How long, Lord, how long? Psalm 6:3
Are we there yet? Not yet. Are we there yet? Not yet. That was the back-and-forth game we played on the first (and definitely not the last) sixteen-hour trip back home to Arkansas from Colorado when our children were young. Our oldest two kept the game alive and well, and if I had a dollar for every time they asked, well, I’d have a stack of dollars. It was a question my children were obsessed with, but I (the driver) was equally obsessed wondering, Are we there yet? And the answer was, Not yet, but soon.
Truth be told, most adults are asking a variation on that question, although we may not voice it out loud. But we’re asking it for that same reason—we’re tired, and our eyes have grown “weak with sorrow” (Psalm 6:7). We’re “worn out from [our] groaning” (v. 6) about everything from the nightly news to daily frustrations at work to never-ending health problems to relational strains, and the list goes on. We cry out: “Are we there yet? How long, Lord, how long?”
The psalmist knew well that kind of weariness, and he honestly brought that key question to God. Like a caring parent, He heard David’s cries and in His great mercy accepted them (v. 9). There was no shame for asking. Likewise, you and I can boldly approach our Father in heaven with our honest cries of “How long?” and His answer might be, “Not yet, but soon. I’m good. Trust Me.”
Read: Psalm 6 (NIV)
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith.b A psalm of David.
1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your angeri
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Have mercy on me,j Lord, for I am faint;k
heal me,l Lord, for my bones are in agony.m
3 My soul is in deep anguish.n
How long,o Lord, how long?
4 Turn,p Lord, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.q
5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
Who praises you from the grave?r
6 I am worn outs from my groaning.t
All night long I flood my bed with weepingu
and drench my couch with tears.v
7 My eyes grow weakw with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.
8 Away from me,x all you who do evil,y
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;z
the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;a
they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.b
INSIGHT
- Why are you weary right now and wondering, How long, Lord?
- What is it about God that shows He’s trustworthy?
The superscription of Psalm 6 identifies David as the author and instructs the psalm be sung “according to sheminith,” which the New Living Translation identifies as an eight-stringed instrument. This psalm is the first of seven penitential psalms (Pss. 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) where the author confesses his sin and seeks God’s forgiveness and mercy. David wrote it at the time of a prolonged illness (6:2–3). He acknowledged that his sickness was a consequence of specific sins, and that God was disciplining him (v. 1). His plight had emboldened his enemies to launch a personal attack against him (vv. 7–8, 10). Exhausted by his sorrowing over his sins, David, in repentance and on the basis of God’s mercy (vv. 2, 4), asks for forgiveness, favor, and restoration. He concludes his prayer with the assurance that those who truly repent will receive God’s mercy (vv. 9–10).
PRAYER
Father in heaven, the burdens of this world have me asking, “How long?” Thank You for welcoming such prayers, and please give me the strength to trust You in life’s journey. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: Psalm 6 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Genesis 23-24; Matthew 20:1-16
