Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Today is Psalms Wednesday. We’ll read chapters 6-8. Before each chapter, I’ll have a brief introduction for you, after the reading, I have some comments, and we’ll have a time of prayer.  I’m calling today’s episode “Turn Around.”

Comments on Psalm 6

In this Psalm we see David asking God to withhold His wrath. David is in agony, both physically and spiritually. We can’t tell if this pain is from an illness, because of the sorrow he feels for a sin he committed, danger from pursuing enemies, or perhaps a combination of these afflictions. It does seem that his health is leaving him as well as his confidence. Yet still is sure that God will be the faithful One He always has been, and He will come to David’s aid. As the psalm begins, we see David’s repentance. As it ends, it is his confidence.

When we are in similar circumstances, it is all too common that we remain in a place of misery. To be sure, if we have sinned, it is appropriate that we have remorse. After all, we made the decision to reject the right course of action. As believers, we have the benefit of the Holy Spirit’s guidance. He tells us when we are about to “leave the reservation”, yet leave we do. The remorse, the guilt we feel is because we belong to God, and we chose to follow our flesh instead of God. 

And it is right that we own the consequences. If what we have done in sinning causes pain to ourselves or others, we must accept our responsibility. Being a believer does not give us a “get out of jail free card” in terms of this life. To be sure, if we are believers in Jesus, if we have asked Him to be our Lord and our Savior, we have assurance that our sins are forgiven. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” But if our sin has caused consequences here, we have to face them and make things right. 

Now with all that said, it’s important to allow ourselves to be confident in the mercy of God, as David did in this psalm. Near the end he confidently declared, “The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.”

Sorrow and consequences are meant to make us reconsider our behavior. Repentance is not the feeling of guilt or sorrow. Repentance is an action. It’s making an about face. It’s turning from the sin and toward God. And the wonderful thing about that is that we know that God is always there to greet us with open arms.

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 6 NLT; Ch. 7 CEV; Ch. 8 NIV

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Transcript

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Psalms 6-8: Turnaround (LSFAB S13E018)

[TEASER – 00:00]
Being a believer does not give us a Get Out of Jail Free card in terms of this life.

[INTRO S13E018 – 0:13]
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California. Podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we’ll read through the entire Bible in a year and I’m so happy you’re here today. This is Psalms Wednesday, and we’re going to read chapters 6 through 8. And before each chapter, I’ll have a brief introduction for you. After the reading, of course, I’ve got some comments. And this is Wednesday, one of the days where we have prayer together. I’m calling today’s episode, “Turn Around”. But before we read, let’s pray.

[OPENING PRAYER – 00:47]
Lord, as we open Your Word today, I pray that You would bless this time and that You would teach us what You’d like us to know. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

All right, let’s begin.

[INTRO TO PSALM 6 – 0:56]
Psalm 6 is titled “To the Chief Musician with stringed instruments on an eight-stringed harp, a Psalm of David.” You probably remember that “To the Chief Musician” means that this was written for either, one, the Lord himself or, two, one of the music leaders, perhaps Heman or Asaph. This song was to be played with stringed instruments and an eight-stringed harp. This is the first of the seven psalms of confession. There’s Psalm 6, this one, and 31, 37, 50, 101, 129 and 142. These psalms are characterized by confession and humility before God.

[PSALM 6 (NLT) – 1:45]
Psalms, chapter 6.

