Three Pearls, Three Minutes, Thirty Days. (Day 6)

 

Psalm 6: 1Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. 2Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. 3My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long? 4Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. 5Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave? 6I am worn out from my groaning. All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. 7My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. 8Away from me, all you who do evil, for the Lord has heard my weeping. 9The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. 10All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

                                           Today’s Three Pearls

• Do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath -v.1: Like an earthly father, God chastises His children when they stray out of a filial love that yearns for them to get back on the right track. David is not questioning the chastisement, he is begging that it be done in love and not in wrath. There is a difference, the chastisement done in love has a desired end, the one done in wrath leaves the soul in despair and can destroy. One is done with a rod, the other one with a smite. Jeremiah made a similar plea, asking to be corrected in judgment and not in anger. The anger of God is truly the believer’s greatest dread.
• Have mercy on me, I am faint – v.2: David knew his heavenly Father well, and knew the one appeal He could never turn down, an appeal to His Divine Mercy. We are all sinners and cannot win any charge against us at His Left Hand of justice. But we will always be winners at His Right Hand of Mercy, an appeal that for us Christians is presented on the platform of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Son of God died for our perpetual reconciliation to The Father, we can never be turned back from that Throne of Mercy. David also knew that his repentant state of frailty and weakness, resulting from his deep sorrow for his transgressions, was the perfect opportunity for God to showcase His strength. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. May we never be shy to sincerely declare our weaknesses and failings at The Fount of Mercy as often as they occur.
• Away from me, all you who do evil, the Lord has heard me – v.8. The pardoned sinner who had sorrowfully cried unto God, fearful of being chastised in anger and not in love; and now restored to health in soul and body needs no telling to forsake his bad companions. The pardoned sinner who pleaded to be spared from the grave will hate those sins of his that cost Jesus His innocent blood; he needs no telling to keep his distance from those who lead him into temptation. He is no longer deceived and realizes that bad company ruins good morals. (1Cor.15:33). Grace and sin cannot  co-exist in peace, they cannot be friendly neighbors. Something has to give, one of them has to move out of the building, especially if that building is the temple of God’s Holy Spirit. Daily, we encounter several opportunities to make that choice, may we be sensitive to the Spirit’s nudges in the right direction.

 

Ref: Treasury of David