Psalm 6

Lamentation

My Extremity is God’s Opportunity

                4 Return, O LORD, rescue my soul;

                Save me because of Your lovingkindness.

·         The wrath of God destroys, but his paternal love corrects, reclaims and saves. It is itself a mercy and he who receives it may well pray, have mercy upon me, O LORD.

·         Let men beware how they harden themselves in sin by pleading the falls of David. If they resemble him only in sinfulness, they will miserably perish. Unless like him they repent, they are undone forever. And this repentance must be speedy, for as Augustine says, “Though after this life repentance be perpetual, it is in vain.”

·         The wise prefer to mourn when mourning for sin shall be followed by peace and joy.

·         “That supposed greatness of soul which considers suffering as a plaything, upon which one should throw himself with manly courage, is not to be met with on the territory of Scripture . . .” (Hestenberg)

·         A soft heart has goods to lose which a hard one never possessed.

·         God loves his people too well to let them wander on in sin.

·         There is a great difference between “encouraging the exercise of a salutary repentance,” and provoking feelings of “unmitigated despair.” (Dickson)