Psalm 6: When You Can’t Go On (Featuring music by Ross Fishburn)

[Music] [Laughter] Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Pastor Patrick podcast. My name is Patrick Daly and I am the pastor of Ontario Community Church and this podcast is just an extension of the ministry. It's just a way to um really just uh reach in the digital space and really just have a more raw and authentic feel. So really excited to be here and um if this is your first time here uh watching or listening to the podcast, I'd like to warmly welcome you. No matter where you are at on life's journey, whether you know the Lord or you're growing in him or you're being called to do good in the name of Christ, you are warmly welcomed here.

And so wherever you are at in life's journey, I want you to know that Jesus Christ loves you and he invites you into salvation to have him as the firm foundation to have him as the cornerstone of your life. And it's so beautiful to see when people come to Christ, when people grow in Christ, and seeing lives that are transformed, healing that happens. It's just a wonderful thing. This last Sunday, we had a baptism at the church, and it was something that was just really remarkable. always a great time of celebration when we think of baptism as the representation of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It's great when you see friends and family come to support someone who's getting baptized. It's just a really beautiful time and and just something that is really near and dear to my heart um when that happens. And uh you'll notice that behind me I don't have my bookshelf anymore, which is okay. I didn't lose all the books. I uh this last week on Monday uh right after Easter actually I moved my office from one location to the next and so um I'm going to maybe have a painting or something back here.

Right now it's kind of plain and and whatnot which is fine. Um but I'd like to eventually have something in the background. I still have my books and I still actually have my bookshelf, but the location of where my desk is and the location of where I'm filming is different. And so that's just kind of how it's going to be um moving on. I mean, things will change as as we go along and and that's fine.

And so, I just wanted to give you guys an update if you are watching this. Um, yeah, my bookshelf is uh no longer behind me, so that's that's the uh that's okay. And so, this time today, it is episode 6 where we're going over Psalm 6. We've kind of had this nice lineup with every episode representing uh one Psalm. And that might change over time if we do an interview or something, but for now, it's been pretty consistent.

And so today we're going to go over Psalm six, which is um just this idea where David is pouring out everything to the Lord, right? He's pouring out everything that he is, right? His sorrow, his pain, his regret, his fear. And this is a psalm that where he is emotionally exhausted. And I want to tell you before we even read the psalm here, that's one of the beautiful things about psalms is the fact that this these are poems.

These are psalms where we have a lot of raw human emotions. And when we think of us as human beings, we have raw and human emotions that we experience. We we experience sorrow. We experience uh moments of happiness, moments of joy, right? Moments of triumph, but we also have, excuse me, we also have moments where um we feel pain or regret or or we lament even.

And so there's just all of these different emotions, the spectrum as it were, of human emotions that we experience every day. And the power and the beauty of the Psalms is that it's kind of coming alongside of you in those moments, those vulnerabilities and those moments of happiness and triumph and in sorrow and in grief where you can turn to the Lord. And I find that to be a very powerful ministry for um really any age because we experience emotions regardless of age, right? It's not like we get older and we never get angry or it's not like when we're younger. I mean, if you even see children, right, sometimes they don't like the food that they're eating and they spit it out or um sometimes if you've ever watched the Inside Out movies, right?

There's all these different emotions and they become more complex as they are happening. All of that to say is that no matter what emotion you are experiencing, you can turn to the Lord. No matter what situation you're going through, you can turn to God and praise him. You can cry out to him. You can be real with him, right?

You can be real with your emotions much like you were called to be real to yourself. Be honest to yourself, be honest to God kind of thing. And so, um, that's one of the things that we see here where David is clinging to God's mercy. And so, today in in this, uh, in this episode, we're actually also going to feature a song called I will boast when I am weak by Ross Fishburn. I'm really excited about that as well.

Um, so what we're going to go ahead and do, we're going to go ahead and open in a word of prayer. We're going to use the OIA method, right, which is observation, interpretation, and application. It's one of many frameworks out there when we're using Bible studies or sermon preparation. All that is is the O represents the text. The we observe what's going on in the text.

The interpretation, the I or the lessons, what can we learn from the text? And then finally, the A which is the application. What do we do about that? And so that's uh that's kind of the gist. That's the flow of that.

And we'll have that song in in the middle of this. And I just want you to know that this psalm, it shows us how that it's okay to be your real full self and offer yourself to the Lord. Come to the Lord. Um draw near to him, right? Even when we are in our moments of weakness.

So let's pray together and we'll get right through it. Okay. Uh, dear Lord and heavenly father, we're grateful that we have um your word and we have time to be able to open and study your word. I pray for every single person who is listening to this podcast or watching the broadcast, the video version. I pray that they may be hungry for your word, but also hungry for you.

