Latest / Reformed Thinking / A Cry for Mercy in Deep Distress (Psalm 6) | Matthew Henry

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A Cry for Mercy in Deep Distress (Psalm 6) | Matthew Henry · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. I want you to just take a second
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and imagine the toughest, most battle hardened warrior you can
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think of. Right.
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Like a real, like a seasoned veteran, Yeah.
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Precisely. A guy who killed lions with his
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bare hands as a teenager. A man who stared down a nine
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foot giant while, you know, professional soldiers were
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literally cowering in trenches. Oh yeah, the ones who should
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have been fighting. Right.
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But now imagine that exact same man locked in his bedroom at
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3:00 in the morning, crying so hard that his mattress is
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completely soaked through. It's quite the contrast, isn't
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it? It really is.
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And so today we are taking a deep dive into the private,
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agonizing breakdown of King David.
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We're going to be looking at Matthew Henry's commentary on
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Psalm 6, and this is a text written by David during a time
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of intense outward and inward trouble.
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Yeah, intense is putting it mildly.
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For sure. So our mission for this deep
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dive is to understand how a believer process is overwhelming
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physical pain, spiritual guilt, and social mockery, all through
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the lens of God's Providence and mercy.
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Which is such a vital framework to have?
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Definitely, and Henry provides a really clear structure for this
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text. He points out that it begins
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with doleful complaints and he breaks those down into 3
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distinct categories. Right.
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Physical sickness, mental anguish over sin, and then the
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insults of enemies. Right.
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It hits every level of human suffering.
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Yeah. But then the text concludes with
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joyful praises, and I love the comparison Henry makes here to
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Hannah. Oh, that's a great connection.
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Yeah. He points out that Hannah went
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into the temple with a sorrowful spirit, but she left with a
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countenance that was no longer sad.
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And he also compares this text to the Book of Job, which is
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kind of the classic case study in complicated suffering.
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It is. Yeah.
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So I'm going to speak directly to you, the listener, right now.
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Whether you are currently facing a physical illness, or maybe
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you're wrestling with a guilty conscience that keeps you awake
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at night, or you're dealing with fierce opposition from people
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around you, this analysis provides A theological framework
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for processing that suffering. Absolutely.
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It gives a voice to the pain and a direction for the plea.
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And that framework is, I mean, it is absolutely vital for the
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Christian life. Matthew Henry, he wrote from a
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highly pastoral perspective. He recognizes that David is
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functioning here as a weeping prophet, much like Jeremiah,
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right, right. So the specific text is actually
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classified as a lamentation. And when Henry asks the reader
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is any afflicted is any sick, let him sing this Psalm.
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He's basically giving us a prescription for how to handle
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the multi faceted afflictions of life in a fallen world.
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A prescription I like. It.
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Yeah, because the transition from the depths of despair to
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the heights of praise, it's not some poetic device manufactured
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for dramatic effect. You know, it is a theological
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reality for the Christian. We see David making a
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representation of his grievances directly to God.
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He doesn't go to the world, he goes to his father.
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And he starts with the most obvious tangible problem, which
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is his failing physical body. Yeah, and that brings us right
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into the specific nature of David's first complaint,
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physical, bodily pain. Because in verse 2, David cries
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out. My bones are vexed.
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And Henry points out something striking here.
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David was a king. He was a stout man of war from
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his youth. I mean, he survived brutal
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military campaigns. He lived in caves while fleeing
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from Saul. He fought in hand to hand
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combat. He was tough.
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Extremely. Yet neither his royal status nor
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his physical strength could protect him from severe illness.
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We often think of a King's crown as a helmet against the common
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troubles of life. You know, like having premium
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healthcare, a private chef, and immense wealth today.
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Right, you figure they're insulated from all that.
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Exactly. I mean, Scott on you figure if
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anyone is insulated from the basic donor abilities of the
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human condition, is the person sitting on the throne with all
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the resources of the Kingdom at his disposal?
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But Henry notes that the Imperial crown could not keep
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his head from aching. Wow.
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Yeah, Cygnus breaches the castle walls.
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It pays no respect to titles or bank accounts.
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So how does this reality check about sickness striking even the
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strongest believers align with how we view God's Providence?
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That's a. Huge question.
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Right, because it really challenges the popular modern
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idea that if you are a good Christian, you will always be
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healthy and prosperous. It absolutely demolishes that
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idea and we have to view this through the lens of the
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Westminster Confessions teaching on Providence.
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OK, let's go there. So the confession teaches that
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God, the great Creator of all things death, uphold, direct,
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dispose and govern all creatures, actions and things,
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from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy
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Providence, Right? This means that sickness,
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disease, bodily decay, they are never accidents.
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They aren't just random bad luck.
