Gospel Reflections #1174: Pouring out our true feelings

Psalm 6:6–7 ‘I am weary with my groaning; all night long I flood my bed with tears.’

This is a pivotal scene in which David, amidst extreme suffering—whether from illness, attacks by his enemies, or a sense of his own sin—pours out to God his overwhelming, profound sorrow and utter exhaustion.

It signifies that David’s anguish and torment were not temporary, but a state that had been debilitating him both physically and mentally over a long period.

It is a state of extreme exhaustion, so severe that it robs him even of the strength to pray.

It shows that the loneliness, fear and sense of guilt—which had been masked during the day by the eyes of others and the distractions of daily life—suddenly overwhelm him in the stillness of the ‘night’.

In the darkness, where no one can see him, he casts aside all pretence before God alone and weeps unashamedly.

In the Bible, the ‘eyes’ are a symbol representing a person’s vitality and the health of their soul.

For the eyes to fail and grow dim signifies that one’s hope for life and vitality are literally fading away, or that one is on the brink of death due to a serious physical illness.

Furthermore, this imagery is compounded by the description of his eyes swelling up from such intense weeping that he is on the verge of losing his sight.

Additionally, ‘enemies all around’ are exacerbating David’s suffering.

We can see that there were those who, seeing him utterly weakened, seized the opportunity to attack or mock him.

It is not only physical pain, but also emotional betrayal and isolation in his relationships that are causing him to age ‘like an old man’ and driving him further into a corner.

The Bible does not merely require believers to remain steadfast and strong in the midst of suffering.

This psalm teaches us that crying out loudly before God and laying bare one’s weakness—even to the point of looking foolish—is in itself an extremely pure ‘form of faith’.

David’s despair reaches its peak in verses 6 and 7, but astonishingly, from verse 8 onwards, it shifts to a dramatic conviction and praise: ‘The Lord has heard my weeping; the Lord accepts my plea.’

It was precisely because he wept until he reached rock bottom, emptying himself completely and entrusting himself to God, that he was able to move towards a morning in which he was certain of God’s saving hand.

We inevitably try to put on a brave face before God.

And because of this, we are unable to show God our true hearts, and so we cannot fully entrust ourselves to Him.

We would like to begin, first and foremost, by laying everything bare before God.

And it is only when we have poured out our true feelings from the depths of our hearts that we can receive God’s mercy and healing.

God knows everything about us and is deeply involved in our lives.

Let us boldly open our hearts to God.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.