despairing almost, but left me triumphing, and well assured of pardon!’
– Psalm of penitence but also of perseverance in prayer.