It's Okay to Cry

Rev Gideon Lee

Sometimes we can come to a place where we must be dignified because men don't cry. Psalms 6 must be read with Psalms 51 because they are Psalms of repentance. At this point of writing he was a very broken man. In his brokenness we will see how he placed his hope in God.

Psalms 6

1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger

or discipline me in your wrath.

2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;

heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.

3 My soul is in deep anguish.

How long, Lord, how long?

4 Turn, Lord, and deliver me;

save me because of your unfailing love.

5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name.

Who praises you from the grave?

6 I am worn out from my groaning.

All night long I flood my bed with weeping

and drench my couch with tears.

7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;

they fail because of all my foes.

8 Away from me, all you who do evil,

for the Lord has heard my weeping.

9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;

the Lord accepts my prayer.

10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;

they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

Note that David is not saying to God not to discipline him but not to discipline him in his anger.

David was in such anguish that even his bones were in agony. This was how intense it was for him.

Verse 7 onwards show the turning point of David's repentance. Earlier he was just pouring out his heart. He turned from the negative to the positive.

Your prayers are not in vain this morning. God accepts your prayer.

Our heavenly Father loves you. The Christian life is most of the time filled with abundant life. Sad that sometimes we walk along with a papaya face. Sad face. The Bible says rejoice in the Lord and I say to you again rejoice.

But our Christian life is also sometimes a life a tears. Solomon says there are times for tears. Tears are neutral. It can be tears of joy or sorrow.

A good cry before the Lord helps us to release that tension. Tears are also beneficial for our health, it lubricates your eyes and also remove irritants. When things get in your eyes you start to tear up. Tears are beneficial for our spiritual wellbeing. Some songs as we worship and connects with God we cry because God touch us.

At Bible school there is the altar and it's a place where we soak it with our tears. There are cushions at the altar where the students go up front to cry before the Lord. It was a sacred time. I remember seeing people cry at the altar.

Part of what I do is weddings and funerals. At weddings we shed tears of joy but at funerals we can sometimes be so numb that we fail to empathise with the family. It becomes routine to you. Like doctors who are so used to treating people that we can become very rough with our words. That's why doctors are now taught bedside manners. We can become so numb to sin.

That is why I felt I should share this message not just for you but also for me. That is to not take God for granted.

David wrote this Psalms because he purposely sent Uriah to the battle front to be killed because he wanted to marry Bathsheba. The prophet told Nathan that because of what he did the child will not survive. I can imagine David was at the bed grieving for his son who is dying because of what he did.

On our day we can become numb to the call of God in our life. We can hear God speaking clearly to us and we ignore him. Or his commandments, we become numb and take it lightly. Don't get me wrong. I believe in his grace and mercy but let's not forget that he chastises those he loves. He considers you his own. Like how we chastises our children. Let's not harden our heart and take him for granted.

We become numb to the call of God, sin and his conviction. We become so cold and so hard. David was different. He wrote Psalms 6 and 51. It was not a victory shout. He was in pain and was in anguish.

David at this point was on his way back to a right relationship with God. He is not there yet but was on his way to restoring his relationship with God. But there will be tears along the way.

The type of tears are the tears of sorrow as in verse 1. Sorrow is a feeling of deep distress. God confronts our sin just as in David's life and there will be tears of sorrow. Not just on what he did but who he did it to.

Not just the act but it is God whom he sinned against. That he sinned against God and fell short. The first step is not knowing you sinned but that you sinned against God.

Psalms 51:4

Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict

and justified when you judge.

David understood that he was sorry for what he did to God. When will we realise that we have sinned against our heavenly father. Are you ready to return to God? Remember the story of the prodigal son? He asked for his inheritance, squandered his life but came to his senses when he had to fight with pigs for food. He wanted to go back to his father's house to be a servant. He was willing to trade his position as the son to be a servant. Just as he was coming and from still afar, the father did something a Jewish man is not supposed to do.

His father ran towards his son, a Jewish man will not do that. The story of the prodigal son is about the love of the father. He hugged him and gave him a kiss. He told the servants to bring clothing and put a ring on his finger. He couldn't care less what the people were thinking. He was in full view of the people. This was what God did for us.

David also cried tears of anguish in verse 2 to 7. He was in such deep pain that his bone hurt. It was through a period. Not just immediately but it was for a period.

How many of you have been in such a desperate situation that you just cried before the Lord and you wet your bed with tears. Sin affects us emotionally, spiritually and physically.  That was what David went through.

Don't you think sin affects you physically? When we are in stress we are affected physically. Our blood pressure go up, you can't sleep, your immunity goes down and you lose your appetite. If you sleep around, it will also have consequences to your sin. Physically.

Spiritually also it will make a divide between us and God. Our relationship with God won't be as good or sweet as it used to be. 

Psalms 51:17

My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart

you, God, will not despise.

Contrite heart means crushed by the weight of sin. God's chastisement will come if we continue to sin. We can play church. I have to say this. If you continue to hurt God and sin, we will face his chastisement.

There were tears of repentance in David's heart. David came before the Lord offering a contrite heart and tears of repentance before the Lord. God will still restore David, that's why he's known as a man after God's heart.

There was this traveling evangelist and after his meeting he took a train to his next destination in the morning.

In the train sitting with him was a young man who was downcast. He looked worried and stressed.  He struck a conversation with this young man hoping to help him.

The young man opened up to him and told him his life story. He said he used to be a wild child and was a handful for his parents. He said it was so bad he punched his father. And on that day his father said as much as I love you, you can no longer stay in this house if you continue like that.

So he left the house but he said three weeks ago he got saved. So he wants to get right with his parents to see them and say sorry. He was not sure he would be accepted. So he called his father that he wants to come back. He said if you still want me back tie a white ribbon on the apple tree outside the house. If he sees it he will come down and if he do not see the ribbon, he would move on.

So he told the preacher if he could see on his behalf the white ribbon because he could not bear to see it. As the train approached he looked out and he said you don't have to worry. Not only was there a ribbon on the apple tree but ribbons were all over, every branch and fence and a big cloth with the words "Welcome home my son".

There is always a place for you to come back. God will not turn you away. If you come back to God like David there will always be reconciliation. My prayer for you is to never harden your hearts.