REPENTANCE

PSALM VI

<<To the Master Musician of Stringed Instruments with a solo to be performed on the Eight Stringed Lyre, A Psalm of David.>>

 

1 O Lord, please, do not rebuke me in Your anger, neither chasten me in the heat of Your hot displeasure.

 

2 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I have grown weak, O LORD, heal me, for I am vexed to the bone. (with sin²)

 

3 How long, Lord, must my soul stay sorely vexed?

 

4 Again, O Lord, out of Your great mercy, Your lovingkindness, and unwarranted favor, deliver, restore, and strengthen me to serve You. (vs. 1-4, ¹wcv + ²)

¶ Conjecture has it that David fell into a terrible physical affliction and mental vexation shortly after his transgression with Bathsheba, becoming vexed with guilt while seething with fever and racked with pain. This Psalm is a hard one to get by without openly applying it to myself personally, and throwing myself down at the Feet of the Lord in repentance that I might rise up with my arms lifted in thanksgiving. Is that not why the Word of God came?

¶ Oh, how I often wished that I had been born with the character and the upbringing of an Andrew Murray, a John Wesley, a Matthew Henry, a David Wilkerson, a Bobby Lynn Phillips, a Ronnie Harold Phillips, or one of the many others wondered at on earth, instead of, in my youth, taking up with rogues and outlaws. Nonetheless, I am what the Lord is bringing me to be today only by the Grace of God and His Divine intervention on my behalf. For I have myself, during the past forty years of being Born Again of the Spirit, fallen into terrible anguish and mental vexation for not only resisting the Lord but for a short period of time, stepping back with one foot into the world to achieve my goals and recapture for myself the worldly success I once owned. We must be honest in our reports, for the Lord requires honesty from our innermost being, and so I throw myself daily at the Feet of Jesus saying, “O Lord, create in me a clean heart, renew in me a right spirit; for the Spirit is willing, but far too often, O Lord, my flesh is weak.” I am far beyond giving a tinker’s toot what a self-righteous man, a Pharisee, some young, prancing peacock of a preacher, or heady hireling may think of me, but I am very concerned about what God thinks, what God says, and where I stand with Him. And so, based on the first four verses of David’s 6th Psalm, let me prayerfully express;

1 Thank You, thank You, thank You, Lord, for not raking me over the coals and casting me from Your Presence when I did grieve You so.

 

2 Thank You, Lord, for being the Strength that overcame my weaknesses and healing me with forgiveness when I was vexed to the bone in body, soul, and spirit.

 

3 Though my body and soul were sorely vexed for several seasons, and though they were long seasons of hard lessons they were lessons truly learned, which You took and turned around for my good. How I thank you that that vexation was not for an eternity.

 

4 How beautiful are Your Feet upon the mountains, O Lord, that brings that mercy, lovingkindness, favor, forgiveness, and continual restoration into that Wonderous Image and Likeness in which we were originally created. Thank You Lord!  (vs. 1-4, ¹wcv + ²)

And so we return to verse 5 in Psalm VI.

5 O Lord, in death there is no more serving You from the earth: And from the grave, what worship and thanksgiving will arise unto You (from the earth)?

 

6 I have grown weary in sighing, groaning, and mourning throughout this seemingly never-ending night. My bed is drenched with sweat, my couch is soaked and salted with my tears.

 

7 My eyes are growing dim from grief, and sorrow; light evades me, even the noonday sun seems pale and lacks for lustre. My eyes are waxing heavy, they are weary and I am wearing thin from watching my enemy rejoice over me.  (vs. 5-7, ¹wcv + ²)

¶ Goliath could not take him down. By him, the bear and the lion met their demise. The warring nations surrounding him were falling before him one after the other, yet here was David, the Sweet Psalmist of Israel, the Man After God’s Own Heart, a Proven Warrior King, relenting with weeping neath the weight of God’s displeasure, howbeit, even while melting into tears beneath the heft of his sin, he was not ashamed to pen such a Song of Repentance as we have here in Psalm VI, and then go on to present it to his Master of Stringed Instruments to be performed publicly by his Band of Brothers, Praisers, and Worshipers that all of Israel might hear it, that everyone might know of his plight and learn from it. (Think you could do that?) David was ashamed of sin because it grieved the Lord, not because of what others might think of him. (Today, all you hear are bumper sticker cliches, and slogans, from self-righteous, self-promoting, grand poo pahs, from, “Well, he blew his testimony”, to ignorant statements like, “God’s grace is sufficient”.  I don’t think so, but I do honestly thank God that “…His MERCY is new every morning.” (lamentations 3:22,23) for hearts of TRUE REPENTANCE. David considered repentance no great blow to his character for he knew that God was in charge of that. Show me a man or woman that doesn’t need to repent and I will show you a deceived soul or a comatose character, or a corpse..(1 John 1;8)  There is not a man, woman, or child on the face of this earth that is not flawed. David did not hide from his flaws, but by the Spirit of God, he overcame them!

