Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
    or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;
    heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is in deep anguish.
    How long, Lord, how long?

4 Turn, Lord, and deliver me;
    save me because of your unfailing love.
5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
    Who praises you from his grave?

6 I am worn out from my groaning.

All night long I flood my bed with weeping
    and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
    they fail because of all my foes.

8 Away from me, all you who do evil,
    for the Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
    the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;
    they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

Psalm 6 is one of 7 ‘penitential’ psalms, expressing confession and repentance (the others being 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143).

If there is one question in the psalms with which we can all identify, it is surely this one: ”How long, Lord, how long?” How long will this keep going on? How many more tears must I cry? How much more will we have to endure? How many more prayers before the longed for breakthrough appears? ”How long, Lord…?”

David was clearly in deep trouble and anguish when he wrote this psalm (2,3,6,7), evening sensing a death sentence hanging over him (5). It may be that he was sick in some way. It may be another psalm associated with the time of Absalom’s rebellion. We don’t know for certain.

But notice – and this can happen in prayer – he comes to a place of assurance that all will be well (8-10).

Many years ago, during a time of crisis, I entered into a committed season of intense prayer, for breakthrough. It extended over 40 days. I felt ‘burdened’ about a problem which had dragged on and on without resolution, and it had become a heavy weight to carry. Around day 31 or 32, as I walked around my house praying, I got such a strong sense of conviction that it was over – dealt with. I wrote in my journal, ‘D Day – It is finished!’ Outwardly, nothing much changed for a few months, but as the year wore on it became more and more evident that what I came to ‘know’ in prayer was the case. I still marvel at this experience 28 years later.