If there's anyone that doesn't believe in Jesus Christ, the death, burial, and resurrection, may you guide them, lead them and guide them to enter in a relationship with you to receive the free gift of salvation. I also pray for those who may not have ever read Psalm 6 or they just want a simple devotional that uh this podcast today, this episode will help them grow in their faith. And also I pray that in all of this we will be moved to live out this faith to act upon the words and to be able to just do good in your name being ambassadors for Christ. May we live and love like Jesus. And so Father, I just pray that you bless this time together.

And I pray that the words that are spoken not just from your word but um as we are going forth through this um this conversation, this discussion that it will be easy to understand and that it will move hearts to live and love like you. It is in the name of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of our faith that we pray and we all say together, amen. And so I'm going to go ahead and read Psalm 6. I have my Bible right here. Um, I'm going to read from I've been reading from the NIV version, which is just, you know, you can read from whatever uh version or translation that you choose.

And uh, yeah, we'll just go ahead and get started. So, Psalm 6 says, "Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish.

How long, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver me. Save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead, no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?

I am worn out from my groaning. All night long, I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow. They fail because of my foes. Away from me all you who do evil.

For the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish. They will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

And so that's Psalm six in here. And and that's kind of a lots of raw emotions that we can unpack here. So we begin off where David is kind of he's coming to the Lord in desperation, right? Those are the first three verses here where it says in that first verse, Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Right?

And it's kind of those moments where David is at this point where he knows that he's failed. He's know he knows that he's imperfect, right? And he's not making excuses, right? Instead, what he's doing is he's making an appeal. He's um he's pleading for mercy instead of judgment.

And for some of us, there may be times where um we felt like we've done the wrong thing, right? We may have felt that there um might have been something that we've done or something that we didn't do or we could have, right? Could have, should have, would have and didn't do and we feel bad for that. So that that could be something that uh we can take right away, right? Um so he's saying, "God, don't don't rebuke me, right?

Uh don't don't don't discipline me um in your wrath." And um that's part of recognizing also who God is. That God is sovereign. That God is in control. Um that God extends mercy, but he's also just, right? It's kind of this idea, and I mention this um I'll mention this a lot of times.

It's kind of this balance between grace and truth, right? Love and um love, mercy, and justice, right? And wrath as it were. So, it's kind of like this balance between the two that um God does um he has both of these attributes and that's the beauty of our God. So, again, David is pleading for that mercy to not receive judgment.

Then um it goes on then into verse two, have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. Right? So, he's being extremely detailed in this emotion. Right?

My my soul or excuse me, um have mercy on me, Lord. I am faint, right? Heal me, Lord. My bones are in in anguish, right? Um, so he's not only talking about his emotional state, but his physical state.

And certainly that's pretty heavy when we're reading that that there are and but it's real. That's that's part of the human condition here on this earth that there are times where we may feel emotionally broken or we may be going through some sort of physical thing that's happening. That's part of the what happens here on the earth and it it's it's not something to be taken lightly. It's something that's part of our experience here on the earth. And David is turning to the Lord in that.

And so he um we go into that verse three then, right? My soul is in deep anguish. How long Lord? How long? Right?

And it's an honest prayer where where he's asking how long am I going to endure this? I'm I'm desperate here. And as we go through in many of these psalms and many things throughout scripture, we want God to answer us immediately, to answer our prayer. But the thing is, God answers in his divine time. And so when when we're thinking of this entire psalm, we're asking ourselves the question, what does prayer look like?

What does prayer sound like when we're completely worn out? And I mean, we can see this here from David here. And maybe there's been a moment for you where you've been physically or emotionally exhausted. And it's hard for you. You're you're you're you're crying out to the Lord, right?

And maybe maybe that's a call for you. Maybe it's a call for you not not to go through pain and suffering, but maybe to be more real and authentic to the Lord because that's what's d what David is doing. And we can see right away within the text those raw emotions. You do not have to be perfect to come to the Lord. You can come to God no matter what it is you're going through, what experience you're going through, what experiences you have gone through or even what you will go through because I'm convinced that David had many, many emotions.

Right? We see that in Psalms. David went through so many different emotions and so do we. And we can relate and identify with um not just one but many psalms much like how we can identify with the stories helping us on our spiritual journey in the Lord to become molded by him. Right?

And so what I challenge for you in in just these three verses, ask yourself, have you had a raw and authentic conversation with the Lord? And it's okay. Maybe find one sentence like that, like that last um that last part of verse three. How long, Lord? How long?

Maybe it's time for you to be your real self before the Lord where you are currently at in your current state. And so, and and see the crazy thing is that's just the three the first three verses that we begin with. He goes on then in in ver in verse four, right? So, this is where he's explaining how he is weeping, how he is exhausted, right? Turn, Lord, and deliver me.

Save me because of your unfailing love. David recognizes the goodness of God. He realizes that um God's love, God's mercy, that just who God is gives hope right in there. And so, man, deliver me. Save me.

