The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Psalm 6:1-10, “O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your wrath.
2 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am pining away; Heal me, O LORD, for my bones are dismayed.
3 And my soul is greatly dismayed; but You, O LORD– how long?
4 Return, O LORD, rescue my soul; save me because of Your lovingkindness.
5 For there is no mention of You in death; in Sheol who will give You thanks?
6 I am weary with my sighing; every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears.
7 My eye has wasted away with grief; it has become old because of all my adversaries.
8 Depart from me, all you who do iniquity, for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication, the LORD receives my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed; they shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed.”

Have you done something that was so shameless that you doubted that the LORD would ever forgive you? Have you ever been so grevious over a sin you’ve committed that you have cried throughout the night in sorrow? All sin is serious to the LORD; and all sin ought to be exceedingly serious to us!

This psalm clearly suggests that David has committed a grevious sin in his life. Other passages of Scriptures detail somewhat other sins in David’s life; but this psalm suggests something far more sinister still than those with which we are familiar.

Without question, viewing sin as serious and against God’s will drives the serious believer to mourn its commission as he pleads for the LORD’s mercy. David’s tears may well have been shed for both his sin and the punishment he is destined to receive. When sin is repeated, however, it cannot be denied that the tears we shed are more for the punishment we are destined to receive than for the wrong that has been committed.

When, however, the soul is vexed, we should know that the result of the sin has pierced more deeply than the mind. We certainly ought to be sorrowful for the overt results of that sin; yet, knowing that Christ suffered on the Cross for the sin we’ve committed, should pierce us more deeply still. Dosn’t the parent of the child always
grieve more deeply than the child himself?

As serious as sin is –and as utterly devastating as this sin was—David is enabled to think of the LORD and the praise He deserves. “The LORD has heard my prayer; I am assured that He will do it hereafter; I have, therefore, nothing to fear.” We are, therefore, to know with certainty that He hears our repentant prayers, too. Thus, we are to trust Him in the forgiveness of sin and fear no future retribution.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom