Emotionally tired

David reveals in verses six and seven that he is struggling emotionally, as well. 

I am weary with my sighing;

Every night I make my bed swim,

I dissolve my couch with my tears. My eye has wasted away with grief;

It has become old because of all my adversaries. (Psalm 6:6-7)

David's physical tiredness may have been sickness or stress; his spiritual tiredness was because of his sin and his feeling that God was distant from him; now we read that he can't sleep because he is overwhelmed with grief. He could not sleep because he couldn't stop crying -- he couldn't stop crying because he knew that he had sinned against God. God had been so good to him, and been so close to him . . . . now he had the perception that his sin had alienated him from his merciful God. He has the feeling that there's a gap between him and God (at least in his mind there is) and he wants it to be like the closeness of old.

I kinda think that from verse seven we can imagine that David's eyes are puffy and red. They are irritated because he is wiping the tears away so much. His eyes are "wasted" with grief he says. We've been told that the Christian life is a life of joy. Yes, it is. But it can also be a life of tears. Solomon was a wise, wise man, and he said "there is a time for tears."

Did you know that tears are actually physically beneficial to us? They are our body's "pop off valve" for stress, sadness, grief, and frustration. Tears protect our eyes with lubrication and remove irritants and excess hormones.  Tears are spiritually beneficial, too. We shed tears of joy when we are fellowshipping with our Father; we shed tears of sadness for lost people. We shed tears when we reach the space that David found himself in, where we are spiritually and emotionally broken and need the healing touch of God. 

This was a difficult time for David, but he definitely "learned his lesson," just as we have to do sometimes. 

As Christians, we will have times of emotional struggle, too. When we lose a friend or a loved one and miss them. When we feel the aches and pains of growing old, and we think back on our lives -- what has changed, and what we'd like to change. There will be times when we, just like David, fail spiritually and then emotionally struggle because we feel we have let God down.

No matter what it is we are struggling with, and no matter how tired we are emotionally, our emotions were given to us when God created us. That means that He can also deliver us from those emotions and the fatigue and tears that we experience. Just like David, the king of the Hebrews, we can turn to God and He will take our tears away.

There were people who were pleased with the fact that David was down in the dumps. There were people who were pleased when he sinned and messed up. The devil thought he had won the battle, and David's earthly foes were happy to point fingers and mock him.

But in verses 8-10, David has a whole new attitude!

Depart from me, all you who do iniquity,

For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.

The Lord has heard my supplication,

The Lord receives my prayer.

All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed;

They shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed. (Psalm 6:8-10)

David addresses his enemies with confidence. He understood that his enemies were not there to support him, and that they were probably happy dancing because he was in despair. But David looked to God and he felt Him pull him back to a right relationship. He says he is no longer troubled, but that his enemies will be ashamed and troubled.

Why? Because they would not turn to God in repentance, as David did. They were not interested in having a close relationship with God. They were living shameful lifestyles and lives of sin - and David knows that unless they turn to God, He will not be with them. In the last part of verse ten, though, David says he hopes they will turn to God -- "they shall turn back" means "turn to God." David doesn't want his enemies to perish, but to come to God.

We can see that no matter how tired we are, and no matter how hard the devil is pushing us, there is hope. No matter how physically tired, or spiritually tired, or emotionally tired we are, there is hope in Christ. We can do as David did: turn to Him, rely on His lovingkindness, and He will restore us. He will bring us through. He will bring us home.

I've heard several renditions of this story; one of the singers of the Kingsmen Quartet used to tell it, and other teachers have used it, too. 

An evangelist was making his way home on a train. He sat down beside a young man, and after a while he noticed tears in his eyes. The minister asked if there was anything he could do to help him. The young man said "Preacher, two years ago I got so mean at home that my mom and dad couldn't do anything with me. But one day I even went so far as to strike my father with my fist. He told me then, 'Son, I hate to do it. It's going to break your momma's heart. But we want you to just get away from here--just leave this house.'" The young man had wandered the country for some time and 3 weeks earlier he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He wrote a letter to his parents and told them he would be coming through on that old train. He wasn't sure that he would be welcomed home, so he told his parents to hang a little white rag on top of the apple tree in their yard as a signal that he was forgiven. If there was no rag in the tree he would remain on the train. As they approached his home the young man asked the preacher to look and see if there was a white rag in that old apple tree. The preacher looked and said, "Son, you can relax. That apple tree is in full bloom! I never saw so many white rags tied on anything in all of my life. And that's not all. Out under the apple tree I see that grey haired old Mom and Dad standing out there waving a big white bed sheet saying 'Come home son. Welcome home. We love you."

The "moral" of the story is obvious -- our heavenly Father is just like that man's parents. No matter how far we've gone; no matter what we've done; no matter how long we've been away . . . . . it we will humbly ask His forgiveness, He will welcome us back home.

Who is a God like you,
    who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
    of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
    but delight to show mercy. (Micah 7:18)

Amen!