Right? So, I want to read that again. Turn, Lord, and deliver me. Right? He's calling for God to deliver him.

save me because of your unfailing love. Right? In moments that we are experiencing or what we're going through, it's appropriate for us to cry out to the Lord or to turn to him waiting upon his divine timing. That's something for us to consider. And then it goes into this kind of this really grotesque this groty kind of thing that happens here.

among the dead no one proclaims your name and then he gives this question here who praises your name from the grave right and it's saying here right he's saying I don't want to die like this I don't want to die in such misery I want to be able to continue to praise your name right so you could say well David's being dramatic here and he is because of his raw emotions by offering everything that he is his physical pain his emotional suffering what whatever it is I don't know the full scope of it, but he's giving all of himself to it, saying, "Look, I want to continue to praise you." And that's powerful language in there. And so it goes into verse six then where it says, "I am worn out from my groaning all night long." And this is very descriptive language. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. That is a lot of tears. right now.

Some people could say, "Well, that's literally like he's crying so much." I I mean, it's certainly whether that's figurative language or not, it's still a lot of crying. It's still a lot of weeping, right? Um I flood my bed with weeping. I mean, that's a lot of crying if we can think if even if if we do take it literally, how wet the bed is, right? From all of your tears and crying from weeping.

I mean that that's very uh specific and very detailed language where David is not holding back, right? He's literally he's you've probably heard the saying before where someone cries themsself to sleep, right? He's crying ev with with everything that he has to the Lord here. And that's that's crazy to say the least because then it goes into verse seven where it says, "My eyes grow weak with sorrow." Right? My eyes grow weak.

probably it probably means that um maybe his eyes are getting dried from all that. I I don't know that's just kind of a thought here. But um the grief that he has is internal emotions, but it's also manifesting externally, right? My eyes grow weak with sorrow. They fail because of all my foes.

So, we can actually see part of what is going on, why this is happening. He's pouring all of himself out because of his enemies. He all of his emotions. He wants to give it to God. And what a wonderful call for us when we think of um moments in our own lives.

Are you offering all of yourself, giving all your emotions, all of who you are to the Lord? That's a question that only you can answer. And it's it's a very powerful one to think of and to consider in here. Um and maybe you can answer that question. Have you ever reached the point where you've had um spiritual burnout or even emotional collapse?

again only you can answer that but we can see in the text that that's what David went through and so what you can do as kind of the from verses 4 to7 here you can write it out you can pray to the Lord um a time where you're vulnerable and you don't have to share it with people but share it with the Lord right that's that's the big thing with that this then leads us then into those verses 8 through 10 as we're um continuing through here. So verse 8 then away from me all you who do evil for the Lord has heard my weeping. Right? So what's very interesting in this is that David's circumstances they might not have changed but his confidence in the Lord has remained the same. That's a very powerful thing that we can see in there.

Knowing that we can place our trust in God in every circumstance, in every situation, and in every season of our life. Right? Away from me all of you who do evil. For the Lord has heard my weeping. What's powerful about this language is that the implication is that God has heard him.

God has heard his cries. And that changes everything because when we are offering oursel and all of our emotions to the Lord, the powerful thing to know is that he hears our cries. He sees us when we are in our emotional state. That's why we should go to the Lord. Maybe you haven't gone to God before.

Maybe you haven't gone to the Lord. And um in in this situation, it h it appears that it has to do because of his foes and his enemies. That's why David is reaching out to the Lord to begin with. Now, for some of us, we may have foes. We may have enemies.

Or we may just have really bad situations that are going on in life that are just not ideal. Not ideal in the least. And yet, it's a call for us to go to the Lord because God is going to hear our prayers. And that's a very powerful message for us even today because let's face it, there's so many things that's going on in the world today. friends, family, social media, culture wars, right?

People hating each other, brother going against brother. I mean, not even factoring in like political divides, uh, theological divides. These kind of things separate families, they separate friendships and relationships, that can be overwhelming, that can be overbearing for us. And I know for a person like me, I I don't like when people are fighting. You may have a different interpretation of the Psalms than I do.

Um you may be reading this and be like, you know, that's not what the text says. And that's that's fine. That's um the conclusion you come to. I do my due diligence to make sure that I search the text and and look at the references and these kind of things, but you still may have a different theological distinctive or you may have a different political distinctive than I do. And that's fine.

We can still be respectful and cordial to each other and still love the Lord in the process. Now, that's I I know that's going on the assumption you're a Christian, but you can still be respectful to just people in general, and that's something that is very important for us, right? But going back to this, the Lord has heard my weeping, right? It goes on in that verse 9, the Lord has heard my cry for mercy and the Lord accepts my prayer. What a what a powerful statement, right?

And and if you think he's going from in verse three where he's saying, "How long, Lord? How long?" But yet later in the verse, he's saying, "Oh, the Lord hears my prayer." Right? The Lord heard my cry. The Lord heard my cry for mercy and he accepts my prayer. So there's a We don't know how long the time was, but there was a time that happened again, which goes back to God is going to answer on his time, his divine timing.