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No, not at all. They are not instances where God
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blinked or somehow lost control of the universe.
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Good men suffer and goodness does not guarantee health.
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And Henry makes a brilliant connection here by quoting from
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the Gospel of John regarding Lazarus.
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No, right, the messengers. Yeah, the messengers come to
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Jesus and say, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
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Wow. That is a massive theological
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statement. The love of Christ for Lazarus
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did not present the sickness. But the text doesn't say despite
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your love, he's sick. It just pairs them together.
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Exactly. Rather, the sickness was
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ordained by a loving father to accomplish a greater purpose.
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Physical ailments are, you know, common calamities of human life,
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and in the life of the believer they are sent on purpose to
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awaken the conscience. They bring a theological lens to
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our physical limitations. I see.
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Because when a king like David is laid low, when his very bones
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are vexed, it strips away the illusion of self-sufficiency.
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It grounds him. It forces him to recognize His
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total dependence on the Creator. And the confession also points
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out that God's Providence extends to the sins and failings
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of His people. OK.
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He often leaves them to the manifold temptations of the
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world and the deceitfulness of their own hearts to chastise
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them for former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden
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strength of corruption. Wow.
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So sickness often functions as the instrument of that
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chastisement and discovery. It makes the believer soft and
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pliable in the hands of the Potter.
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Wait, I am stuck on this idea of sickness is a tool for
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discovery. Yeah, when you say the sickness
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discovery severs the hidden strength of corruption, do you
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mean it acts like a stress test? Yes, precisely.
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Like a doctor putting you on a treadmill to see how your heart
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handles the strain. Except God is putting the
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physical body under strain to see what is hiding inside the
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soul. That is a highly accurate way to
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frame it. I mean, when we are healthy,
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well fed and comfortable, it's very easy to project an image of
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holiness, isn't it? Oh, for sure.
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We can mask our impatience, our pride, our self-reliance, but
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when the body breaks down, the filters come off.
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Yeah. You get cranky, you get
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irritable. Right.
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If you want to know what is really inside a sponge, you
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squeeze it. Oh, that's a good analogy.
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And sickness squeezes the human frame.
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When David's bones are vexed. He cannot rely on his military
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strategy or his charisma or his wealth.
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None of that helps a fever. No, he is left alone with his
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own thoughts and his own conscience before holy God.
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The physical pain strips away all the earthly buffers he
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normally uses to distract himself from his spiritual
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state. So the stress test reveals the
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true condition of his heart, and in this case, the results
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terrify him. And that terrifying result is
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where the text moves next. The physical breakdown cracks
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open the door to spiritual dread.
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It always. Does we see in verse 3 the
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second, much worse complaint? My soul is also sorely faxed.
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And Henry states that while the spirit of a man can sustain
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physical infirmity, a wounded spirit is intolerable.
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David's sickness brought his sin to his remembrance.
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He started viewing the illness as a token of God's displeasure
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against him. OK, let's unpack.
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These do It is like a blinking check engine light.
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Yeah, right. The physical sickness is just
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the dashboard warning. You can deal with a warning
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light, but the real panic sets in when you realize there is a
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massive internal engine failure, which is sin on a conscience.
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Oh, absolutely. Because it is one thing to lie
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in bed with an aching back or a raging fever.
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You can take medicine for that. You can find a comfortable
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position. Or at least try to.
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Right. But when your soul is vexed,
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when you feel the weight of your own guilt pressing down on you,
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and you interpret your physical suffering is the wrath of the
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Almighty, there is no comfortable position to be found
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anywhere. None.
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You can't escape yourself. You are dealing with a
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terrifying reality, having both the body and the soul vexed at
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the exact same time. And Henry points out that this
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complicated trouble was continued upon him for a great
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while, which makes David cry out.
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Thou, O Lord, how long the duration of the suffering
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compounds the intensity of the soul's vexation.
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What's fascinating here is how accurately this describes the
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Reformed doctrine of total depravity and the conviction of
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sin. Oh, break that down for us.
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Well, total depravity doesn't mean that every person is as bad
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as they could possibly be. Right, people get that confused
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A. Lot they do.
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It means that sin has infected every part of our being, our
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mind, our will, our affections and our body.
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OK. It is like a drop of ink in a
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glass of water. Every single molecule of the
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water is tainted by the ink. That's a great visual.
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So when the body breaks down, the mind often follows, becoming
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susceptible to despair. The Holy Spirit uses these
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humbling Providence's on purpose to mortify corruption.
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Just a pause there. When you say mortify corruption,
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we're basically talking about starving out the disease, right?
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Essentially, yes. Like cutting off the blood
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supply to a tumor. Because that sounds like an
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incredibly painful medical procedure, which totally fits
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the context of David's physical agony.
