PSALM 6:1–5 Fear
READ: PSALM 6:1–5 (JOHN 12:27–28)
V. 3A “My soul also is greatly troubled.”
Ever been full of fear? David was sick, seriously ill. And on top of that, there were people who pointed to his sickness as punishment from God. So he wrestled with that. Was God angry with him? Was this sickness God’s punishment over David for his sins? That would be too much to bear. As a believer he was terrified of dying in and because of his sins. His ceaseless weeping was especially because of that. David knew the deadly fear of God’s wrath against his sin.
Elements of David’s fear remind us of Jesus being troubled as he saw the cross looming before him (John 12). They make us think of Christ’s fear in Gethsemane where his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22:44). And we can’t fail to recall his fearful cry on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).
There is a significant difference, however, between David’s fear (the kind we often have) and the fear of the Lord Jesus. Our fear is often misplaced because God is our constant help in time of need. But Jesus’ fear was appropriate. God’s full wrath against the sin of the whole human race was being directed against him and his Father was not going to relieve him in any way! Yet Christ went ahead, knowing that by his death he would destroy the one who has the power of death (the devil) and deliver us from our lifelong slavery to the fear of death (Heb. 2:14–15).
Nevertheless, we often still live in fear of what can and may happen to us, don’t we? We can fear God’s anger against our sins. And we struggle with fear of death. That’s why we can identify so closely with this psalm. We also have to deal with sickness, adversaries, with dread of what God will do if we fall into sin, and also with death.
But Psalm 6 teaches us to take our fears humbly to our God who hears our pleas for the sake of Christ. How often did Jesus not say to his followers, “Fear not”? Through prayer we can, like David, come to the assurance that God has certainly heard our pleas and accepted our prayers. Because our Saviour feared with reason, we actually have no reason to fear.
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