Psalm 6       
Sin and sickness
                  In Biblical times there was a common misconception amongst the Jews that all sickness and disease was linked to personal sin.  This is not surprising for God had pronounced to them that obedience was the road to blessing but if they disobeyed Him they would be cursed.  And in Deuteronomy 28:20-22 we discover that the curses included: - wasting diseases, fever and inflammation.  God had also pronounced that the consequences of sin could be visited on the next generations so, in John 9:1-12, we read about a man who was born blind who had an encounter with Jesus.  The disciples, as might be expected, asked who had done the sinning; was it the blind man or his parents?  Their question reveals the thinking of the time, obviously the man must have sinned in the womb or his parents must have sinned gravely at some point before the birth of their son. Jesus showed, by His reply, that the question was much more complicated, in this instance the man was blind so that “The works of God might be displayed in him.”

It seems that David was suffering physically when he wrote Psalm 6 and his immediate reaction is to link his suffering to past misdeeds. That is why he asks the Lord not to rebuke him in anger or discipline him in wrath. How easy it is for us to jump to similar conclusions. There are obvious sicknesses that derive from addictions and poor lifestyle choices but how many sick Christians have you heard say, “I must be doing something wrong!”  We still mentally make the link between well-being and behaviour. Let’s see if this Psalm can help to change our thinking somewhat!

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