“Be gracious to me oh Lord for I am languishing. Heal me oh Lord for my bones are troubled.”
– Psalm 6:2
Psalm 6:2, written by David in the middle of the psalm that’s just showing how overwhelmed he is by the circumstances around him at this point. Later he says he’s weary with moaning. He’s flooding his bed every night with tears, drenching his couch with weeping. His eyes he later said are wasting away because of grief and he’s surrounded by foes all around him. This is such a good reminder for those who trust in God that that does not mean things are easy in this world.
It doesn’t mean that we don’t have heartache and hurt in this world and grief and we get to the point sometimes where we are languishing, where our bones are troubled. You can just feel his … Not just emotional but physical agony here, and I’m guessing that there are some of you who are listening right now who are there. You’re in the middle of an emotionally agonizing time or a physically agonizing time and I just want to encourage you with this verse, be gracious to me oh Lord, for I am languishing.
In the middle of your languishing, know that God is gracious and good.
This Verse Reminds Us That God Is Gracious
In the middle of your languishing, know that God is gracious. That God is good. That God loves you and God hears your cries. He later says in Psalms that God holds our tears in a bottle and counts our tossings in the night. He knows all the languishing you’re experiencing. And He loves you and he wants to sustain and strengthen. Therefore he will sustain and strengthen you as you trust in him so cry out to him, be gracious to me oh Lord in the middle of my languishing.
Heal me oh Lord, for my bones are troubled, knowing that God hears those prayers, that healing will be a reality in some way in the days to come. Lord willing, healing will happen soon, even if you’re physically … Your bones are troubled, your body is hurting or emotionally you’re just in the middle of this languishing not sure when you’re gonna get out of it.
God, please bring about, I pray, healing. God, please bring about gracious strength and gracious sustenance for men and women who are walking through really challenging times right now. We praise you that in the middle of those challenges, in the middle of our languishing that you hear us, that you are gracious to us, that you have power to heal us.
Psalm 6:2 Prays For Relief and Healing
Oh, what a glorious truth oh God. You hear us and you have power to heal us. At the same time we know oh God that we see in scripture that there are times when you allow even ordain suffering and sickness and sorrow to continue and you show your grace sufficient in the middle of that at the same time oh God, that we pray for relief and healing. God, we trust that you are wise and good and that you’re working all things together for our good and that one day, our healing will be complete.
Oh God, we long for the day when sorrow will be no more. We long for the day when we will not languish anymore. We long for the day when we will have physically resurrected bodies. When our bones will never ever again be troubled. Oh God, with anticipation for that day, for ultimate healing on that day, we pray today. Keep us, we pray, faithful before you as we call out for your grace on a daily basis. Sustain us by it and preserve us, help us to persevere until the day when healing is total and complete. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