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Precisely. I mean, the word mortify comes
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from the Latin root for death. Oh, wow.
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OK, So mortify, corruption means to put your sin to death.
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You don't manage it, you don't negotiate with it, and you
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certainly don't ignore it. You kill it.
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You kill it, and filling a part of your own flesh, even a
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diseased part, it hurts. It's excruciating.
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The Westminster Confession teaches that the principal acts
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of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon
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Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal
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life. Right.
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But before a person can rest upon Christ, they must feel
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their desperate need for Him. They have to know they're sick.
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Exactly. Sickness strips away the
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distractions that keep us from examining our own hearts.
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David looks at his illness and his conscience is awakened.
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He sees his sin. And Henry details the vital
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difference between looking to worldly solutions versus turning
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to the living God in these moments.
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It's a great part of the commentary.
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Yeah, he mentions the Assyrians and the God of Ekron.
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These were the false hopes the kings of Israel and Judah often
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turn to when they were in trouble.
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Right. King Asiah, for example, sent
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messengers to inquire of Baalzabub, the God of Ekron, to
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see if he would recover from his sickness.
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Let's dig into that historical context for a second, because
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this is wild to me. Sure, Why would an Israelite
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king who knows the history of the Exodus and the giving of the
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law send messengers to a Pagan deity like the God of Ekron just
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because he got sick? What is the appeal there?
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It seems crazy, right? It really does because modern
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people do the exact same thing when they look for spiritual
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quick fixes. So I want to understand the
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ancient mindset. Well, the appeal of the God of
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Ekron, or really any Pagan fertility cult in the ancient
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Near East, was that it offered a purely transactional
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relationship. You bring a sacrifice, you
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perform a ritual, and the God owes you a physical healing.
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There is no moral demand. The God of Ekron does not care
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if you have a vexed soul. Right, he doesn't care if you're
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a mess inside. Not at all.
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He doesn't care if you are harboring secret sin or if you
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have oppressed the poor. The Pagan God only wants the
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external ritual. It is basically a spiritual
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vending machine. The.
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Spiritual vending machine? That's so accurate.
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Kings like Ahaziah love that system because they could get
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the physical relief they wanted without ever having to submit to
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the moral authority of Yahweh. They wanted the healing without
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the holiness. Exactly.
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The living God, however, demands the whole person.
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He demands repentance. Yeah.
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Henry insists that to the living God we must at such time address
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ourselves. God is the sole physician for
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both body and mind. The wounded spirit cannot be
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healed by earthly entertainment, by denial, or by seeking comfort
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in false religions that ask nothing of our conscience.
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Right. It just masks the symptom.
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The soul must be brought to the one who wounds and who binds up.
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The conviction of sin, driven by physical suffering, forces the
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believer to confront the reality of God's holiness and their own
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unworthiness. It forces them to abandon the
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vending machine mentality and enter into a real, agonizing,
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sanctifying relationship with the Creator.
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And that brings us to David's reaction to this intense,
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twofold crushing of body and soul.
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The result is just copious, undeniable weeping.
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Uncontrollable. We see this in verses 6:00 and
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7:00. David says he'd groan till he
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was weary, He made his bed to swim, he watered his couch, and
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his eyes were consumed with grief.
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Henry points out that David had more courage than to mourn this
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way for mere outward affliction. Right.
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He wouldn't cry like this over a flesh wound.
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No, if he had just lost a battle, or if he was just
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dealing with a standard bodily ailment, he would have
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maintained his composure. He was a seasoned military
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commander, but it was the weight of sin and God's wrath that
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broke him. And the contrast here is just
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incredible. This is the teenager who ran
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toward the Philistine army. Giant.
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Slayer. This is the man who cut off the
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edge of King Saul's robe in a dark cave without shaking.
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Yet here he is, melting into tears in his bedroom, crying so
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hard as bed is swimming. Modern culture often views
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crying as weakness, right? Especially for men and certainly
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for leaders. Oh, without a doubt.
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We tell people to stiffen their upper lip, to push through, to
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hide their emotions. How does Henry and the broader
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Reformed tradition view this kind of visceral emotional
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breakdown? Henry views it not as a
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weakness, but as the evidence of evangelical grace.
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Oh wow. The Westminster Confession has
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an entire chapter on repentance unto life.
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It describes repentance not as a human work, but as an
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evangelical grace given by God. OK.
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It states that a Sinner, out of the sight and sense not only of
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the danger, but also of the filthiness and odiousness of his
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sins, grieves for and hates his sins.
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Let me stop. You use the phrase evangelical
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grace. I did.
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For a lot of listeners, the word evangelical carries heavy modern
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political baggage. It sounds like a voting bloc,
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right? Yes.