(1) O LORD, don’t rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your rage.
(2) Have compassion on me, LORD, for I am weak.
Heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.
(3) I am sick at heart.
How long, O LORD, until you restore me?
(4) Return, O LORD, and rescue me.
Save me because of your unfailing love.
(5) For the dead do not remember you.
Who can praise you from the grave?
(6) I am worn out from sobbing.
All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears.
(7) My vision is blurred by grief;
my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies.
(8) Go away, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.
(9) The LORD has heard my plea;
the LORD will answer my prayer.
(10) May all my enemies be disgraced and terrified.
May they suddenly turn back in shame

[INTRO TO PSALM 7 – 2:43]
The title of Psalm 7 is “A shiggaion of David which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite.” Well, what is this shiggaion? Some translate it as a meditation, or an ode, or a musical composition, or simply a psalm. The truth is, we don’t really know the exact meaning of the word. The only place that also appears is in the book of Habakkuk, chapter 3, verse 1. Some think that a shiggaion means wild, irregular, enthusiastic music, but that is just an idea. We don’t know for sure. In some psalms, we can easily identify the time or occasion of the writing, but this is not the case with Psalm 7. In all likelihood, the Cush referred to in the title was loyal to King Saul who pursued David in order to kill him.

[PSALM 7 (CEV) – 3:36]
Psalms, chapter 7.

(1) You, Lord God,
are my protector.
Rescue me and keep me safe
from all who chase me.
(2) Or else they will rip me apart
like lions attacking a victim,
and no one will save me.
(3) I am innocent, Lord God!
(4) I have not betrayed a friend
or had pity on an enemy
who attacks for no reason.
(5) If I have done any of this,
then let my enemies
chase and capture me.
Let them trample me to death
and leave me in the dirt.
(6) Get angry, Lord God!
Do something!
Attack my furious enemies.
See that justice is done.
(7) Make the nations come to you,
as you sit on your throne
above them all.
(8) Our Lord, judge the nations!
Judge me and show that I
am honest and innocent.
(9) You know every heart and mind,
and you always do right.
Now make violent people stop,
but protect all of us
who obey you.
(10) You, God, are my shield,
the protector of everyone
whose heart is right.
(11) You see that justice is done,
and each day
you take revenge.
(12) Whenever your enemies refuse
to change their ways,
you sharpen your sword
and string your bow.
(13) Your deadly arrows are ready
with flaming tips.
(14) An evil person is like a woman
about to give birth
to a hateful, deceitful,
and rebellious child.
(15) Such people dig a deep hole,
then fall in it themselves.
(16) The trouble they cause
comes back on them,
and their heads are crushed
by their own evil deeds.
(17) I will praise you, Lord!
You always do right.
I will sing about you,
the Lord Most High.

[INTRO TO PSALM 8 – 5:13]
The title of Psalm 8 is “To the Chief Musician on the instrument of Gath, a Psalm of David.” Again, we come upon a term that is not easy to define. Some believe that a gath is a stringed instrument. Some translations translate this line as “according to gittith”. Maybe this is an early predecessor of the guitar.

[PSALM 8 (NIV) – 5:37]
Psalms, chapter 8.

(1) Lord, our God,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
(2) Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
(3) When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
(4) what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
(5) You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
(6) You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
(7) all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
(8) the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
(9) Lord, our God,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

[COMMENTARY – 6:32]
Well, let’s talk a little bit about Psalms, chapter 6. This is the first of the seven psalms of confession, those being Psalm 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, and 142. These psalms are characterized by confession and humility before God. In this psalm, we see David asking God to withhold His wrath. David is in agony, both physically and spiritually. We can’t tell if this pain is from an illness, perhaps of the sorrow he feels for a sin he committed, danger from pursuing enemies, or maybe a combination of these things. It does seem that his health is leaving him as well as his confidence. Yet he’s still sure that God will be the faithful one he always has been, and he will come to David’s aid. As the psalm begins, we see David’s repentance. As it ends, it’s his confidence we see.

When we’re in similar circumstances as David, it’s all too common that we remain in the place of misery. We seem to perversely revel or wallow in our misery. Well, to be sure, if we have sinned, it’s appropriate that we have remorse. After all, we made the decision to reject the right course of action. As believers we have the benefit of the Holy Spirit’s guidance. He tells us when we’re about to leave the reservation, yet leave we do. The remorse, the guilt we feel is because we belong to God, and we chose to follow our flesh instead of God. And it is right that we own the consequences. If what we’ve done in sinning causes pain to ourselves or others, we must accept our responsibility. Being a believer does not give us a Get Out of Jail Free card in terms of this life. To be sure if we are believers in Jesus, if we’ve asked Him to be our Lord and our Savior, we have assurance that our sins are forgiven. 1 John 1:9 tells us “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” But if our sin has caused consequences here, on Earth, in this life, we have to face them and make things right.

