Psalm 6 "O Lord—How Long?"

Psalm 6:3-5

My soul also is greatly troubled.
    But you, O Lord—how long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
    save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
    in Sheol who will give you praise?

Comments:

As you probably know by now, I love the honesty of the psalms. Here David asks the raw question of his troubled soul, one of the questions men and women have asked throughout history—“How long?” In the pain, agony, and grief of his crushing circumstances, his lament echoes that of Job. What Job struggled with was making sense of his suffering and desired an audience to plead his case. Here in Psalm 6, David recognizes that the Lord is hearing his lament but questions when the Lord would respond. In his mind time was limited. He desires to praise the Lord but believed that once dead there would be no opportunity to remember the Lord. His understanding of the resurrection was limited. I included verse five in this post as an example. When we read the Bible we need to remember the concept of progressive revelation. Biblical theology teaches us that the great doctrines of the faith were not given fully developed in the first books of the Bible, but are revealed step by step according to God’s great plan. It is important for us to remember that David didn't have complete knowledge of the immortality of the soul, thus his urgency to see deliverance in this life. You don’t see a strong concept of the resurrection develop until the writings of the prophets.

Cemetery on the Mt. of Olives

Certainly, this concept is clarified and completed in the New Testament. Ironically—in our day where as Christians we know that we will not only remember the praises of the Lord after we die but we will see him face to face—there are too few who remember his praises here on earth.

There are a couple of things in this passage that David understood very well—his own need and God’s steadfast love for him. I too am convinced of those same two things. This week I hope we can all say “Amen!” to that!

Oh, and don't forget that having poured out his lament to the Lord, having asked his burning question, David acts on the belief that God has already answered and delivered (v.8-9)!