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What does that term actually mean in the context of the
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Westminster Confession and Matthew Henry?
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That is an excellent clarification to make.
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In historical theology, evangelical simply means of or
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pertaining to the gospel. OK, it comes from the Greek word
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you angelium, which means good news.
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Right. So when the confession calls
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repentance and evangelical grace, it means that this kind
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of sorrow is produced by the gospel itself.
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Wow, OK, that shifts the whole perspective.
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Right. It is not the hopeless worldly
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sorrow of someone who is just terrified of going to hell.
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It is the sorrow of a child who realizes they have grieved a
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loving father. It is a grace because God gives
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the believer the spiritual sensitivity to feel the weight
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of their sin. A hard, unregenerate heart
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doesn't weep over sin. It justifies.
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Oh. That's so true it makes excuses.
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Exactly. But David is exhibiting this
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exact gospel driven grief. He isn't just sorry, he is
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caught, and he isn't just sorry he is sick.
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He is broken over the offense against a holy God.
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And notice the setting of this grief.
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Henry contrasts David's private weeping on his bed with the
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Pharisees who disguise their faces to be seen by men.
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Right, The Pharisees wanted everyone to know they were
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fasting. It was all about public
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perception. Look at me, I'm so holy.
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Yeah, and today that looks like posting a highly curated video
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of yourself crying on social media to garner sympathy.
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Oh. Definitely.
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You want the engagement in the comments telling you how brave
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you are for being vulnerable, but David is doing the exact
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opposite. He is true penitents weep in
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their retirements. In their retirements.
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Yeah, in private, David is communing with his own heart in
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the night, with no I as a witness, but the I of Him who is
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all I. There is no performance here.
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It is raw, unvarnished agony over sin.
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Furthermore, Henry makes a vital theological connection to Christ
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here. He sees David in this great
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sorrow as a type of Christ. Jesus is the ultimate Man of
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sorrows. Henry references Hebrews 5.7
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which speaks of Jesus in the days of His flesh, offering up
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prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him
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that was able to save him from death.
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So if the sinless Son of God wept over the weight of sin that
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He was bearing for His people, then certainly sorrow for our
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own sin ought to be great sorrow.
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Yeah, that makes sense. The tears of the Giant Slayer
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are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a heart that
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has been made flesh. They reveal a heart that is
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rightly attuned to the horror of sin and the holiness of God.
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And then immense sorrow drives David to specific petitions.
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He doesn't just lie there and cry endlessly into the void.
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Right, it has a direction. He structures his weeping into a
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theological plea. He takes all that raw emotion
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and channels it into a direct appeal to the throne of grace.
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We see this in verse one. O Lord, rebuke me not in thy
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anger, neither chasing me in thy hot displeasure.
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He knows He deserves the rod, but he's pleading for
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mitigation. Henry lists out the subsequent
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desires David brings to God. He asks for pity because misery
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is the proper object of mercy, right?
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He asked for pardon of his sins. He asks for bodily healing,
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saying speak the word and I shall be whole.
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He asked for reconciliation that God would return to him.
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And he asks for the preservation of the inward man, that his soul
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would be delivered from perishing.
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It's a comprehensive prayer. It is.
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Wait. I'm stuck in this opening plea,
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though, David says you can chasten me, but please don't do
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it in your hot displeasure. Yeah, pain is pain.
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My bone is broken. It hurts exactly the same
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whether it was an accident, a punishment or a medical
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procedure. From a purely physical
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standpoint, yes. So why does David care so much
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about how God is feeling while he is being disciplined, as long
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as the discipline is happening? That distinction strikes at the
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very heart of the Reformed understanding of justification
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and adoption. OK, we must differentiate
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between a judge's penal wrath and a father's loving
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chastisement. This goes back to a concept
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called retributive justice. OK, let's breakdown retributive
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justice. Walk me through what that looks
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like in a practical sense. Picture a courtroom.
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A criminal is standing before a judge.
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The criminal has broken the law, and the law demands a penalty
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when the judge hands down the sentence.
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Let's say 20 years in prison. That is retribute of justice.
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The judge is not sending the criminal to prison to teach him
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a wholesome life lesson or to improve his character.
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The judge is sending him to prison to punish the offense and
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satisfy the demands of the law. Right, it's about paying the
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debt. Exactly.
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There is no fatherly love in that sentence.
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It is pure holy vengeance against the crime that is penal
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wrath. OK.
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And the alternative? Now contrast that with the
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living room. A father catches his young son
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running into the street without looking.
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Oh, scary moment. Very.
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The father grabs the boy, pulls him back and spanks him.
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That is corrective discipline, right?
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It hurts the child, yes, but the father is not satisfying the
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demands of a Criminal Code. He is turning the child away
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from deadly danger and teaching him to stay safe.
