Lord, rebuke me not in your anger

 Psalm 6

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

At the opening of this Psalm, David accepts that he has done things wrong as he says, ‘O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.’ This is an admission that he deserves correction and punishment. He acknowledges that the season of suffering he is going through is warranted, it is his own fault as he has gone his own way, done his own thing. How brave and honest David is to admit that!

Do you do the same? Do you accept that sometimes you suffer, experience pain and hardship due to your own wrongdoing? Do you admit that actually, sometimes, you deserve the difficult times that have come upon you because you have messed up and not done things the way God wants you to?

David acknowledges his faults and pleads with God not to, ‘discipline me in your wrath’. Instead of asking God to wipe away all the difficulty and release him from suffering and punishment, David recognises that he has earned this correction, but he asks for leniency. David knows the awesome capability of God, so he humbly asks God to not pour out punishment in His anger. 

There’s a difference between discipline and angry discipline isn’t there? You see it when a parent corrects a child. If the parent is in a calm frame of mind the discipline will focus on repentance, making amends and some considered consequences, yet if the wrongdoing is dealt with from a position of anger - that child is going to really suffer and the punishment is going to be harsh. This is what David is afraid of and seeking to avoid. He knows what he has done wrong, he is sorry for it and accepts that there are consequences for his actions, but he does not want an angry outpouring from God, who does?! David has seen and read about how God deals with those He is angry with both through the scriptures and his own personal experience, so he was rightly afraid of having so displeased God that he would have to suffer like that. 

David knew he could approach God and ask for mercy because he was a man of faith who desired to honour God with his life. Although sometimes he made mistakes and sinned, he was quick to recognise, repent and mourn when he had gone awry. Are you quick to do the same? Do you quickly acknowledge, apologise and try to rectify what you have done wrong? Or do you ignore your faults and try to explain away your actions attempting to make them sound less bad or inconsequential? 

When you have done something wrong in your life, and you know it, are you aware that God may well correct you and that can look like suffering, confusion, illness and pain? Being corrected and punished by God is not something that we often like to consider. Those in David’s time would have been quick to acknowledge and consider suffering as a result of sin, in fact, that would probably be their first thought in times of difficulty. Nowadays, we are so aware of the grace, forgiveness and mercy of God that I do not think we really consider that we still deserve discipline. We are privileged to live in a time where we can believe and trust in the powerful work of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. His defeat of death and sin that were pinned to the cross as he died means that you and I no longer have to live with the guilt, shame or power of sin as Jesus has taken it all on. The reality is though that we do not always walk in that freedom. We still sin and displease God by our actions or inactions. No matter how hard you try, you will get it wrong sometimes, you will sin. When you do, are you quick to go to God about it and seek restoration? Do you realise that when you sin God may well rebuke you and discipline you?

You can know the forgiveness of God when you turn away from wrong and seek it, but be aware that sometimes a period of suffering is required. You can, as David did, ask for God to be merciful, to be lenient in His correction. If you know that you have disobeyed God, like David did, you may well have a season of feeling, ‘greatly troubled’. David tells us that both his body felt like it was breaking and dying, and his soul was distraught and David came to realise that it was due to his wrongdoing. Do you ever pause to consider that sometimes what you are suffering is due to sin? God still gets angry at sin and He may allow you to you get ill or have troubled times because you are not living your life in obedience to Him. 

You may not think this sounds like a very positive message, but a good, loving parent is one who disciplines their child. If you see that you are living in the consequences of sin and disobedience, then know that what you are going through shows that God loves and cares for you. You are His child, and so He will discipline you. You won’t like it, but you can speak to Him about it, you can repent, be forgiven, and you can ask, as David did, for God to show you mercy. 

Please note:

Not all suffering is a result of disobedience and sin (consider Job). Sometimes suffering occurs because of the reality of living in a broken and decaying world, or because of others’ sinfulness. So please do not think that all suffering is a punishment from God, but i think in general our society is too quick to absolve themselves from any responsibility, so it is good to ask ourselves, 'Lord, is there any wicked way in me'?