Enough Of All That Negative Thinking! (Psalm 6) Series

MAKING MUSIC FROM SHARPS AND FLATS IN LIFE

Sermons Based on Selected Psalms

Psalms Sermon II – Psalm 6

David the shepherd lad who became King of Israel was a music maker. He played a harp – the most popular instrument in Old Testament times. The Book of Psalms is a collection of his compositions inspired by both his life experiences and his majestic moments with the Lord God.

As a sheep herder, the boy David became fascinated with the wonders of the out of doors even as he became familiar with the uniqueness of sheep.

As the one chosen by Samuel to be crowned the next king of Israel, David had no choice but to sharpen his defensive battle skills when Saul threatened his life; he had demonstrated his skills as a shepherd lad when he defended his sheep from the attack of wolves, and when he defended his family by killing their enemy Goliath with one stone fired by his slingshot.

David’s favor with God and the people worsened King Saul’s insanity, making him so blindly jealous that he made David the target of a relentless campaign to destroy the king-to-be.

David won the battle; but, more importantly, he won the hearts of the people because he had won the heart of the Lord God who had chosen him.

As king, David ruled righteously in accordance with God’s will; Israel enjoyed the golden years of their history during David’s reign.

Yet, as a man, David sinned; however, as a sinner, he was aware of his need for God’s forgiveness; as a forgiven child of God, he courageously accepted God’s punishment; as one who suffered the consequence of sinning against God, he also accepted the challenge of rebuilding his life for God.

As a Psalmist, David’s innermost thoughts - expressed in the verses of his poetry - have become the greatest collection of spiritual nuggets the world has ever known.

From a lifetime of positive and negative experiences, David has become our hero for making music out of the sharps and flats in life.

Any musician knows that it takes both to make good music. It takes the positives (the sharps) and the negatives (the flats). Arrange them in such a way that they blend into chords, orchestrate the chords into a harmonious melody, and what you get is a work of art that is pleasing to the ear.

Life is like that. The isolated sound of a sharp or the lonesome sound of a flat does nothing for the spirit. Get it all together in conformity with THE Great Composer’s divine plan for our lives, and what you have is harmonious living that is pleasing not only to God but to others as well.

These devotional messages, based on the Book of Psalms, are intended to draw from David’s orchestration of the sharps and flats in his life to help us make music from the sharps and flats in our own lives. Selah

Psalm 6 . . .

At the time David wrote the sixth psalm, he was sick. We do not know what his illness was, nor do we know why he was ill. But in this Psalm, we see a lonely and unhappy king. He was sick in body and in mind.

David thought God had left him; he had convinced himself that there was no help to be had from the Lord. His feelings of despair made him so sad that, for a time, he forgot about trusting in the Lord.

For some reason, although he believed that he would always live in the presence of the Lord God, David pled with God to “return” to him, as if God had gone someplace else.

Sometimes we feel like David felt. The thought may cross our minds that God has left us. In this psalm, David cried every night. He poured out his heart to the Lord with a question of desperation, “How long, O Lord, how long?”

Then, one night as he was praying, David sensed the presence of God as never. With a great sigh of relief, he responded by exclaiming, “The LORD heard me!” All of us want God to hear us! And He does.

If you and I continue to meditate on God’s Word, and pray, we too will realize that the Lord our God has been with us all the time.

Perhaps we could not sense His presence due to our fear that He was angry with us. Yet, we kept on praying; and eventually we could say, as did David, “The Lord heard me!”

Listen to David’s agonizing plea: “O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your displeasure.”

David uses two words that are used often about prayers of penitence. A penitent prayer is one in which we are sorry for doing wrong and we are willing to atone for our wrongdoing.