I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 6, Psalm 6, a psalm for the director of music with stringed instruments according to Sheminith, we're not sure what that means, a psalm of David? Psalm 6. In this psalm, we're going to consider suffering. Suffering. All of us know about suffering, at least from afar. We've seen images of faces contorted by despair, traced with tears of hopelessness and mourning in the wake of disaster and war. From Katrina alone, who can count the images? Hundreds or thousands of lives lost, millions of people displaced from their homes, and billions, untold billions of dollars of property damage and loss. The immensity of it and the deluge of images and sound bites sadly serves to numb us, I think, to the severity of the particular suffering of particular people. Today is September 11. Four years ago today, remember the horror. And yet, it seems like a fog. But some of us know suffering that's a little closer to home. We have family or friends who have suffered or who are suffering through great difficulties. And we can sympathize and we have compassion on them. We do what we can to show them that we care. We may even be able to empathize if we've walked a mile in their shoes so that we can just listen and know that that's enough. Or do what needs to be done without having to ask. And a number among us have suffered and are suffering. And should the Lord tarry, will suffer with bodies that are frail and failing, with spirits that are weak and worrying, through circumstances that are beyond our control and overwhelming, weighed down by unfulfilled desires, distressed by financial difficulties, hopeless of ever being freed from a disease, Melancholy from loneliness or abandonment. Agonized by the death of a loved one. Suffering. You know, in this world, suffering loves company. And the suffering of others may distract us from our own. Suffering often retreats in the company of comforting supporters. And yet, sometimes suffering busies itself finding someone to blame. Someone else. But in the quiet of the night, when our distractions are asleep and our comforters are gone and there's no one there to blame, our suffering remains and it is our own. And it is then that we may enter into the experience of David that he reveals to us in this psalm, Psalm 6. The experience of a brother perfected through suffering. And we will consider his experience in three points this evening. First, we will identify his desperate condition. Then we will hearken to his dependent cry. And finally, we will witness his declared confidence in the midst of his suffering. Turn your attention now to the Word of God. Psalm 6. O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint. O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord? How long? Turn, O Lord, and deliver me. Save me because of your unfailing love. No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from 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 all 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 ashamed and dismayed. They will turn back in sudden disgrace. Here ends the reading of God's word, and may he apply it to our lives this evening. It's interesting in this short psalm of such intensity that David does not tell us anything about his circumstance. circumstances that have led to his desperate condition, other than to mention his foes, his enemies, and all who do evil in verses 7 to 10. Now, it is possible that his enemies are the cause of his condition, the cause of his distress, but it seems more likely that they're taking advantage of him, seeking to see him shamed and disgraced before his people. After all, he is the king. And we read in this psalm, we see David as a man who had reached the end of his tether. He had put off, he had postponed, put away, protested, and otherwise protected himself from the circumstances that overcame him as long as he could, as well as he could, but to no avail. He had exhausted all of his resources, and they were considerable. He was the king of a nation. But he was not exempt from suffering. He had wealth beyond measure. But he couldn't buy away and pay off his suffering. He had the armies of Israel under his command. But he could not overpower his suffering. He was surrounded by family and friends and servants. But he could find no consolation. His body was failing him. He says in verse 2, I am faint. He had no strength or vigor. My bones are in agony. More literally, my bones tremble. His very frame, that which will hold us up when everything else fails, was trembling. And his spirit was in despair. He goes on in verse 3, My soul is in anguish. He emphasizes the completeness of his suffering by saying, My soul trembles exceedingly. He was shaken to his core, body, and soul. And he says of himself in verse 6, I am worn out from groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. He had nothing left within him except to cry and to cry and to cry. So much so that he paints an interesting picture here that's lost in our English and I want to give it to you. He says, I make my bed swim all night like a boat on a river. And with my tears my couch dissolves, it melts away like so much sugar in the rain. You get the picture. Perhaps you have lived it or are living it right now. David was distraught and beyond consolation. Nothing could be said to him. Nothing could be done for him or by him to relieve his suffering. He went on in verse 7. He says, My eyes grow weak with sorrow. There's no sparkle left. They're sunken and they're useless for anything but crying. they fail because of all my foes. They take advantage of me in my suffering. They compound my suffering. And all I can do is cry. His suffering was comprehensive. It was overwhelming. But David knew that it was not accidental. Or that it was without purpose. He knew the source of his suffering. And he knew it had purpose. That's how he began the psalm in verse 1. He says, O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger. Or discipline me in your wrath. The Lord was the source. The Lord was the source. And his