The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. – Psalm 6:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 5, 2013): Psalm 6

I went to the dentist last week. It was one of those marathon sessions where I had a checkup with the dentist for the first half hour and then for the next ninety minutes I was in the dental hygienists chair (yeah, ninety minutes, I realize that I am special.) Just so you know, I have no further dental work needed – I knew you might be concerned. But heading into the appointment I knew two things - because I have experience with dentists. The first thing I knew was that I have a dentist appointment. It had been on my calendar at home for the last six months. This appointment was not a surprise. But the second thing I knew was that I will be in pain. I do not need a drill in the dentist’s hand to experience pain in the dentist’s chair. Just sitting there with my mouth open for two hours is painful – so when you add those sharp probing instruments, the result cannot be anything else other than a level of pain. And this is why I LOVE dentist’s appointments (and yes, that was sarcasm.)

There is a tense change in this psalm of David. David announces that God has heard his cry for mercy. God is all about grace. The Bible lists things that will come between us and God – sin comes between us and God, pride comes between us and God, a lack of forgiveness for others comes between us and God – and the list goes on and on. And a lot of the things that were on the list were in David’s life – and they are in ours. But David new that God was a God of mercy and a God of grace. And so David’s first move was to call out to God for mercy and God delivered – he removed all of things that were separating David from God.

So, because God had heard David’s cry for mercy and God’s grace had removed all of the things that separated David from God, God could now hear (and accept) David’s prayer. A better translation of this next phrase might be to say that God will receive or will accept my prayer. The change in tense is from what God has done (past) to what God will do (future) because of what he has done. God’s grace has transformed things to the point where David’s prayers could now be heard.

And this is situation changing. We all fall short of God’s expectations of us – all of us. No one stands not in need of God’s grace. And as Christians, that is something that we need to remember whenever we look at those around us. But God’s grace is based on something that God has already done – and because of what God has already done, God hears my prayers – and he hears your prayers. He also hears the prayers of that person in your life that never seems to give God and the things of God much thought. God’s acceptance of our prayer is not based on what we have done, but rather on what God has done. David knew this because he had already experienced God’s grace and God’s mercy in his life.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 7