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I. A PRAYER.

1. "Lord, be merciful unto me."(1) It may — I dare say did — mean, at least in part, "Mitigate my pains." When grieved with sore physical pain, you will find that the quiet resignation, holy patience, and childlike submissiveness which enable you just to pray, "Lord, be merciful unto me," will often bring a better relief to you than anything that the most skilled physician can prescribe.

(2) He must have meant also, "Forgive my sins." It is a blessed prayer, and I charge you never to cease from using it in the sense that our Lord taught it to His disciples,!" Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us."(3) I think that David also meant, "Fulfil thy promises." "Thou hast said of the man who considers the poor, 'The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.' Lord, be merciful unto me, and deliver me in the time of my trouble, Thou hast said, 'The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive.' Lord, be merciful unto me, preserve me, and keep me alive. Thou hast said that Thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies; Lord, be merciful unto me, and guard me from my foes. Thou wilt strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; Lord, be merciful unto me, and strengthen me. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness; Lord, make my bed."

2. "Heal my soul." David does not pray, "Heal my eye; heal my foot; heal my heart; heal me, whatever my disease may be"; but he goes at once to the root of the whole matter, and prays, "Heal my soul."(1) "Heal me, Lord, of the distress of my soul."(2) "Lord, heal my soul of the effect of sin."(3) "Heal me of my tendency to sin."

II. A CONFESSION. "I have sinned against Thee."

1. It is a confession without an excuse.

2. It is a confession without any qualification. He does not say, "Lord, I have sinned to a certain extent; but, still, I have partly balanced my sins by my virtues, and I hope to wipe out my faults with my tears." No; he says, "I have sinned against Thee," as if that were a full description of his whole life.

3. It is without affectation. I like a man, when he makes a confession of sin, not to be carried away into the use of proud expressions without meaning, but to speak with judgment, and to acknowledge and confess only what is true. This is the excellence of David's confession, that he owns to what no sinner will ever admit till the grace of God makes him do it: "I have sinned against Thee."

III. A PLEA. "I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul." Why? "For I have sinned against Thee." That is a very remarkable way of pleading, but it is the only right one.

1. It is such a plea as no self-righteous man would urge. The Pharisee keeps to this strain, "Lord, be merciful unto me, for I have been obedient, I have kept thy law." O foolish, self-righteous man, do you not see that you are shutting the door in your own face? You say, in effect, "Be merciful unto me, for I do not need any mercy."

2. This is such a plea as a carnal reasoner could not urge, for he could not spy out any reason or argument in it.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.

WEB: I said, "Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you."