Psalm 6: Riddled with Regret

PSALM 6 – Riddled with Regret

A song for those of us struggling to sustain meaning and love

With melodies on instruments with eight strings

that keep breaking, one by one.

O God, please, make it stop –

rebukes delivered with angry sneers in the heat of anger.

Be gentle, gracious with me. I’m reeling here.

Help me heal, shattered to the bone, stricken, bewildered

I’ve lost sight of who I am, of You,

Your Nameless Presence…how much longer!

Come back! I need your help to save this nephesh-soul, Your pioneer.

For love’s sake, show me how to restore love to this life.

Can death invoke Your presence?

Who could appreciate You from this hell deprive of why?

I’m exhausted with sighs of grief night after night

on my bed, drowning my pillow with tears.

One eye has shut out the light with anger,

the other is aging fast with the strain of fear, pangs of regret.

Remove these cataracts that blind me

Because, in truth, You have heard me

-- my cries, my prayers of longing, my pleas --

You hear them all, take ‘em up in the all-encompassing embrace of your love.

Ashamed and baffled, those enemies of love, them too,

we can bring back, redeem, in a blink, from the brink, returning from groan to wink.

FOCUS PHRASES:

Ad matai – How long?!

Shuvah nafshi lamaan chasdecha – Restore my soul for the sake of your love

Yashuvu yeivoshu rega – Save me from shame, redeem my regret, here, now.