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As Henry says, as many as God loves, he rebukes and chastens
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as a father the Son in whom he delights.
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Believers can bear sickness, pain, and loss if God lifts up
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the light of His countenance upon them.
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If they have the internal assurance that the discipline is
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coming from the living room and not the courtroom, the external
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affliction is tolerable. That makes perfect sense.
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The pain of the spanking is entirely different from the pain
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of the prison sentence because of the relationship with the
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person administering it. Exactly.
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David is terrified that God has put on the judge's robes again.
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Exactly. The problem for David in this
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moment is that his sin has clouded his view of God's love.
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He fears he is experiencing the judge's penal wrath rather than
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the Father's chastisement. He thinks the smiles of the
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Father have been suspended. That's a dark place to be.
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It's the darkest, and Henry draws another typological line
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to Christ on the cross. Here Jesus suffered the ultimate
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suspension of the Father's smile.
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When he cried out. Yes, He cried out.
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My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
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Christ absorbed the full, unmitigated penal wrath of God
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against the sins of his people. Wow.
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He stood in the courtroom and took the prison sentence.
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He drank the cup of retributive justice down to the DREG so that
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believers like David and the listener hearing this today only
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experience loving correction, even when it hurts desperately.
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The anger of God was exhausted on the cross.
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That means the Christian will never face the retributive
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justice of God, only the restorative discipline of a
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loving Father. That is a staggering comfort,
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that the wrath has been entirely absorbed by Christ.
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It is the core of the gospel. But David, still wrestling in
21:49
the darkness of his situation and not having the full light of
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the New Testament revelation yet, tries to persuade God to
21:56
spare his life using a very specific argument about death.
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He argues his case. He brings up his own mortality
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as a reason for God to heal him. Verse 5 says, For in death there
22:06
is no remembrance of thee in the grave, who will give thee
22:08
thanks? Henry notes that David pleads
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God's glory and mercy. David is basically saying, Lord,
22:16
if I die you lose a worshiper. If you heal me I will spend my
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new life in your ServiceNow push back with me here because this
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sounds strange to modern Christian ears.
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It does. It really does.
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When a believer dies today, we say they go to be with the Lord.
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We talk about them joining the heavenly choir, praising God
22:37
unceasingly without the burden of a physical body.
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Yeah, that's the standard consolation.
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So why is David acting like dying stops his ability to
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praise God? Is his theology of the afterlife
22:48
just underdeveloped because he is writing in the Old Testament?
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Or is he making a different kind of point entirely?
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If we connect this to the bigger picture, Henry provides a highly
22:57
nuanced theological position on this exact question.
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OK, lay it out for. Us.
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He respects both the reality of heavenly joy and the distinct
23:04
purpose of earthly existence. Henry acknowledges that separate
23:07
souls live and act. So he's not saying the soul just
23:10
sleeps. No, no, he firmly believes that
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the souls of the faithful joyfully remember God and give
23:17
thanks to Him in heaven. He is not denying the conscious
23:20
blessedness of the believer after death.
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Right. Theologians often refer to this
23:25
heavenly state as the Beatific vision.
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The beatific vision. That sounds like a fancy way of
23:30
saying we get to see God face to face.
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That is precisely what it means. The Beatific vision is the
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ultimate direct self communication of God to the
23:39
individual person. OK.
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It is the sight of God's glory that brings perfect, unending
23:45
bliss to the Saints in heaven. Henry knows that David will
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experience that bliss if he dies.
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Sure. However, Henry clarifies that
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earthly life provides a unique opportunity for labor that
23:55
heaven does not afford. Labor.
23:57
Interesting. Heavenly joy is infinitely
23:59
desirable. It is rest, it is peace.
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It is the beatific vision, but the earth is the battlefield.
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Henry brings in a brilliant military analogy here.
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He says courtiers in the royal presence are most happy, but
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soldiers in the field are more useful.
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Oh, I love that analogy. Let's build that out.
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In the ancient world, a courtier lived in the palace.
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They wore fine clothes, they ate at the King's table, and they
24:23
enjoyed perfect safety behind the palace walls.
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Right. Good food, warm beds.
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Exactly. Their whole job was to enjoy the
24:30
King's presence and add to the aesthetic glory of the court.
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But the soldier is out in the mudud.
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He's cold, he is bleeding, and he is fighting the King's
24:39
enemies on the frontier. The courtier is happier, but the
24:44
soldier is actually expanding the Kingdom.
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That is the exact dynamic Henry is highlighting.
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In heaven you are a courtier enjoying the King's presence,
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but on earth you are a soldier in the trenches.
