So this morning I was reading Psalm 6 and I posted this picture to TWS’ Instagram (FYI, follow us on Instagram!). One of the ways I study Scripture is I write songs based on or inspired by the Scripture. This forces me to wrestle with presenting the Scripture in a new but true way that communicates the original meaning while connecting with a modern listener. This process has even helped me memorize the Scripture that I am studying.
After reading Psalm 6 I thought “why not follow up Psalm 5 with Psalm 6? So I sat down, meditated on the text, found a section that would make a good chorus, and started playing. This is one of those songs that just writes itself (it helps that the lyrics are already there!). It’s closer to a setting of Psalm 6 than an interpretation of it but it is still not exact. I normally take liberties with Psalms to make them easier to sing and to give a clear Christ centered interpretation.
One thing I love about Psalm 6 is that it does not shy away from lament. It ends with great hope in God’s character but it doesn’t ignore the journey that we, as emotional beings, take to get there. In this Psalm, God has given us words that we can pray to express our brokenness, dissatisfaction, and despair while still turning our hearts back to Himself.
I also love that Psalm 6 continues the theme of relying on God’s character from from Psalm 5. Here, in Psalm 6, the Psalmist doesn’t say “save me because I am worthy” or “save me because I have served you!”. Instead, the Psalmist prays “Save me because of Your loving kindness”. The Psalmist rightly knows that his salvation is not rooted in himself but is instead rooted in the unchanging character of his faithful, loving, Father.
So I sat down, thought of that, and the song basically wrote itself. Then I recorded it on my Zoom H6, plugged that file into Reaper, added a touch of reverb, and come up with this. Let me know what you think in the comments!