Lord, Have Mercy

When reading the penitential psalms, I have often been mystified by the intensity of the emotion being expressed. How does anyone feel that deeply and then cry out to God with such passion over sin? Is it that I have not sufficiently cared about the import of actions or events? Increasingly, I feel the need to number my days (Ps 90:12) as I realize there will be ever-increasing, life-altering circumstances that can be neither ignored nor controlled. To that end, what is my attitude toward sin? Do I scrutinize according to God’s Word or pass it off as a common failing? Do I confess my sin or rationalize that God will just cover it? And finally, am I confident He forgives? Or to summarize, am I sure that He is a promise-keeping God, both to judge and forgive? King David certainly did. That is why he begins Psalm 6 with a request to refrain from reproof and discipline.

O Lord, do not reprove me in Your anger,
Nor discipline me in Your wrath.

Do we know David’s manner of sin? No, but that is irrelevant. We know from the humble opening that he was aware of the Lord’s attitude to sin and that he deserved whatever condemnation was warranted. He had no standing before a holy, righteous God and, therefore, threw himself on His mercy.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak;
Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled;
And my soul is greatly troubled;
But You, O Lord, how long?

The proper approach after sin is to admit weakness and frailty. While we retain youth and vigor, there is an inclination of invincibility in both body and spirit. Whatever may come can be handled by attempting stoicism: we can tough it out and do better next time. Through aging, the realization that we are but dust looms large. Strength wanes and corruption slowly causes us to understand that our lives are not so easily controlled. Order increasingly gives way to disorder. Confidence falters. Questions arise as to when the Lord might intervene.

Return, O Lord, and deliver my soul.
Save me because of Your mercy.
For there is no remembrance of You in death;
And in Hades who will give thanks to You?

In the midst of uncertainty, there remains a certain hope. The Lord is most certainly attentive. There should be no apprehension if we ask according to His will. And how do we know what His will is? Taking in His word. Our God has made Himself known through His precepts and promises. God will answer because He is merciful and will deliver because He does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ez 33:11), much less His children. And why would this be? Mankind was intended to give glory to God on earth as a complete being in His image and likeness. The ultimate reality will be to properly do so in the resurrection when all things are restored. Before we reach that end, we are brought low by burdens and afflictions.

I am weary with my groaning;
Every single night I will dampen my bed;
I will drench my couch with my tears.
My eye is troubled by anger;
I grow old among all my enemies.

When sin entered the world, every deed, every relationship became corrupted. Individuals struggle with one another fueled by selfishness, pride, or a thirst for control, making enemies whose sole focus is to cause the godly one’s demise or diversion from the right. The attack is relentless, not because of a constant barrage from those seeking our harm, though this may be, but also from the knowledge that the struggle and warring within each believer, as the sinful flesh inherited from Adam, continues its unrelenting attempts for control. We succumb to the weariness of it all, in humility crying out to God that He might deliver us being fully assured that He is faithful.

Depart from me, all you workers of lawlessness;
For the Lord heard the voice of my weeping;
The Lord heard my supplication;
The Lord received my prayer.
Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;
Let them turn back and be suddenly ashamed.

Believers who know and hold fast to God’s promises know He understands our anguish. We know He hears our request. We know He receives our prayer when we ask rightly, not for our own pleasures. We also can act and speak with proper authority according to His precepts. We can order the lawless to depart and pray that our enemies be ashamed and troubled—not just those of the flesh but also spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies (Eph 6:12). I do not mention this to advocate militancy as a spiritual discipline. Rather my desire is to recognize that we, with full rights and responsibilities of sonship, have full authority to assess situations and request action from our Lord and God.

I began this piece with some personal reflections of my own unworthiness and weakness, being without inherent privilege. Yet, here I am: chosen of God, baptized into Christ, sealed with the Holy Spirit, and adopted as a son. Where someone might increasingly despair while moving toward the terminus of their earthly lives, we believers can look at the increasing unpleasantness that will befall us and rest in knowing that the final enemy, death, has already been brought to shame and defeated. We pray for strength to end well as we look to the Lord’s triumphal return and the final resurrection.

Lord, have mercy.