purpose was to rebuke and to discipline David. behind whatever circumstances David faced, he was rightly seeing the Sovereign Lord. He could say with Job, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Praise be the name of the Lord. But more than that, more than the circumstances, the very root of David's deepest despair was his knowledge of sin that offended his Lord. The joy of his salvation had turned to despair, to dread. And he felt, in his body and soul, he felt as if the Lord had turned his back on him. John Calvin says on this, and I think rightly observed, he says, David's calamity had perhaps been inflicted by men, but he was wisely considering that he had to deal with God. His circumstances may be for men, but he's wise to know that he must deal with God. Anyone who does not immediately take a close and steady look at his sins when he encounters suffering so that he is convinced that he deserves the wrath of God against them, misspends his efforts. And yet we see how thoughtless and insensible Almost all men are on this subject. For while they cry out that they are afflicted and miserable, scarcely one in a hundred look to the hand of God that has struck them. Therefore, they often indulge in complaints full of impiety, rather than find fault with themselves and their own sins. Suffering. David looked first to himself. And in the case of David, was there a particular sin? We don't know. There's no indication. If there was, was it David's sin? Was it Israel's sin? He was the king, after all. Was it Adam's sin and the sinfulness of all men? We can't be sure. But what we can know and we can be sure of is that David did not dispute the rightness of the Lord's rebuke to him. Nor did he accuse the Lord of misguided discipline. Not at all. Sin was the culprit. And it merited whatever circumstances the Lord was going to bring to bear on his life. David knew that in himself, he didn't deserve any better. Paul makes this clear in Romans. Chapter 5, he says, Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin. And in this way, death came to all men, because all have sinned. And death is the wages of sin. When all is said and done, the suffering and misery we experience in this world is the result of sin. It may be that a particular and besetting sin in our lives brings circumstances to bear upon us which brings suffering. It may well be the sins of others against us that bring suffering. Or perhaps just the fact that we live in a fallen world brings difficulties and suffering. But regardless of where the sin is that brings the circumstance, the Lord stands behind them all and He uses them to fulfill His purposes and his people. David knew this. And in his suffering, he knew the greatness of his sin and misery and it wrung from him a cry. A dependent cry. How long, O Lord? How long? We must take note of what David did not do in his suffering. He did not try to justify himself, or his people, or mankind in general. I don't deserve this, Lord. Rather, his attitude was that of Paul who said, Let God be found true, and every man a liar. He didn't justify himself. He did not try to shift God's attention to other more notorious sinners round about, like the Pharisee, in the parable that Jesus told, who prayed to God, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men. You know, those really bad people that you need to punish? Robbers, evildoers, adulterers, and this tax collector over here. He didn't try to divert the attention of the Lord. He did not become impatient or angry with God. He did not follow the counsel of Job's wife who said, curse God and die. There was nothing of the outcry we so often hear today, where was God? I can't believe in a God who would let this happen. None of that. And he did not put his trust in princes, in men who cannot save. Not even in himself. He was the king. He was the government. And he knew he couldn't save himself let alone anyone else. What did David do? He trusted the Lord. The Lord Yahweh, who had made a covenant with His people, who had made a covenant with Him. And He cried out to the Lord in verse 2. He said, Be merciful to me, Lord. O Lord, heal me. Be merciful to me, Lord. Turn, O Lord, and deliver me. Save me. He cried out to his Lord. Save me and save him from what? From his circumstances? Now given my usual response and what I think is a common response to difficulties, we might jump to that conclusion. But we would be wrong. David did not cry out for the Lord to stop his rebuke and his discipline. His cry was that the Lord would not administer them in wrath or in the anger. We look at verse 1 again. You might want to make a little note in your Bible. Moving from the Hebrew to the English to make it flow right has lost the emphasis. The emphasis here is this. David writes, O Lord, do not in your anger rebuke me. And do not in your wrath discipline me. David's concern was not that the Lord's, what the Lord was doing, but for the Lord's motive and his purpose. Children, perhaps you've made the same appeal to your father when it came time to get a spanking. It's one thing to get a spanking for something that you deserve a spanking for from a father who is calm and purposeful. And it's quite another to get it from a father who is angry and wrathful. We find a similar cry from the prophet in Jeremiah, chapter 10, verse 23. Jeremiah says, I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own. It is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but only with justice. Not in your anger, lest you turn me to nothing. Pour your wrath out on the nations that do not acknowledge you. On the peoples who do not call upon your name. See, there's two ways in which the Lord brings circumstances into the world, into the lives of people that bring suffering. One is in his wrath and hot displeasure, which brings judgment and destruction on his enemies. And the other is as a loving father who brings circumstances that discipline and correct his children. David didn't ask for the circumstances to stop. He just asked to be confirmed that he was being dealt with as a son. That was