Now, I'm sure David in that moment wanted the answer to happen immediately, right? We all do. But God will comfort us in his timing. But see, here's the cool thing is that God is consistent. He's consistent in his word.

He's consistent with the essence of who he is. He remains the same. He does not change. And and that's something I like to mention to the congregation is that God doesn't change, but we certainly do. We change all the time.

We change our clothes. Uh sometimes our our our personalities or even our likes and and dislikes change because we grow, right? You're not the same person you were when you were five, right? Um there's some things that will remain the same. There's some things that'll change and and that's all right.

But it's certainly what what a what a change in in attitude and and and a change in recognition where he's saying David's saying, "How long, Lord? How long is it going to be?" And you you have heard my prayer. And and that's the powerful one of the one of the many patterns that we see in scripture going from um pleading to the Lord to praising the Lord, right? Um going from depression, right? Going from um exhaustion or desperation and now going from to deliverance, right?

Going to comfort and confidence in the Lord. That that's that's the powerful thing. That's what we find in these two verses, right? Um the desperation, the exhaustion, and the weeping. And then finally the deliverance, the comfort and the confidence from the Lord.

It's the pattern that we see in here, right? I I mean even in that last verse, verse 10, all my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish. They will turn back and suddenly be put to shame. There's so many things in that last verse, right, where David um he's trusting in God's timing. In the same way that we are to place our trust in the living God in answering our prayers is the same way that we have to trust in our God when it comes to his divine justice, right?

When it comes to his wrath, when it comes to um well, they will turn back and be put to shame. So, he's saying, "I'm going to trust in you, God, when it comes to my enemies. I'm going to trust in you to do what you've got to do because I've already put my trust in you with everything that I am. And you've answered by comforting me. And in the same way, the very thing that um made me so vulnerable, that made me cry and cry out to you, I'm going to place my trust in you to handle these enemies.

What a powerful word that something we can take away just from reading the text here. Because a lot of us when we think of this idea of revenge, we want to take it upon ourselves to have revenge on people. But the reality is it's do you place your trust in the living God to handle it? To handle it for you for that. That's that's easier said than done.

I admit. I mean, that's that's not an easy thing to do. But that's kind of what we can see in this entire psalm. David is crying out to the Lord. And he he's in his sorrow, his grief, pleading for God's mercy, and then through that, he realizes he has restored confidence in the Lord.

And now, because of this, he's going to continue to trust in the living God to handle his enemies, to handle those situations and those circumstances. What a powerful way to end this psalm. And so I want you to think about this. A challenge for you is to think for a moment that the Lord does hear our prayers. The Lord hears us when we cry out to him.

The Lord accepts my prayer. And especially if you're a Christian, that's that should be very comforting language when we are thinking of this Psalm six here. And so that that's just really and I hope that just just by going that we're just in the observation part of this. I hope that this really gives you more confidence, right? Knowing that God is going to answer in his divine timing.

I think that's one of the underlying messages here is that we we ask, "Okay, God, when are you going to comfort me?" Right? Well, that's going to be on God's timing. Or when are you going to intervene for all this evil that's happening in the world? It's the same thing. It's in God's timing.

Trust in him. He He knows what he's doing. You You've got to place your trust in that. And see, I know it's hard even for a person like me when I'm praying for something to happen like um someone's in the hospital and they need to they need healing, right? Or or they need doctors to do the surgery or whatever it is, the healing process or when someone's going through just a rough relational situation.

You want it to happen immediately, but sometimes that doesn't happen. It's all on God's timing and on God's answer. And in the same way, when it comes to God's justice, that's all on his time. And so that is Psalm 6 for you. We're going to go ahead and shift to the next portion here where we're going to go over this song here.

Um it's by Ross Fishburn. The song is called I will boast when I am weak. And before we go into that, I I want you to kind of I want this song to be tied into this message today, right? What we learn about David's cry out to the Lord. It's not and and and I think this is a very important thing.

It's not a it's about him being authentic to the Lord, right? It's not about him being perfect. And and this is a big thing. We don't have to be perfect to come to the Lord. It it's it's us recognizing where we are at in our own life.

And we can come to God if if we're having, hey, everything's fine. I'm still going to come to God. Or I'm in desperation and I need you, God. I'm going to turn to the Lord. Will you turn to the Lord in in the highs and lows of your life?

That's something you have to think about. And so it's the kind of prayer where you're ready to pray pray out to the Lord. David sure was. And it's when David was in this these moments where he was weak. Just like this song is going to say, I will boast when I am weak.

Right? You are there for me as the song will say. Um, and that's the thing is that David is still turning to the Lord even when he is weak. David doesn't run away. I know a lot of us we we wish we could just run away from our problems, but instead David leans into it, trusting in the Lord.

