Psalms 6:9
The Lord has heard my supplication,
The Lord receives my prayer.
The book of Psalms is typically thought of as a book of praise and worship to God. That assessment would not be wrong, as the Psalms do point us to the Godhead and how to worship the Trinity. When reading most of the Psalms there is a strong sense of victory, rejoicing and the elements of praise. In Psalm 6, however, (as well as a few other Psalms) we have a slight different tone. In Psalm 6 the writer is suffering or struggling with an enemy or enemies that are attacking him and besieging him. When we read Psalm 1 we have this rejoicing of life and the life God has given His children. In that Psalm we are referred to a "tree" planted by the living waters that brings for fruit in its season. In Psalm 6, however, the child of God is asking God to remove His wrath and to remove the chastening rod. In Psalm 6 the writer is weary from crying. He is drenched in his own tears on his own bed. This Psalm is real for us. Who has not had the experience of great grief and hardship and spent an evening crying it out? If someone hasn't, they will at some point in the life ... such is life! We are not told in this Psalm if the struggle the writer is having is due to his own sin, his own misjudgment, his own reckless living, or simply because sin exists in the world, today. Whatever the reason for the struggle, the truth stated in the above portion of Psalm 6 gives us great comfort and great calm. God, in the middle of weeping and torment, hears our prayers. We may not feel it; we may not actually sense it; we may not see it; but we can be assured of it ... God hears our prayers. Or, as it stated in the above verse, God "receives my prayer." What a blessed truth. When I talk to my fellow man, I can never be assured that he/she both hears and receives my message. But, in this one verse we are taught that God not only hears our prayers, but He receives them. In Genesis 8:9 that same word for "receives" is used when it reads about the dove finding no room to rest that Noah put out his hand and "took" her into the ark. We should think of our prayers in the same manner. As we pray, God reaches out His hand and like that dove, God takes our prayers ... He receives them. What a blessed truth to rest upon in the midst of sorrow and the struggles of life.
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