Key Verse: “I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with tears.”(v.6)
Key Theme: “My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?”
Key Descriptives of God: Deliverer (v4) Responder to Weeping (v.8) Accepter of Prayer (v.9)
The same man who in chapter 5 left us in a high place is back again under duress of soul and spirit. For those who stay with me on this 67-day journey you are going to have to be okay with David’s absence of “stability”. He does not fake “living in victory” or just “stay above it all.” You may have had the wrong idea of who the giant-killer really is. The man that will chase down a lion to rescue a lamb and then bare-handedly shred his jaw is very demonstrative — to God, about EVERYTHING that troubles him. He moans, groans, cries— and I don’t mean a little bit. In the key verse 6, he speaks of “drenching” his bed with tears, and in this particular case he went all night and is “worn out with sobbing”. Such a lesson here. One of the reasons David so relatively quickly finds the Lord is because when He feels absent, David relentlessly chases Him down. It is hard to see David in an extended season of just feeling distant from the Lord. He is in touch with his heart and if he can’t find “The Lord is MY shepherd I shall not want” right when he needs him, he is going to pursue him with all his pain and contradiction.
“How long, O Lord, how long?”(v.3)
Having said that, notice I said: “relatively quickly”. So many of David’s Psalms are about the pain and agony of delay. From this chapter, it is hard to know if David is also in the midst of being corrected by the Lord. In verse one he asks the Lord not to “discipline” him in anger. In verse two when David says he is “weak” it is hard to know if it is referring to the sin he may have committed or his need for physical healing- as he also says “O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.” Ultimately David points to “because of all my enemies” as being the source of his present distress (v.7). Again, his descriptive way of pouring out his pain has often made me smile. “My vision is blurred by grief; my eyes worn out” (v.7) One of us might say “I was crying” The bottom line is whether our own sin, or sickness, or an attack from the enemy has us distressed, David models for us how to process through. It is not always pretty but it always tends to an effective and victorious outcome.
“The Lord ACCEPTS my prayer”(v.9)
In the last three verses of Psalm 6 (v.8,9,10) David does get through and knows the Lord has heard him. You can feel the shift in the first line of verse 8. “AWAY FROM ME ALL YOU WHO DO EVIL, for the Lord has heard my weeping”. Once he senses God has heard him everything changes. The word that stood out to me in verse 9 was ACCEPTS. In Hebrew, it is “laqach” and means “to fetch, take possession of, TAKE A WIFE, MARRY, acquire” among other similar words. I love that and perhaps it will be even more significant to intercessors. There is a place in prayer and in partnering with intercession where you can feel the LAQACH take place. Suddenly God has “fetched” the prayer, “acquired” the prayer, and is “marrying” the prayer and committing to producing life from it. Can God hear and respond to non-passionate prayers on principle alone? Yes— but He is more like David than maybe most of us. Very deep, very relational, very passionate, and very emotion-filled. He is sometimes not even sure we will remember we asked Him for something if it didn’t affect us enough to touch our own emotions. Now the final verse.
“ALL my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in SUDDEN DISGRACE.”
This is what our God has for us whether individually or collectively AS WE TURN TOWARDS HIS SHINING FACE. I love it that the same David who a few verses earlier is bemoaning “How long. O Lord, How long?!” is now declaring with his mouth (an important part of the process) “ALL my enemies…will face SUDDEN DISGRACE.” It was a prophetic revelation he received after a brutal night of pain, tears, and prayer. The word “sudden” in the original Hebrew means “a wink of the eyes”. So “How long?” Well, just when it seems like forever a “suddenly”. That is what I am contending for all across the board. A series of “suddenlies” towards ALL our enemies- especially at the national and global levels. The enemy is never people, but people who too tightly embrace the enemy suffer similar consequences– unless they cease that embrace and repent.
Lord, today may ALL YOUR ENEMIES that seek to destroy our nation and the nations of the world, face SUDDEN DISGRACE. May it come in relentless tsunami waves generated by the ROAR OF YOUR JUSTICE until the landscape has totally changed. Because Yours is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory— and invasion of all three is the bigger reality.
Written by: Johnny Enlow
Featured Image by chris ganser on Unsplash
67 DAY COUNTDOWN SERIES
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The 67 Day Countdown Series is brought to you by Johnny and Elizabeth Enlow, founders of Restore7 ministry, as well as international speakers and best-selling authors. Among Johnny’s books are The Seven Mountain Prophecy, The Seven Mountain Mantle, Rainbow God, The Seven Mountain Renaissance, Becoming A Superhero, and RISE. Elizabeth serves as CEO and penned Rainbow God: The Seven Colors of Love and God in Every Season.
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