And so this song, it it's kind of a it's reflecting this tension, this kind of uh tugof-war, as it were, between being broken, right? being in those vulnerable moments but also still trusting in the Lord. And so again, this name of the song is called I will boast when I am weak by Ross Fishburn. And as you listen, I want you to think of of the words that are going to speak out, the chord progressions, the melodies, all of these things where he says where where the song says, "You're enough for me." And let this be a reminder for you that God's strength is going to meet you in the middle of wherever you're at, right? In the middle of a storm or in the middle of the highs and lows, the hills and valleys of life.

And so I hope you enjoy this song. We're going to go ahead and play it now. [Music] My God, you giving me a beat in my chest. You give me a tune for this breath. When I was weak, you were enough for me.

[Music] My rock. Your way is sufficient for me. Your power made perfect in me. When I am weak, you are enough for me. You love me.

Oh my host in your name. All of your power and patience is on display. When I am weak, I lift up praise. You are up for me. You are for me.

[Music] to leave. You're stronger. I need strength to embrace every part of me. When I'm weak, you make me stronger. So I will delight in my insufficiencies.

My God's [Music] enough. All things are working together for your glory and my good. So in your name, all of your power and patience is on display. When I am weak, I lift up praise. You are for me.

You are for me. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] So we'll boast in your name. All of your power and patience is on display.

When I'm weak, I lift up praise. You love for me. You love for me. Heat. Heat.

[Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat.

[Music] Heat. All [Music] right, and welcome back. So, that was a really good song. I really enjoy listening to that. So Ross, if you're listening to this, I really appreciated your song and I just felt it really speaks to that Psalm 6.

And we find that in a lot of scripture, right, where no matter what it is you're going through, the ability to still be able to trust in the living God, no matter what situation you're going through, what um emotional damage you have or whatever things that are happening even physically, in those moments where we are weak, we can still trust in the living God. So, that's so powerful. Um, what I'll do for those of you watching and listening in the description of this um the description of the podcast and the description of the video on YouTube, Facebook, and on Rumble, I will have links for Ross if you want to follow him and check out his music. Um, you don't have to, but that's something if you'd like to check it out and support him, give him a like or a follow. And uh definitely appreciate the music and uh just really really good talent and um really wonderful lyrics that really are connected with this Psalm 6 in here.

And so yeah, just feel free to check it out. Again, it's in the description of this uh of the podcast and of the video as well. And so kind of moving on from here, we're now going into the interpretation. As I've mentioned, we use the OIA method. And now the interpretation now is what what are the lessons that we can learn about this, right?

Because first we go over the text and what is we can see and kind of conclude right within the text. But now we're going into this eye, right? What does this mean for us? Well, first off, we need to realize that when we're looking at this Psalm 6, there's a lot of people that um will say that this is this is kind of David's confession to the Lord. But I I would say it is a confession, but it's also more than that.

where David is being raw. He's being vulnerable to the Lord and he's praying in the depths of his despair, right? Um David is showing that he has um he's still trusting in God. He has that spiritual maturity and that in includes being honest with himself, but also being honest with God. The whole premise of that then the implication then is that you can be exhausted, right?

You can be worn out. You you you can be emotionally drained. You can be physically exhausted and still come to the Lord. You can still be faithful in that. Just because you're struggling emotionally, just because you're struggling mentally or spiritually or whatever it is, you can still be faithful to the Lord.

That's very powerful. And that that should be an encouragement for us today that David is crying out of a place of this sense of fatigue, the sense of exhaustion, right? Where even he's saying that he's crying and when when it says what is that in verse six, I'm worn out for my groaning and all night long I flood my bed with weeping. That's not just something you just share. That's a moment of vulnerability.

And so in that, he's not pretending to be strong. In fact, he's being weak to the Lord. And that's one of the beautiful things about faith. It's not about, oh, I'm strong. I'm physically strong and I'm spiritually strong.

Yeah. Well, what happens when bad things happen to your life? What happens when you um a friend of yours ends up in a car accident? Or what happens when you're just in a dry spiritual season? I mean, when we think of just if we want to be real for what's going on in the world today and and even in the United States where I'm I'm living where I live, you know, there's a lot of people that have been hurt by other Christians.

There's people that um have been hurt by churches. And that's something that you have to navigate. That's something that I navigate with as a pastor when I minister to people. when people come and they say, "Hey, I I'm not, you know, I I was told that I can only read one translation. Is that true?

Am I going to hell if I don't read that?" Well, what? And it's just those kind of things. And I'm not maybe there was a misunderstanding. I don't know the full scope or the full context, but it's really being able to help people grow in their faith and to be restored to the Lord. And and when we think of this idea of ministering to people, it's the same thing.

It's meeting people where they are at. Part of pastoral ministry, part of ministering. I mean, it's part of being a good Christian even is meeting people where they're at. Um and and being able to um be there for them because we find in the text that God is there for David and in the same way we should be there as well. And so faith isn't about how strong you are.

