Psalms 6:2
2 Have mercy [chanan] upon me, O LORD; [Yahovah] for I am weak: ['umlal] O LORD, [Yahovah] heal [rapha'] me; for my bones [`etsem] are vexed. [bahal] KJV-Interlinear
2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away; Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed. NASB
Grace means favor, and mercy is grace in action, or the act of providing some favor or favorable action for the one requesting it.
When a person cries for mercy, he is in a predicament that causes him worry, anxiety, pain, pressure, anguish and so forth. The situation is not good and the person is not able to change the situation. It is probably beyond their control.
The person crying for mercy is stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. Caught without any options or controls, and cannot get himself out of the problem. He is helpless and hopeless.
I am weak, ‘umlal,’ meaning to be dried out, in a state of famine or drought, blighted, strength withered and fading.
When you are a young person, you are bulletproof. But when you are older, then your strength is more lacking. You can feel the life slipping out of you as your energy and strength fade and are lesser that when you were young.
Heal me, is a phrase that indicates a sickness that is beyond human help. The sick person is lacking the means or resources to correct his own ailments or stresses, whatever they might be. There is only one person who can legitimately heal and that is God.
This is a request to heal the spiritual deficiencies, not physical ailments. Although the physical provides the example, this is not a request to God to cure diseases or sicknesses. Do not pursue a belief that prayer will heal the flu or a broken bone. That is not the principle here.
Spiritual deficiencies can only be cured by God. And he does it through doctrine.
If you are sick, then you go to a doctor and get the proper treatment. But when your ailment is of a spiritual nature, then God is the answer, and God has already provided His answer, in the form of Bible doctrine. Your spiritual cure is through doctrine, through learning it by means of a daily study.
The bones are the framework of the human body. Within the bones is implied the strength of the body. And when the bones are vexed, they are stressed to beyond their limits to function.
The bones symbolize the mental aspects of the spiritual life. Lacking doctrinal framework means lacking spiritual strength. Lacking spiritual strength means to be lacking spiritual resources. And lacking spiritual resources means to be lacking a relationship with God, the one and only person who is capable of solving all of your spiritual needs.
Doctrine is the foundation and framework of the soul. It is on that framework, that spiritual resources are constructed. No frame, no structure. Weak frame, weak structure.
David has crossed the line, and he knows it. David has sinned such that he knows that God is going to clobber him, big time. And even though the world has many resources with which to mess up ones life, fear of God is much greater in David, because God has control over ones entire life for all of eternity. The world by comparison has no power that can match that.
Therefore, fearing the worst, David prays of mercy and a lessening of Gods discipline, with the application of Gods love. Knowing that God disciplines with love and in doing so, one comes out of the discipline with a greater understanding of life, of God, and of themselves.
Regardless of your physical strength, regardless of your worldly resources or possessions, if you do not have spiritual framework in your soul, then you are indeed vexed, weak, helpless with regard to reality and life.
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