his concern and it is confirmed when we consider that the basis for David's cry was his dependence on the Lord. He called to him as Lord. Look again at verse 4. Turn, O Lord, and deliver me. Save me. Why? Because David is worn out from groaning, and as verse 6 says, I'm worn out. Save me because I'm tired. Well, the Lord could certainly show mercy by cutting short his suffering, but that was not the reason, that was not the basis for David to call upon the Lord. Was it because David is afraid of dying, as we look at verse 5? It's true, as David says in verse 5, that if he died, the Lord would no longer enjoy his remembrance and his praise among the living, He said, no one remembers you when he's dead. Who will praise you from the grave? Well, of course, the answer is no one. But that's not the basis for David's cry. David does not look to himself or to his circumstances or even to the threat of death as the reason, the basis he calls to the Lord. Instead, he looks to the Lord and he calls on his name eight times in this psalm. Eight times. And he calls to the Lord because of what the Lord has promised. Turn, O Lord, and deliver me. Save me. Because of your unfailing love. Because of your kesed. That's a little Hebrew for you. Kesed. This is a particular kind of love or affection that is steadfast, unchanging. Once it's committed, it's never withdrawn. And it's based on a prior relationship. And in this case, with David, a covenant relationship. The Lord had promised him keset. It's the kind of love a father has for his children. A love that is reserved for them alone. It's the kind of love that motivates discipline rather than judgment. It's the kind of love that seeks restoration rather than destruction. It's the kind of love the Lord promised to David and his seed forever. Turn back in your Bibles to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel, chapter 7. At the beginning of the chapter, it moves into God's promise to David. We're going to focus on a few verses. Chapter 7, beginning in verse 11. Where we find mention of the prior relationship upon which David based his cry. This is Nathan the prophet speaking to David in verse 11. He said, The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings afflicted by men. But my love, my chesed, will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Paul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. To your offspring, my love will never be taken away. In the midst of his suffering, David not only knew that he deserved the wrath of God against his sin, but he also remembered that the Lord had promised to him and to his seed and to his people who looked to him for their salvation, unfailing love, never withdrawn, never failing, never changing. And therefore, salvation from his wrath against sin. His dependent cry was based on the Lord's promise, not on his circumstance. And Psalm 6 closes with David's account of what we might call his declared confidence. His declared confidence. Whether this declaration in verses 8 through 10 was a confession of faith before his discipline was over or afterward, we don't know. But the fact remains that David was confident that the Lord was with him. As we heard this morning, he was no longer walking by sight, by the circumstances, he was walking by faith. For, he says in verse 8, the Lord has heard my weeping. The Lord has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord accepts my prayer. You see, through his discipline of suffering, David had not experienced the wrath of God. He'd experienced his love. And through the discipline of suffering, David was not destroyed, but rather purified and strengthened in his faith. And through the discipline of suffering, David felt like he was under the wrath of God. But when he remembered the truth of the promise of the Lord, a promise to love him and his household forever, he remembered the fact that his discipline was intended to perfect him as a child of God, fitting him for his place in God's household, fitting him for his role in God's kingdom. Feelings and facts suffering is all about feelings. David had to remember the fact of God's promised love to regain his confidence. A model for us, I believe, in our suffering. Through this change in David, by faith, standing on the Lord's promise of unfailing love to him, David was assured again. Assured that the Lord had heard and accepted his prayer. He was assured that the Lord had not turned his back on him. He had kept his face toward him. That he was showing him mercy, healing him, delivering him, saving him, perfecting him. And with this renewed assurance of faith, David declared his confidence to the wicked and to the congregation. In verse 8 he says, Away from me all you who do evil. That's to the wicked. Get away. And then he turns to the congregation and he says, All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed. They will turn back in sudden disgrace. In the Hebrew there's a little word play. It says, They will be ashamed and tremble greatly. Ring a bell. They will be ashamed and tremble greatly. Just as David had. All that his enemies had rejoiced to see in David, his shame and his trembling would be visited upon them. But they will not experience it as discipline, as sons who are loved. They will experience it as enemies of God and it will carry God's wrath and his anger and his hot displeasure. You see, the justice of the Lord against sin will be satisfied against his enemies. Even as his mercy provides the way of escape for his people, his children, who call on his name. We've heard of David's desperate condition. His dependent cry based on the promise of God and his declared confidence as a result, his assurance of faith. And as we've considered these, how he stood on the covenant promise in the midst of circumstances that were overwhelming, so that his assurance of faith was renewed I trust that you have made some application to yourself considering your response to suffering in light of David's response in faith. Suffering is a deeply personal experience. And I would hate, I don't feel free to