I mean, there's moments of weakness and I mean, even look at the story of Job. I mean, that's a I mean, I it's a very controversial book, but it really shouldn't be because it's showing about who God is in that we find this pattern so much in scripture about moments of vulnerability and turning to the Lord regardless of what happens to you. And so, look, sometimes faith is being vulnerable to God. Sometimes faith is saying, "I'm not okay." And that's all right. You can turn to the Lord in those moments.

Just as I was reading, and I'll read this again. I'm worn out with my groaning. Are you worn out from just all the experiences that are going on in your life? Only you can answer that. And so that's the thing.

The the next the other piece then is that God doesn't wait for you to be strong. Right? Now this is interesting. God meeting you in your weakness. Right?

And so look, David instead of, you know, lifting weights, instead of being perfect for God, he's offering his brokenness. And something that I want to really point out that's very important for us today is being weak or being broken or just going through situations doesn't mean you're not faithful to the Lord. It doesn't disqualify you as it were. In fact, what it is, if anything, it's an invitation for you to come to the Lord. And hopefully to be able to find brothers and sisters in Christ that can help you in grieve together, weep together, to be present.

You know, one one thing that I I I preach on all the time at Ontario Community is that the ministry of presence. Sometimes for us as people, now I'm talking about people here. I'm not necessarily talking about David or the Lord. I'm talking about us. Sometimes the best ministry that you can do is just showing up.

It's just being present with your brothers and sisters in Christ, especially when they're going through a hard time. There have been times when I've um hung out with someone and they're going through a very dark season in their life and I don't know what to say. And that's hard because I want to be able to speak comfort to them. But sometimes not even saying anything at all is just as powerful, if not even more powerful, being present with people who are in those seasons, those dark seasons. And so I I I just want to make it very clear that just because you're going through a a moment of vulnerability or moments or a season where you're weak, that doesn't make you less of a Christian.

We find that so much in scripture, right? when when we're looking at at David, he was faithful to God, but yet he had all of these moments. And so, it's just a great reminder for us that being weak, right? Being vulnerable doesn't mean you're not faithful. It's a call for you to be faithful.

It doesn't disqualify you. It doesn't make you any less of a Christian, any less of a believer, any less of a person. It's an invitation for you to come to the Lord and hopefully to find people who can support you and help you um through the grieving process and through those moments of vulnerability. And so that kind of leads us to the next thing that we can learn from here is that when we consider prayer, it's about being honest to God. When we think of this idea of having a relationship with Jesus Christ, it's a relationship.

It's not about Well, yeah. I mean, look, think about it. It's just being honest to God. I think of how um in my own marriage with my wife, I have to be real with her. I don't want to lie to her.

I don't want to put on a mask and be fake and phony. I want to be my real self to my wife. And in the same way, when we think of prayer, it's us being real to God. Sometimes when we pray, it says, you know, God, I had a good day today and I just thank you for this day. Or it might be, you know, God, it just nothing went well today and I I I I know you're there for me in those moments.

It could just be simple prayers in that. And so that's something that we should consider, right? This shows us that God wants us to be real with him. God's given us life. He's given us everything.

It's not about being perfect. It's about coming to the Lord. Right? When we think of when when people use the language of submitting to God. Well, part of what submission is then is being real to God, right?

Realizing and recognizing that you need Christ, that you need him. That's a beautiful thing that that helps me in my faith, and I hope it helps you as well. And so you don't have to be perfect, but you have to be real with him. Be real with God. Be real with yourself in that.

Have those raw human emotions. I I want to take a moment here kind of as a side note here. I want to turn to uh 2 Corinthians. It's going to be 2 Corinthians uh 12:9. And it's a famous verse that some of you guys may know um when we're talking about this.

So in 2 Corinthians 12, this is where the Apostle Paul is talking about his thorn, right? In verse one, I must go on boasting. There's nothing to be gained. I'll go on to visions and revelations for the Lord. I know a man in Christ, right?

So it's going on and on. Um he's talking about being caught up. Um and so I want to go into it's in verse verse 8. Three times I pleaded with the Lord. So it's 2 Corinthians 12:8.

And I'm just kind of going on from there because it's something I I want you to really think about here. Three times I I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. What he's talking about is um from verse 7 where he says, "I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me." So he has this thorn in his flesh. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, and in hardships, and in persecutions, and in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. So for there, it's it's very similar language to what we find with David, right? When he's talking about this thorn in his flesh that um when the Lord is saying, "My power is made perfect in in weakness, right?" So it's kind of an interesting thing that God wants us to be vulnerable, right? And in those moments of weakness, again, it's that invitation to come to the Lord and to trust in him.

It's kind of interesting when we find in scripture this ability to be able to boast in that weakness. It's like what are you talking about? Right? But we see in the scripture uh from the apostle Paul and from David um where he's going back to that second Corinthians then um because the grace is sufficient for you and the power is made perfect in weakness because of this he's going to boast in it. So it and that's a little more difficult for us, but it's what we find in scripture in here.

