Sadness. 

It is always there. Even if you are not sad now you will be soon. Even if you are not sad now, someone close to you probably is, and someone within a quarter mile of you is destroyed today.

The world is full of sorrow. Even Jesus as he walked among us was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).

What do we pray when we feel like this? 

The Psalms give us dozens of prayers to pray when we are sad and disoriented.

Psalm 6 is a great prayer for sorrow. 

PSALM 6

O Lord, Deliver My Life

To The Choirmaster: With Stringed Instruments; According To The Sheminith.

A Psalm Of David.

1  O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath.

2  Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;

heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.

3  My soul also is greatly troubled.

But you, O LORD—how long?

4  Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;

save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

5  For in death there is no remembrance of you;

in Sheol who will give you praise?

6  I am weary with my moaning;

every night I flood my bed with tears;

I drench my couch with my weeping.

7  My eye wastes away because of grief;

it grows weak because of all my foes.

8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,

for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.

9  The LORD has heard my plea;

the LORD accepts my prayer.

10  All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;

they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Notice that David processes his sadness with God. He talks about how he is experiencing sadness in his body (my bones are troubled).

He asks God for help because he is languishing (failure to make progress with his sadness).

He tells God that he is weary with his moaning. He floods his bed with tears. He feels that his perception (eye) is wasting away.

So he asks God, “be gracious to me.”

By the end of the prayer he is still feeling depressed emotions, but look at the faith he has in God. A faith that comes from experience, 

“The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.” 

He is still feeling sad, but he is praying his sadness to God. He is looking to God in faith even when he is distraught. He knows God is with him even if he doesn’t take the pain away.

Homework: 

Take a moment to pray your sadness to God. Use this Psalm.

Know he is with you.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Harvey