Now, with all that said, it’s important to allow ourselves to be confident in the mercy of God as David did in this psalm. Near the end, he confidently declared, “The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.”

Sorrow and consequences are meant to make us reconsider our behavior. Repentance is not the feeling of guilt or sorrow. Repentance is an action. It’s making an about face. It’s turning from the sin and toward God. And the wonderful thing about that is that we know that God is always there to greet us with open arms.

[CALL THE LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE – 09:37]
Tell me what you think about today’s reading or my comments. Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511. You can also comment on the show notes page for this episode at lifespringmedia.com/s13e018. Or you can go to comment.lifespringmedia.com and fill out that form.

[SUPPORT THE SHOW – 10:02]
Today I want to thank Howie so very much for his $50 donation that came in today. I appreciate you, Howie. God bless you.

Beloved, if you find value in the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, if you think it’s a good thing in your life, please think about and pray about how much value that’s worth to you. Take a look at lifespringmedia.com/support and then pray about what God would have you do. It’s gonna be different for everybody, and that’s okay. That’s the way it should be. All I ask is that you follow the Lord’s leading, lifespringmedia.com/support.

[PRAYER REQUESTS AND PRAISE REPORTS – 10:37]
Prayer requests. Beloved, this is a time that I’ve set aside for us to pray for each other. You can send your prayer requests and praises to me by going to prayer.lifespringmedia.com where you’ll find an easy form to fill out there where you can tell me whatever you want the Lifespring family to pray about. And if you want to remain anonymous, you can.

For today, if you’ve been following along, you know that my lifelong friend Kathi had her first infusion of a new cancer drug last Friday. The side effects were similar to the previous drug, nausea, aches and pains, hair loss and swollen lips and tongue with mouth sores. Well, on Monday afternoon, she had to go to the ER because of difficulty breathing with a sort of rattling sound in her lungs. She didn’t get home ’til about 4:45 Saturday morning. She had an EKG. She had X rays and a CT scan. Finally, the doctor put her on a blood thinner and antibiotics and said if her cough got worse, he would probably admit her.

Let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You for the Psalms. They show us that we can bring our praises to You as well as our fears and our heartbreaks. Thank You for showing us that we need not be afraid to be entirely honest with You.

Lord, my heartbreaks for Kathi and Del. For so long, they’ve endured illness and pain and, like David wrote in the sixth Psalm, I pray on their behalf, “Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord? How long?” Lord, I ask You to bring healing, bring rest. But above all, Lord, may Your will be done. We do trust You, Lord. I know that our time here is just a tiny fraction in eternity. So we do trust Your perfect plan.

Father, You know every one of us here in the Lifespring family and You know every joy and every heartbreak. You know the needs of every person. And I pray for them now, Lord, that You would make yourself known in every life. Draw each of us closer to you. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

[SUPPORT THE SHOW – 12:54]
Well, if you enjoy this show, I’ll bet you know someone else who would enjoy it, too. Tell them about it, won’t you? The more that listen to the Word of God, the better off we’ll all be, don’t you think?

[OUTRO S13E018 – 13:11]
Sister Kirsty does the newsletter every week. Brother Sean of San Pedro does the chapters. Sister Denise corrects the transcripts. And to each of them, I say thank you. Comment on the show by calling the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511, by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com or by emailing me at st***@*************ia.com. I do want to hear from you. If you’re finding value in the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, please support it. Go to lifespringmedia.com/support.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thanks for making me a part of your day. I’m Steve Webb. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Transcript corrected by Denise