And so what I want you to think about as we're going through, let me turn over here. My page is kind of flipping all over the place. When we're talking about weakness doesn't um disqualify you. When we're talking about raw emotions, that's where God's power is being made perfect in weakness. that God's grace covers us, right?

When we think of the extension the love that God has for us, that's something that's beautiful. Let's go on to the next point then, right? When you bring your sorrow to God, he responds with mercy. And again, it goes back to the timing of God. Right?

So, David is not getting scolded for crying. He's not getting scolded. He's not getting reprimanded for being vulnerable. In fact, he is his prayer is heard. And just as it says in Psalm, I'm going to go back to Psalm 69 where it says that um the Lord has heard my weeping, right?

Where David turns around and he's like, "Okay, how long, Lord? How long?" And oh, the Lord has heard my weeping, right? It's in that verse 9. Um the Lord accepts my prayer. And so, one thing I want you to know is that in those moments of vulnerability, in those moments of grieving and of sorrow and of tears, they're not ignored.

In fact, what I want to do here, I want to turn to a another psalm in Psalm 56. We got a ways before we go into that, but I want to kind of show you just for the sake here. Um, it's Psalm 56:8. Um, where it says here, this is very interesting. It's it's also from David here.

Record my misery. List the tears in your scroll. Are they not in your record? Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me.

And so what's very interesting is that the the tears basically when we in in those moments, they're actually being recorded. And I'm like, that's kind of interesting. That's kind of a fun piece right there. Um kind of seeing how it's connected. Not not to say that it's fun to cry, but I'm saying that when you do cry, knowing that it's collected, so to speak.

It matters to God. That that's the whole thing with this is that when you're weak to the Lord, um you can be real with him and that he recognizes, he records that. He acknowledges that. And so that's a kind of a beautiful thing in there. And the thing is another thing for us to factor in is that you can be in those moments in in desperation or distress to the Lord, but you in the end you can end with confidence in the Lord.

And I think that's a beautiful thing when we're talking about um my there's in that weakness there's power, right? Because out of the weakness you're coming to see the Lord. You're coming back into full restoration and confidence. That's what the Apostle Paul is saying there where um in those weakness I'm going to boast. I'm going to be confident despite this thorn in my flesh.

I'm going to be confident in you. I'm going to fully trust in you. Just like with David when he says, "There's these armies. There's these foes that are against me, yet I'm going to trust in you." So, there's that pattern that we can see in there. And so, a lot of these psalms and a lot a lot of times in scripture, it begins with darkness, but it ends in hope.

It ends in light. So, God doesn't just listen, he responds. And another psalm I want to turn to you. There's a lot of scripture in here is in Psalm 30 verse 5 where it says some of you guys may know this one. Um I I'll start with verse four.

Sing the praises of the Lord you faithful people. Praise his holy name for his anger lasts only a moment but his favor lasts a lifetime. Isn't that beautiful? I want to read that again. His anger lasts only for a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime.

Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Right? That's that's very very beautiful when we when we read that. And so seeing that God will respond by giving us confidence back in him is also a very powerful thing um in that. And so at at this time we're going to turn to the application then, right?

So observe the text. Scripture is our source. What are the lessons we can learn? And then finally, how do we live this out then? How do we live out Psalm 6?

Right? Because Psalm 6, it shows us a model, right? It shows us something uh about the importance of being real, authentic, and honest before God, especially when you feel dry, right? when when you feel desperate when you feel uh moments of distress or even when you feel depleted right I'm trying to think of all the D's here right when you're feeling drained spiritually emotionally physically mentally drained even right and so I have some things for you number one is think you can literally quote scripture here just as David was saying how long Lord right just earlier in Psalm 6 when when David said that um in verse three, how long, Lord? That could be literally a prayer that you pray.

It's it's not an elegant prayer. It's a very short and to the point, but it is enough. It was enough for God. Well, it was enough for David to pray to the Lord. So, enough for the Lord to respond to him.

So, prayers don't have to be these um I'm not saying having fluffy prayers or long prayers is bad, but you there's many different types of prayers that we can use. And in this circumstance, how long, Lord? What? Three words is something that's um the heart behind it, right? We're thinking of the raw emotions.

That's what matters when we pray, whether it's a long or a short prayer, an eloquent one or a simple one, right? And so it in this we can one thing we can take away is that the Lord is moved by honesty, by that realness, right? That that's I'm like God loves me being authentic. I I would think logically that God would want me to be perfect before him. But the cool thing about the Christian faith is that you don't have to be perfect.

Just be real to the Lord. Right? Just like when we think of salvation, believing in the death, burial, and resurrection, right? Recognizing that Jesus came, he he um he died on that cross, he was buried, and on the third day he rose again. as according to 1 Corinthians 15:es 1-4.

