Psalm 6:3 My soul is also sore vexed: but you, O LORD, how long? I. AN INSTANCE OF WHAT MAY BE CALLED A BROKEN PRAYER. Dr. Maclaren calls it "daring and pregnant in its incompleteness." Is it not natural that prayer should often be incomplete? The man who has never broken down in his prayer has hardly yet learned to pray. 1. Prayer must be broken at times, because some petitions we would offer we may not. Prayer has sometimes to be restrained. 2. Because we cannot tell how to pray. True piety has its dilemmas. What may precisely meet our need cannot always be defined. 3. Because words cannot compass our desires. The intensest feelings of our hearts cannot find adequate expression. II. BROKEN PRAYERS MAY BE THE MOST EARNEST EXPRESSIONS OF THE SOUL. The Psalmist's very earnestness brings him to a standstill. Such a break is the safety valve of the impassioned soul. Prayer is often most sincere when it is least eloquent. A sob may be a real prayer. III. THAT PRAYERS ARE BROKEN DOES NOT PREVENT THEM FROM BEING HEARD AND ANSWERED. If this Psalm opens amid the thick gloom of troublous misgiving, it does not close till a new light has chased these shadows away. However poor and faltering our own words, we shall not be disappointed about an answer. God can interpret the prayer that has never even found utterance. When a man begins to pray, however brokenly, light is not far off. (G. Edward Young.) Parallel Verses KJV: My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?WEB: My soul is also in great anguish. But you, Yahweh—how long? |
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