Supplication Of Suffering (SOS)

 Psalms 6:1-10

A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress
To the Chief Musician. With stringed instruments. On an eight-stringed harp. A Psalm of David.

1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger,
Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.

2 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly troubled;
But You, O LORD—how long?

4 Return, O LORD, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies' sake!
5 For in death there is no remembrance of You;
In the grave who will give You thanks?

6 I am weary with my groaning;
All night I make my bed swim;
I drench my couch with my tears.
7 My eye wastes away because of grief;
It grows old because of all my enemies.

8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity;
For the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The LORD has heard my supplication;
The LORD will receive my prayer.

10 Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled;
Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.

David prayed an SOS for his distress, a Supplication of Suffering.  The very description before verse one calls this a prayer of faith in time of distress, and the rest of the song bears this out.  He trusted God, exercised faith to believe and act on God’s word because of His proven character in action on David’s behalf in the past.  We can also walk by faith, by trusting God in Christ as God’s word who is faithful in word and deed in dealing with us who are in Him by that same living and active faith.  He prayed for mercy over deserved harsh discipline because of God’s wrath on his sin.  He admitted his own weakness and his troubled soul in the midst of the adversary’s attacks amidst his distressing circumstances, and asked how long until he would be delivered from all these things (as all His saints call out in Revelation 6:10).  David asked for salvation, for deliverance based on God’s mercy, not on what he felt entitled to, however.  He really wanted grace over what he deserved.  He did not want to be forgotten in death, but to continue to go on living so that he might continue to thank and praise his LORD.  Ah, but the overwhelming sorrow and grief from the continuous attacks overtook David, and he cried out in prayer for help with an SOS, a Supplication Of Suffering, as it was.  Then he prayed against his enemies who only sought sin against him and against God, knowing that God heard his prayers and received them in order to answer.  Therefore he warned his enemies out loud to be ashamed and feel the trouble they intended for him, and then retreat suddenly in that shame for antagonizing the LORD’s servant and His anointed.  We see a similarity in this with the enemies of God’s Anointed One turning back in shame after humiliating Him on the cross and every day since then, and how they will be ashamed at His coming.  We also see the pattern of prayer in our own suffering by trusting God to vindicate us in the end of not sooner, and to turn the shame of our enemies for us against them because they shame Jesus Christ when they attack us for His sake (1 Peter 3:14-17, 4:1, 5).  We pray for mercy, coming for help in our times of need.  We pray for relief from our enemies.  We pray knowing we are not entitled to anything but justice, yet receive grace in mercy instead because of the goodness of God in Christ to us.  Our prayers of SOS turn our suffering into supplication with trust in God’s working for good (Romans 8:28).  Amen and amen.