That's it. That that's shocking. That's not how the world works, but that's how God works. And in the same way, I only bring that up because when we think of prayer, then when we think of coming to the Lord, it's about us pouring into the Lord, the essence of what we are. And so, it it it doesn't even have to be that.

It could be, you know, Lord, I don't know what to do. I need you, Lord. It could be, Lord, I'm tired. Or it could even be like like what I what I went over. I I go over Psalms at um in assisted living.

I went over Psalm 22. I'll I'll even turn there for a second. I mean, this isn't even in the notes here. This is something I I'll share with you. Psalm 22 when it it's the verse that Christ uses on the cross.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Not only does David use that when he's talking about um where he's crying out day and night and he feels abandoned that that God isn't answering his prayers, it's the same verse that that Christ uses showing the power of the Psalms, right? And if Christ is using that, there's moments where we feel abandoned in this and and when we're looking at this, I don't know what to do, God. Right? That can be a prayer.

I'm tired. I feel abandoned. I feel lost without you. I need your comfort. And God will respond on his divine timing.

That's something for us to factor in. The second thing here is name your weariness. Right? So David, he names his body, his mind, and his soul. Bringing it out of hiding, right?

Revealing it. So be real with God and be specific with what it is that you're praying for. Right? When we're thinking about the language where he is weeping, right? When it says in in there um how long Lord unfailing love who praises you from the grave, I flood my bed.

Oh, it's um yeah, that second verse. Heal me Lord for my bones are in agony. Right. So the weariness is named in layers then in mind and body and soul. Naming what is heavy and bringing it out of hiding bringing it making it revealed to the Lord.

Be specific with the Lord on what it is. Are you physically feeling pain? Right? What what is that? And so that that's another thing that we can do.

The third thing then is to trust that God has heard you and know that God has heard you. Right? even when you don't feel like God's heard you at all. And I know that's discouraging because we want to have that feeling after we pray that God has heard our prayers. But here's the thing.

Even when we don't even when we feel abandoned, we feel empty or or we don't feel anything at all. Here's the thing. God does hear your prayers. He hears your cries. And when we are believing in this, our faith, our belief does not mean the absence of struggle or pain or just life happening.

Instead, it is trusting in God and knowing he's going to be there with you. That he's providing salvation through Jesus Christ. And it's trusting that God hears our prayers. Even when there's silence, even when we feel overwhelmed and abandoned, God is still there for you. And so perhaps an encouragement you can do is well do what David did is just say at the end of your prayer, the Lord accepts my prayer.

You can say something like that. It's just kind of something that you can do with that. And so in this Psalm 6 reminds us that it's okay to pray even when we're not okay. Right? That's something for us to remember.

You don't have to wait until things get better for you to pray for God. You can pray in the midst of the storm. You can pray when you're battling with depression. You can pray when things have been not okay with your friends or your family or whatever it is. You can come to the Lord.

And you don't have to fix the situation. It can just be right now in your current state. God listens to us and he calls you to come to him when you're weary, when you're broken, and he records your tears. That's beautiful language knowing that God acknowledges us in the process. And so God's mercy is available for you.

And here's the thing. What I encourage for you to do, this goes to show the essence of God. If you are not a Christian, let this be a call for you to realize that God is there for you. Let this be a call for you to receive the free gift of salvation. If you've been hurt by the church, if you've been hurt by people, I pray that you may recognize that God will never fail you.

Certainly, man will fail you. Nobody's perfect. And I'm not justifying what people have done. But I'm acknowledging that man is going man does stupid things, right? We do stupid things, but God doesn't do stupid things.

God is there for you. Despite the failing, the failures of man, despite what man does to you, God is for you. He will never abandon you and he will never forsake you. That is for us to remember. And so I encourage for you that if you have been hurt, you can always reach out to me on on the Pastor Patrick podcast here and just recognize that God is always there for you.

So that's for those who've been hurt by the church or hurt by people. If you're just an everyday Christian, I hope that you have learned and and grown from this episode. And I pray that you may be moved to act. You can speak that sentence, right? How long, Lord?

You can also speak the sentence, 'The Lord accepts my prayer. And you also can practice this sense of honest prayer by naming your weariness, right? Naming things, bringing it out of hiding. What is it that's exhausting you? Lord, I'm ex I'm physically exhausted.

Lord, I'm spiritually exhausted. Whatever it is. And so, in that, I hope that you have enjoyed this episode 6 of the Pastor Patrick podcast. If today has um really resounded with you, I encourage for you to share this podcast with your friends or your family as um you know, I'm just doing the best that I can with what I have here, wanting to share in the love and the the truth of God's word and the love of Christ to others. Um so feel free to share this with someone that needs hope.

And so always remember, I pray that you will live that you will live and love like Jesus Christ. Thanks for watching or thanks for listening to the Pastor Patrick podcast. God bless. [Music] [Laughter]