By Ryan Diaz
We all know what it’s like to hide pain. Whether it’s physical, emotional, or spiritual, humans have a nasty knack for covering up pain and hiding behind a false smile and dismissive “I’m fine.” There’s something about weakness that bothers us. Admitting one’s weakness means admitting we need help, and to ask for help is to put us in the debt of others.
The idol of self-reliance balks at the idea of asking for help. We’d rather suffer in silence than admit we need the aid of others. This tendency to hide and pretend that everything is fine affects our relationship with God. We fall for the lie that we need to present ourselves to God as the people we wish we were rather than the people we are. Rather than come to God honestly and laid bare, we talk to Him as if nothing’s wrong, as if to admit our weakness somehow means we’ve failed Him and that our faith isn’t as strong as He would like it to be. But psalms like today’s are a helpful reminder that our God is merciful.
Psalm 6 is an honest psalm. It holds nothing back. David refuses to hide behind pious words and clever religious language. He’s open, vulnerable, and honest. He does not hold back or mince words. In this Psalm, David, the warrior king, strips himself of his might and majesty. This David is a far cry from the giant slayer. He is broken and weary, anguished and alone. It’s in this broken state that David comes before God. He hides nothing—not his brokenness, mental anguish, or fear. He puts it all out in the open, every wall torn down in a single act of desperate transparency.
Psalm 6 can serve as a model for honest Christian prayer. Prayer without pretense or pomp and circumstance. It’s a guttural prayer from the depths of the human soul. It’s a kind of prayer that God delights to hear—not because He delights in our misery but because He desires to meet us in those broken spaces. If you’re looking for God through perfectly crafted words and clever prayers, you’ll miss out on the God who shows up in the honest, broken prayers of the midnight hour, willing to comfort all those who mourn and suffer.
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