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Wow. The militant church on earth
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opposes the forces of darkness, brings the loss to a knowledge
25:00
of God, and edifies the body of Christ.
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That specific type of agonizing, sweat inducing sin fighting work
25:07
ceases in the grave. There are no enemies to fight in
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heaven. No more battles.
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Right. There are no lost souls to
25:13
evangelize in heaven. There is no suffering to endure
25:16
patiently in heaven. David is pleading that God would
25:19
spare him so he can continue to be useful in the war against sin
25:22
and Satan. He wants to stay on the front
25:24
lines. He does.
25:25
He wants to maintain the testimony of God's grace among
25:28
the living. He is arguing that the services
25:31
of Saints on earth from a different kind of glory to
25:34
define grace than the services of Saints in heaven.
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Because it's harder here. Exactly.
25:39
Precisely because the earthly Saints are doing it in the midst
25:42
of opposition, suffering, and temptation.
25:45
Jesus himself echoed the sentiment when he prayed in John
25:48
17. I pray not that thou should take
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them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the
25:54
evil. The believers continued presence
25:57
on earth is a strategic deployment by God for the good
26:01
of His Kingdom. David doesn't want to leave the
26:04
battlefield yet. So David is pleading for more
26:07
time in the trenches he wants to keep swing the sword.
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He isn't ready to put on the courtiers robes, not yet.
26:12
And after dwelling in this valley of tears, after wrestling
26:15
with the terrifying prospect of wrath, and after pleading for
26:19
his usefulness to the earthly Kingdom, we hit a massive,
26:22
sudden tonal shift in the text at verse 8.
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It's abrupt. The change is like whiplash.
26:29
You will read along and the text goes from the darkest gloom to
26:32
brilliant light. In a single sentence.
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David suddenly looks and speaks pleasantly.
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He tells the workers of iniquity to depart, confident that his
26:43
sorrow is turned into joy and that God has heard the voice of
26:46
his weeping. It is like a fever breaking in
26:50
the middle of the night. You know that feeling when you
26:52
have been shivering under heavy blankets, your body aching,
26:55
suffering through fever dreams, and then suddenly you wake up?
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The worst is over. Right.
26:59
You are sweating, but your head is perfectly clear.
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The sickness has lost its grip. He was just talking about his
27:05
eyes rotting out from grief and suddenly he is issuing royal
27:08
commands for sinners to get away from him.
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He's the king again, yes. He is back in charge of his
27:14
faculties and his throne, and Henry points out something
27:16
beautiful here. Silent tears are not speechless.
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God heard them. I love that line.
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So good, David says. The Lord has heard the voice of
27:26
my weeping. It wasn't just his articulate,
27:28
well structured arguments about the grave that God heard.
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God heard the raw, unintelligible sound of his
27:34
sobbing. That tonal shift is a prime
27:38
illustration of the Westminster doctrine of the assurance of
27:41
grace and salvation. OK, don't pack it.
27:43
Chapter 18 of the Confession teaches that such as truly
27:46
believe in the Lord Jesus and love Him in sincerity,
27:50
endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may in
27:53
this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of
27:56
grace. Yes.
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And this certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable
28:01
persuasion, but an infallible assurance of faith.
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Wow. What happens between verse 7 and
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verse 8 is not a change in David's physical circumstances,
28:09
right? He doesn't suddenly receive a
28:10
medical report from his royal physicians saying his bones are
28:13
fully healed. The enemies are likely still
28:16
standing right outside his window, mocking him.
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So the outside world is exactly the same.
28:20
It is what changes is the inward workings of God's grace upon
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David's heart. So the external reality is
28:26
identical. The room is still dark, his body
28:29
probably still hurts, the enemies are still loud, but the
28:33
internal reality has undergone A seismic shift.
28:36
Yes, the Holy Spirit grants him the immediate knowledge that his
28:40
prayer is accepted. He receives the internal witness
28:44
of the Spirit, bearing witness with his Spirit that he is a
28:46
child of God. Because of this internal grace,
28:50
he knows the external deliverance is as good as done.
28:53
He speaks of it in the past tense.
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The Lord hath heard. It's already accomplished.
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It is a settled matter in the heavenly courtroom, and the
29:01
Spirit has delivered the verdict to David's conscience.
29:04
Henry notes that God gives and does not upbraid with former
29:08
Graham. Does not upbraid.
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That means God doesn't scold us or throw our past failures in
29:12
our face when He forgives us, right?
29:14
Correct. He doesn't say.
29:16
I'll forgive you this time, but remember what you did last week.
29:18
Exactly when God grants this assurance, He freely bestows the
29:22
comfort. He silences the accusations of
29:25
the conscience and restores the joy of salvation without any
29:28
lingering resentment. What a relief that must be.