Considering all of this I would like to say to all of those who gaze upon this old and aging face,

“These wrinkles ain’t wrinkles, they’re just tracks for my tears

And these furrows in my brow were left by the plow

When turning my fallow ground.” ©wc

Though not like the wounds that healed in the tomb,

In the hands and the feet of my Lord,

Still, they are a sure sign, salvation is mine,

For, thru the thick and the thin,

I follow hard after Him.”

O yeah! My eyes did grow bright

My grief and affliction took flight;

Strengthened by Faith, the enemy at my gate

Fled in the night at the sight

Of the Lord.”       ©wc

8 Withdraw far from me all you makers of mischief, brewers of trouble, and false brethren, for the Lord has heard my thunder and my weeping.

 

9 From deep within the chambers of my beseeching heart, the Lord has heard me and has fulfilled my bidding.

 

10 He will disappoint all of my enemies and turn them back in blistering vexation. They will all suddenly withdraw, confounded and confused.  (vs. 8,9,10, ¹wcv + ²)

¶ When a Godly man is hooked by something out of his past, or falls to some yet unsanctified weakness in his soul and finds himself, for a season, caught up in his old ways, whether it be for an hour or months on end, even though he throws himself down at the feet of the Lord in repentance there is always, lurking out there in the darkness somewhere, a gnawing spirit of accusation slyly whispering, “You’ve done it this time! See that great chasm? There’s no way you can get back to where you belong! You will certainly be gathered with the workers of iniquity to be burned in the fires of hell.”  This phantom phenomenon is especially strong if the chastisement of the Lord is lengthy and heavy.

¶ We must realize that, though a man, from time to time, gets his feet tangled in the vicious vines of his own iniquity, if he truly loves the Lord, he will come to find that he is only receiving a much-needed pruning by the Vine Dresser, Who will clip those vicious vines that do so entangle him – for one reason only; to set him free and, hopefully, teach him not to tread thru that neck of the woods again.

¶ David was not a slave to his emotions. He fell beneath their spell from time to time, but they did not govern his life. No matter the circumstance, he always threw himself at the feet of the Lord in HONEST REPENTANCE receiving the reprove, correction, and even, at times, the chastisement of the Lord which then allowed the Holy Spirit to dispense, not only forgiveness but restoration. David always broke free into the blessings of the Father because he was HONEST.  David was, IN DEED, “A man after God’s own heart”. Like a stone tossed into a pond, sin surely creates a “ripple effect” that can disturb us, and others, for years, if not a lifetime, however, there is nothing God can not “…turn around for our good.” (Romans 8:28 ¹wcv) – “IF” we are HONEST.

¶ I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again; Even though David was steeped in the Levitical Law of his day, he was not stiffened, starched, and bleached by it. Like Abraham, he walked IN THE SPIRIT by FAITH! His life was an incredible Adventure in the Kingdom of God! I thank God that I am not under the thumb of the law, for it has been written by Jesus Christ Himself upon the pillars of my heart.  I also am on an exhilarating Adventure in the Kingdom of God with my Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus Christ the Lord!

¶ In a final statement, I would like to pour out some crystal clear water here which I dipped from the River of Life; I am not winking at the practice of debauchery, depravity, mischief, and immorality, and I certainly do not approve of little foxes running wild in the Body of Christ, nor do I approve of theatrics from the pulpit. I also firmly believe, no matter what your stature, or your “title” that PRIDE, especially RELIGIOUS PRIDE, and THEATRICS, along with repetitive, sinful habits should be put to death. If not, they will, indeed, “…be brought into the light and shouted from the housetop”. (Mark 4:22, Luke 12:3) I am doing nothing more than speaking truthfully of the overwhelming goodness of God who will go to the ends of the earth to see us walking, not in the antics of theatrics, but in the freedom of the Spirit, as did David.

It is more than obvious that GOD is, without a doubt, ON THE MOVE, but, without an HONEST HEART of HUMILITY, FORGIVENESS, and REPENTANCE, I don’t care who you are, what your “title” is, or what your station in life is – you ain’t gonna see it – but from a great distance. 

Closely consider, “There will be two grinding at the same wheel, two in the same bed, two in the same field. One will be ‘taken’ – one will be ‘left’.”  Then consider the Ten Virgins! They all looked like Children of the Promise. They were all waiting on the Lord. They all had lamps. They all slept peacefully. They all knew each other and were all fellowshipping together in the same place. They all had the same appearance, nonetheless, the Scriptures said that five of them were FOOLS. WHY? They had NO OIL in their lamps and it was DARK. To 50% of all of the above, the Lord said, “I DON’T KNOW YOU” (Matthew, Chapters 24 & 25)   If there was EVER a TIME to get HONEST with the LORD – THIS IS IT!  

Get up you lazy sleeper,

Mighty Man of Old,

Seek out the Path of Righteousness,

Don’t you move one single stone.

Within that Ancient Boundry Line

Lies Judgment driven home,

By Three spikes in a Rugged Cross

Sits our King upon His Throne.    ©wc

THE ROAD TO FORGIVENESS  ©Will Callery/ Joe Forlini / Bobby Boyd / Layton DePenning / Written by ©Joe Forlini/©WillCallery

 

May Almighty God bless each and every one of us with “Honest Hearts”!

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¹wcv / my emphasis, my version (always based on the Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew definitions & connotations)

² /  my insert