challenge you on any point. But we can look at David and we can look at ourselves and we can be instructed, I believe, from His Word. But more than that, I want to know and I hope that you've been looking for Christ. To whom this Scripture points. Where's Christ in Psalm 6? Well, the promise upon which David took his stand was made through David to his offspring. Through Nathan the prophet, the Lord said, He, your offspring, he is the one who will build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men, but my love will never be taken away from him. Of course, that promise was partially fulfilled in David's son Solomon. But Solomon died, and the kingdom of Israel was destroyed. So we must look further. And ultimately, the promise is fulfilled in David's greater son, who came through David's line, born of the Virgin Mary, betrothed to Joseph, Jesus of Nazareth. As David's greater son, Jesus, suffered under the weight of sin in this world his whole life. And we see his desperate condition. As the Son of Man, clearly in the Garden of Gethsemane, when we look in Mark, or Luke, or Matthew, but in Mark chapter 14, we read that he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. He said, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. And Mark continues. From that condition, that circumstance, on the threshold of the cross, where Jesus Christ in His humanity was overwhelmed, He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. Abba, Father, You who can do anything, take this cup from Me. And in this, his dependent cry for mercy, Jesus looked not to himself, not to the circumstances that lay ahead at the cross, but to the love of his Father. And he entrusted himself to him. Not my will, but thy will be done. And finally, when he had finished praying, we hear his declared confidence as he returned to find his disciples sleeping he said to them the hour has come look the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners rise let us go here comes my betrayer and he marched without hesitation to the cross where he would open the way for others to become sons of God brothers of David the author of Hebrews says it this way in chapter 5 beginning in verse 7 during the days of Jesus' life on earth he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death and he was heard because of his reverent submission although he was a son he learned obedience from what he suffered and once made perfect made fit for his unique role as the God-man, as our substitute and our mediator. Once he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. See, David's perfection through suffering, as we find it in Psalm 6, was a picture of how the Lord Jesus Christ would be perfected through suffering. It is on the cross of Calvary that the Lord Jesus Christ, David's greater son, secured for all who trust in him the right and the ability to become his brothers. It was on the cross that he took upon himself our condition, suffering in our place the eternal and wrathful justice of God against our sin as enemies of God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us. It was on the cross that He uttered our cry when His Father turned His back on Him instead of us, crying out in our place, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And it was on the cross that He became our confidence. The God-man who has endured the cross in our place and was resurrected from the dead before us so that, as John said to all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God. No longer under his wrathful, vengeful justice, but under his loving discipline. The author of Hebrews says it this way in chapter 2. Beginning in verse 10. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God for whom and through whom everything exists should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. It was on the cross that Jesus Christ, David's greater son, became our elder brother through faith. Perfected through suffering. And through saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be assured in this life that no matter our circumstance, no matter how dire, no matter how we tremble, body and spirit, our Heavenly Father, is at work perfecting us through suffering by the power of the Holy Spirit who is working to have us know our desperate condition in this world that is still tangled and tainted by sin and death. Working within us to lift from within us a call, a dependent call to our Father who art in heaven. hallowed be thy name for every need, body and soul. Working within us to enable us to live out our declared confidence all of our days to the glory of our God, to the assurance of our own souls, and as a warning and a witness to a watching world. Praise God that our Savior was perfected through suffering. Our elder brother, let's pray heavenly father we thank you we can call you our heavenly father and we realize a fresh father that that was purchased for us at an extreme price with the sending of your only begotten son into this world to live and to die to suffer under the weight of sin and death in this world to suffer being made sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. We thank you for this word this evening, Father, from David. How through his life and through his experience, which we in Christ can mirror, points us to our Savior and assures us that in whatever circumstance of life we face, no matter how difficult or overwhelming, that you call us to look to you for the comfort of our souls, entrusting ourselves to you as our Savior did, not my will, but thy will be done. Trusting that no matter how difficult the road may become, Lord, that it is for our good. that You love us as Your children and You chasten us for our perfecting, conforming us to the image of Jesus Christ our Lord so that on the last day, when He comes for us, we will be without spot or wrinkle or any blemish. And we will enjoy His presence, body and soul, perfected. No more suffering for eternity. Thank You, Father. Help us to live in light of this truth in the face of our circumstances. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.