In Psalm 6, David is feeling very low. He says he is is "languishing" and his "bones are troubled." He also adds that his "soul is sorely troubled." Every night David cries to the Lord, "I flood my bed with tears." The reason it seems that David is so wasted with grief is because of his enemies. He states they are "workers of evil."
Psalm 7 is his cry for help. David offers the Lord a deal. "If there is any wrong in my hands," he says, "let the enemy pursue me and overtake me." Part of David's contract with God is his promise to give Him thanks and to sing His praises. He follows through with his words in Psalm 8, repeating the accolade "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the Earth!" at the beginning and at the end of his chant.
David reminds us in Psalm 9 that we will all stand in judgement before the Lord. We must let go of our egos and realize that "we are but men." David also questions God in Psalm 10 wondering why the Lord stands so far off while the wicked pursue the poor, satiate their greed, feed the sexual desires of their heart, and curse God. David identifies the evildoers and cries out to God to lift His hand against them, "Break thou the arm of the wicked and evildoer and seek them out till they are vanquished."
Today, I woke up feeling the same as David in Psalm 6. Misery loves company, and I found that in David as he cries into his pillow feeling his heartache all the way through his bones and into his soul. During my meditation at yoga today I was able to rise above my sorrow, and like David it was through chanting. As we chanted "Sa Ta Na Ma" meaning "birth, life, death, rebirth," I felt a close connection with the the choirs of angels who are eternally singing God's praises in the heavenly realm, like I was harmonizing with them for the 5 minutes we chanted. As I repeated the mantra and tapped out the mudra, it reminded me that everything is in a constant state of change; this time, too, will pass just as the seasons come and go. Thinking about this period in my life as a "death" to one thing, but soon to be a "birth" to something else is helpful. God knows where he is going with it. I just have to release my ego, as David warns men in Psalm 9 and let God prevail in my life. "He does not forget the cry of the afflicted."
Still, however, we all need to be vigilant like David in calling out the evil not only in others, but in ourselves, too. David's prayer in Psalm 7 is penitent. He isn't afraid to say to God, "Lay my soul in the dust," or "judge me first," if he is with sin. I guess we need to face the truth of our own lives first before we begin to work on the world's.
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