¹ Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger;
do not discipline me in Your wrath.
² Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am weak;
heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking;
³ my whole being is shaken with terror.
And You, Lord—how long?

⁴ Turn, Lord! Rescue me;
save me because of Your faithful love.
⁵ For there is no remembrance of You in death;
who can thank You in Sheol?

⁶ I am weary from my groaning;
with my tears I dampen my pillow
and drench my bed every night.
⁷ My eyes are swollen from grief;
they grow old because of all my enemies.

⁸ Depart from me, all evildoers,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
⁹ The Lord has heard my plea for help;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
¹⁰ All my enemies will be ashamed and shake with terror;
they will turn back and suddenly be disgraced.

Vs 1-5: The Psalmist knows what his sins deserve: God’s anger and wrath. Yet, the Psalmist also knows God’s character: gracious.

Vs 1-5 Knowing God’s character, he can ask the Lord to rescue him. The purpose of rescue is interesting: not for peace now, or ease in this life – but so that he can live a life remembering (and I assume, praising, serving and glorifying) the gracious God who rescued him.

Vs 6-7: These are the kinds of verses that I’m so happy we have in the Psalms: true, honest, raw, words that call out to God in the midst of distress. We don’t have the same enemies as King David did (and, remember, that sometimes his enemies were his own children vying to take the throne away from him!). But our pain, our grief, our tears are just as real – and God knows – so let’s pour out our hearts to him.

Vs 8-10: There are some amazing truths here: The Lord hears the sound of our weeping. The Lord hears our pleas for help. And, most amazingly, the Lord accepts our prayers (even if he may not answer them in the ways we’d expect). What amazing access we have to our God in prayer.

Given this amazing access, why do I find myself neglecting prayer as much as I do?

What are you going to pray today as a result of this Psalm?

What are you going to do today as a result of this Psalm?