29:30
It is this immediate transition from weeping to triumph is the
29:34
hallmark of a soul that has cast its entire burden upon the Lord
29:39
and felt the Lord actually shoulder the weight.
29:42
The psychological torture of an unassured conscience is replaced
29:45
by the solid rock of the Spirit's internal witness.
29:49
And that newfound assurance immediately changes how David
29:52
relates to the people around him, specifically the mockers
29:55
who have been circling him like while he was down.
29:58
He draws a hard line in the sand against sin.
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We see this in his command. Depart from me all you workers
30:04
of iniquity. Henry notes the context here.
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Earlier, when David was in the depths of his distress, he was
30:11
terrified that God's wrath would group him with these sinners.
30:14
He felt so guilty he thought he was going to be swept away in
30:16
the same judgement as the wicked.
30:18
He thought he belonged with them.
30:20
Yes. Meanwhile, these enemies had
30:23
teased him, asking, Where is thy God, And triumphing in his
30:27
despondency. Even worse, they attempted him
30:30
to quit his religion and betake himself to the pleasures of sin
30:33
for ease. Oh, that's insidious.
30:35
They were offering him the world's anesthetic for his
30:38
wounded spirit. They were saying, Hey, God isn't
30:41
answering you. Come drink with us, come indulge
30:43
with us, and you'll forget about your vexed soul.
30:46
Typical temptation. Right.
30:48
But David refuses the anesthetic, and once he receives
30:51
the assurance of grace, he doesn't just quietly ignore
30:54
them, he publicly banishes them. Why is this public declaration
31:00
necessary for his spiritual health?
31:02
Why can't he just keep his assurance private and let them
31:05
keep talking outside the window? It is necessary because true
31:08
repentance and the assurance of pardon inevitably result in a
31:12
radical separation from sin and those who promote it.
31:15
David is leveraging his royal authority to suppress sin and
31:19
reform manners. As the king, he has a civil duty
31:22
to uphold righteousness in his Kingdom, and he recognizes that
31:25
he cannot tolerate the presence of those who mock God and tempt
31:29
him to evil. He has a responsibility.
31:31
He does. If the King allows blatant
31:33
workers of iniquity to hang around the Royal Court, it
31:35
corrupts the entire nation. Yeah, the Rob spreads.
31:38
Exactly. But on a personal spiritual
31:40
level, escaping God's discipline should strengthen A believer's
31:44
resolution to never have anything more to do with sin.
31:47
Makes sense. The logic is incredibly clear.
31:50
If sin is what brought me under the fatherly displeasure of God
31:54
in the 1st place, and if sin is what caused my soul to be sorely
31:58
vexed to the point of agony, why would I ever return to it?
32:01
Why touch the hot stove again? Right.
32:03
The assurance of God's love doesn't produce complacency, it
32:06
produces A fierce hatred for the things that offend the Father.
32:10
Henry makes a brilliant connection here, pointing out
32:12
that Jesus himself will say, Depart from me, all you workers
32:15
of iniquity. In Luke 13, David is once again
32:18
prefiguring Christ. So David banishing the mockers
32:21
from his sick room is a small scale preview of the final
32:24
judgement. It is just as Christ will banish
32:27
all evil from His eternal Kingdom at the end of the age,
32:29
David is banishing evil from His presence in His earthly Kingdom.
32:33
I see the restored believer cannot walk hand in hand with
32:36
the workers of iniquity. They must say, I will bless the
32:39
Lord and live. I will not listen to your
32:40
counsel to curse God and die right.
32:43
The grace that saves a person is the very same grace that
32:46
separates them from their former way of life.
32:49
And that brings us to the final, final verse, examining what
32:51
actually happens to these enemies who taunted David during
32:54
his lowest moment. The narrative resolves not just
32:58
with David's internal restoration, but with a
33:01
definitive statement about the fate of his opponents.
33:04
Verse 10 says Let all my enemies be ashamed and sorely vexed.
33:09
Let them return and be ashamed suddenly, or as it can be
33:12
translated, all his enemies shall be ashamed and sorely
33:15
vexed. It is an amazing irony.
33:18
It really is. The enemies rejoice that David
33:20
was vexed in verses 2 and three. They watched his bones ache and
33:24
his soul break, and they threw a party awful.
33:27
And now the text says they will be sorely vexed.
33:29
The tables have turned completely.
33:31
The very thing they inflicted upon the righteous sufferer is
33:34
returning upon their own heads. But Henry presents 2 distinct
33:37
interpretations of this conclusion, and they reveal a
33:39
lot about the heart of the Psalmist and the nature of God's
33:42
justice. This raises an important
33:44
question regarding how Christians should read and pray
33:47
the imprecatory songs. Imprecatory Psalms?
