Psalm 6

Q. In Ps 6:1-10 David is dangerously sick. Is sickness always the result of sin? Is sickness ever the result of sin? How does he reach such confidence in 6:9-10?

A. No, Jesus himself shows us that sickness is not always the result of sin when he answers his disciples enquiry as to the sinful origin of a man blind from birth (John 9:2.) Here Christ says that his illness is only present so that the works of God might be shown in him (John 9:3) However, Scripture tells us that illness can be the result of sin. Paul speaking on communion asserts that some people to whom he writes are sinning by taking the Lord’s Supper lightly are suffering illness and death as a result (1 Corinthians 11:29-30) More broadly, the conception of man in scripture is as a unity and not of division into heart, mind, soul, body, spirit etc. It stands to reason therefore that if one of these is primarily affected then the others will be secondarily. Regarding the confidence David reaches in Psalm 6:9-10, this is all derived from knowledge that the LORD has heard his prayer. He knows that if this is the case, regardless of temporal circumstance, God can be trusted to do right (see Genesis 18:25) 

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Psalm 5

Q. What does it mean to 'wait' on God (Psalm 5:3)

A. Psalm 5:3 – “In the morning I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch.” The process David describes is two-fold 1) Prayer 2) Watch / wait. These two can’t be divorced. It is not sufficient to merely ‘wait’. It is an active waiting which is in subsequence to prayer requests being made. In the case described in Psalm 5, David’s enemies are again present and he calls to the LORD for them to receive justice (Psalm 5:10) and himself to receive protection (Psalm 5:11) acknowledging that it is the LORD who is his ‘shield’. Kidner says “The very integrity of the Judge, which would be David’s undoing if he were under rigorous moral scrutiny, is his refuge under wrongful attack. This emerges openly in Psalm 143:2, where David the plaintiff (as he is in the present psalm) pauses to acknowledge that if God were to try his character instead of his case, he would be undone.”

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Psalm 4

Q. Psalm 4:8 (like 3:5) refers to finding such peace as to be able to sleep How do we find such peace that we can sleep easily?

A. In vv3&5 the source of David's confidence is found: knowledge of the LORD's separation of him for His own posession, God's attention to his prayers, God's character that invites David's trust (v5). Such peace cannot be derived from favourable temporal circumstance alone (as v7 confirms.) The background is Absalom's rebellion, so we know David does not have circumstance in his favour anyway. The word 'safety' in v8 denotes the absence of fear and it is right knowledge of the LORD 'alone' that can bring this about. Psalms 3&4 are a pair.

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