We are taking time during our study of Lent to examine the Penitential Psalms – psalms that encourage our hearts toward repentance. Psalm 6 is the first of these seven special psalms. The psalm begins as one who is deeply troubled and alarmed, desperately in need of healing. It ends with an outburst of defiant faith. Victory is within sight. So let’s ask, “When you are sick, are you a good patient?”
Define a Good Patient
What does it mean to be a good patient? Alan S. Rockoff, a medical doctor, wrote a very interesting article in Psychology Today. Alan writes,
You’ll seldom if ever hear a doctor refer to a patient as “good” or “bad,” but you might hear patients quote often call themselves “a good patient” or “a bad patient.” What do they mean?
Most of the time, patients who use this phrase refer to their level of cooperation with medical care. For them, “I’m a good patient” means:
- I take my medicine as directed.
- I call the doctor when she asks me to but don’t bother her unless I have to.
- When the doctor gives me a needle, I don’t jump.
- I don’t complain and make the doctor feel bad.
What these boil down to is a patient who thinks of himself as cooperative and considerate, someone easy to get along with. The opposite of a good patient of course is a bad patient, the doctor’s office equivalent of the sort of difficult person who either doesn’t mind giving other people a hard time, or actually seems to enjoy it.
Rockoff says there is more to being a good patient than just being nice. A good patient gets better. A doctor isn’t concerned with whether you are nice. A good doctor wants you to get better.
Sin Makes Us Sick
There are amazing parallels to these truths found in Psalm 6. While most theologians call Psalm 6 a psalm of repentance, P.C. Craigie calls it “a prayer in sickness.” Sin leaves us sick.
More pointedly, sin has left us with inoperable cancer with no hope for a prosperous and long life. It would take a new drug, a new procedure, nothing short of a miracle for your life to continue.
Sin is at the heart of my physical, emotional, mental, and relational problems. Pain and affliction flow naturally from sin’s springs. Paul says everything in creation groans because of sin’s disease. The result of sin is what old writers called “the dark night of the soul.”
Although we are adept at suppressing and covering the effects of sin in our lives, you have probably had times when you felt overwhelmed by the pervasive power of sin. David says he is worn out, weary from its effects.
David does more than hint at a hope at the end. He banks on it. We have to see repentance from sin is like finally going to the doctor when we are sick. We don’t want to. Sometimes, we try to get better on our own.
But there comes a point when you are tired of feeling bad, tired of not having energy, tired of not being able to really enjoy life. You say to yourself, “It’s time to get better. It’s time to go to the doctor.”
Aren’t you tired of feeling this way? Are you a good patient? Isn’t it time to finally get better?