33:51
For anyone unfamiliar with that term, an imprecation is
33:53
basically a spoken curse, right? Correct.
33:56
It's when the psalmist asks God to smash the teeth of the wicked
33:59
or rain down fire on their heads.
34:02
Modern readers get very uncomfortable with these
34:04
passages because they seem to contradict Jesus telling us to
34:07
love our enemies. They do seem harsh to us today.
34:10
How does Henry reconcile David's harsh words here with the call
34:14
to love? Well, Henry breaks this down
34:16
into two paths, both of which are entirely consistent with
34:20
Reformed theology and the teachings of Christ.
34:23
OK, what's the first path? First, Henry suggests this could
34:26
be read as a gracious prayer for their conversion.
34:28
Oh, interesting. David is praying that his
34:31
enemies would feel a healthy penitent shame.
34:34
This is the kind of shame that leads to repentance and a better
34:37
disposition of mind, right? He is asking God to vex their
34:40
souls in the exact same way his own soul was vexed, so that they
34:44
too might realize their desperate need for the living
34:47
God. He wants them to experience the
34:49
stress test. Yes, exactly.
34:51
He wants them to be ashamed of their opposition and return to
34:54
the truth. This interpretation perfectly
34:57
aligns with Christ's command to pray for those who persecute
35:00
you. David is praying for the severe
35:02
mercy of conviction to fall on them.
35:05
He wants them to hit rock bottom so they look up.
35:07
Yes, but Henry gives a second interpretation.
35:10
OK, if these enemies refuse conversion, if they harden their
35:13
hearts and stubbornly persist in their iniquity despite the
35:16
warnings, then the verse functions as a definitive
35:19
prediction of their ruin and everlasting shame.
35:22
Wow. Those who will not give glory to
35:25
God through repentance shall have their faces filled with
35:27
everlasting shame and judgement. Very.
35:31
This ties directly back to the Reformed understanding of God's
35:34
absolute justice and sovereign mercy.
35:37
God is sovereign in granting the grace of repentance, and He is
35:40
absolutely just in punishing the impenitent.
35:43
The tables turning on the wicked is a demonstration of the moral
35:46
order of the universe. God will vindicate His people,
35:49
and the vexation that the wicked intended for the righteous will
35:52
become their own eternal inheritance if they do not flee
35:55
to Christ for refuge. Both interpretations uphold the
35:59
holiness of God and the absolute certainty of His judgments.
36:03
So we have tracked this massive progression through Psalm 6,
36:07
guided by Matthew Henry's insights.
36:09
It's a heavy text, but so full of grace.
36:11
It is. We started in the darkest
36:14
valley, looking at physical agony that stripped away all
36:16
human strength, military prowess and royal privilege.
36:20
We saw how that physical pain triggered A terrifying spiritual
36:24
crisis, an intolerable wounded spirit crushed under the weight
36:27
of sin and the fear of God's wrath.
36:30
We watched a giant Slayer melt into copious secret tears,
36:34
weeping until his bed swam, demonstrating true heart
36:37
wrenching repentance. Which is an evangelical grace.
36:40
Yes, an evangelical grace. We listen to his theological
36:43
pleading, asking for mercy and arguing for the preservation of
36:46
his life so he could continue laboring as a soldier on earth
36:49
rather than a cordier in heaven. Beautiful analogy.
36:51
And then we experienced that incredible pivot, the such an
36:55
infallible assurance of grace that broke the fever of his
36:58
despair. The inward witness of the
37:01
Spirit. Exactly.
37:02
He drew a hard line against sin and his mockers, resting in the
37:06
dual reality that his enemies would either be graciously
37:09
converted through penitence, shame, or definitively ruined in
37:12
God's perfect justice. It is a complete cycle of the
37:15
Christian experience of affliction.
37:17
It truly is. And as we close, I want to leave
37:20
you as a final thought to Mull over.
37:22
Building on what we've discussed, we noted Henry's
37:25
beautiful phrase that silent tears are not speechless ones.
37:28
If silent tears have a loud voice in the ears of God, as
37:31
Matthew Henry says, what does that mean for the griefs you are
37:34
carrying right now that you haven't even been able to put
37:37
into words? That's a profound thought to
37:39
consider. We often think we need
37:40
articulate, perfectly structured theological arguments to get
37:43
God's attention. But perhaps your sheer
37:47
exhaustion, the groans you cannot utter, your face buried
37:50
in your pillow at 3:00 AM, perhaps that is already a fully
37:54
formed prayer reaching the throne of grace.
37:56
He hears you. The Father hears the weeping of
37:58
his children. Thank you for joining this
38:01
session of Reformed thinking. Keep studying the Scriptures
38:04
with a keen eye for God's sovereign grace.