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[ Music ] [MUSIC] ♪ Your lead me as I stray ♪ ♪ Mm ♪

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♪ Gently lead down ♪ ♪ The stream of time ♪ ♪ Lead me, lead me all the way ♪ ♪ Savior, lead me then at last ♪

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♪ Meet me then at last ♪ ♪ When the storm of life is past ♪ ♪ Ooh, to the land of the free ♪ ♪ To the land of endless day ♪

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♪ Where all tears are wiped away ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, lead, lead me ♪ ♪ Oh, lead me ♪

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♪ I want you to say ♪ ♪ Lead, lest I stray ♪ ♪ Oh, gently down the stream of time ♪ ♪ Oh, lead me, lead me all the way ♪

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♪ Lead me, lead me all the way ♪ ♪ I want you to lead ♪ ♪ Take my hand and lead ♪ ♪ To say ♪

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♪ Leave me, leave me, lest I stray ♪ ♪ Oh, gently down ♪ ♪ Stream of time ♪ ♪ Lead me ♪

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♪ Lead me on ♪ ♪ The way ♪ - Amen. Our scripture text, Psalm 6, verses 2 through 4.

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Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed, but thou, O Lord, how long? Return, O Lord, deliver my soul.

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O save me for thy mercy's sake. The subject of the message, O Lord, heal me. These are the words of a prayer. These are the words of a person seriously ill.

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The words of a person who is on the critical list. The patient is, as my grandmother would put it, low sick. This person is as low as he can possibly get. He has reached bottom.

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He cries out from the depths, "Oh Lord, heal me." Physicians have examined him, but the tests have not been encouraging. The medicine that he has taken has not been helpful. The patient, instead of getting better, has grown steadily weaker.

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Weak and heavy laden, through agonizing groans there comes the penitent cry, "Oh Lord, heal me." Anyone who knows what it is to be sick can easily identify with the experience of this sufferer. For when we are sick, our normal mode of operation is affected. Sickness comes

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as a discordant note in the melody of life. It's a sign of deterioration and disunity in the body, sickness is a sign of brokenness. To be human is to experience sickness. All of us are finite, frail creatures of the dust.

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A sudden sharp pain anywhere in the body disturbs us. We want to get rid of it as soon as possible. We want to get well. The testimony of the Psalmist is the testimony of people

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on the sick list in every generation, whether in the hospital, in homes, or whether they are persons who are on the move bearing their infirmities as they go.

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The person who utters these words is in the intensive care unit. His strength is gone. He says, "I am a sham.

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There is nothing to me. I'm down in the dumps. I'm drooping like a weeping willow. Oh, Lord, heal me."

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Hospitals continue to enlarge their facilities because of sickness. Scientists are ever seeking to discover remedies. New drugs are brought forth as a means of healing.

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New skills for treatment are used. Because of the prevalence of sickness, Sickness is all around us. Disease and decay abide with us.

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And many of those who seek healing from some physical affliction, who utter the cry, moment by moment, oh Lord, heal me. The Psalmist has a sickness of the body.

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And we know what it is to have a sickness of the body, where any member of the body disturbs us because it is not functioning properly. But the Psalmist suffers from more than a sickness

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of the body. There is an inner sickness. His ailment goes beyond the surface because he tells us, as we notice his prayer,

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that his bones are afflicted. Bones are the substance, so to speak, of the body. They give substance to the body. So he has trouble with his bones.

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There is nothing of substance within. His illness is not superficial. It's deeply embedded. His bones are afflicted.

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As we look at our human condition, We recognize the fact that ours is a social sickness that has afflicted all of the structures of society. It affects the family.

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It affects our educational institutions. It affects our political structures. It affects our religious life. In fact, it affects the entire social order.

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As we look about us, we see evidences of this sickness, the growing number of cases involving child abuse where children in the cradle are molested by adults. It's a sign of sickness. Sickness.

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I noticed in the newspaper just the other day that there was a television production in which a person was set on fire and a man looked at it and he came home and set fire to his wife. Sickness. Sickness. sickness, growing sickness. We see it all about us. And it's bad enough when you have a sickness of the body, whether it's a stomachache or a headache or whether it's your arthritis

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or your blood pressure, your sinus or whatever. It's enough when you have all that to deal with. But it's even worse when it is a sickness of the body which is rooted in the spirit. You see that's what is called psychosomatic medicine. That a lot of times the the ailment that you have in the body is due to some physical, is due

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to some spiritual condition. The physical condition is created by a spiritual condition. A good example of that is when you get real angry, you may have a headache. Well, it's the spirit that has produced the physical disorder. And in order to correct the physical disorder, one has to get at the root of it and deal with the spirit. And when the spirit

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is well, then you see the spirit may be the means of resurrecting the body when the spirit is well. Oh, you can have a lot of ailments as far as your body is concerned, but when the spirit is well, it can go a long way toward resurrecting the body.

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In other words, there's some things that physically you may not feel like doing, but because you have the spirit to do it, you're able to do it anyhow. And all of us know what that's like. But here, here, the psalmist is suffering not only from a physical sickness, a sickness

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of the body, but the psalmist suffers also from a sickness of the spirit. It's double jeopardy. Double jeopardy. And so the sufferer cries out, "I've had it.

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have given up on me. The patient is in a state of utter despair. There's no human resource to which he can turn. Enemies gather around his bed and wait for the end to come. And they're there predicting that he will not get well. And in fact, In fact, they are taking delight in his sickness.

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They're glad about it. And the psalmist looks beyond the human situation and cries out, "Lord, heal me. "You are my only hope for redemption."

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And as he meditates upon his sickness, he says, "Now, Lord, how long?" And then whenever you get sick, you wonder how long you're going to be there. When the doctor even tells you you're going to go to a hospital, you want to know, "Doctor,

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how long will it take?" And here he is, lingering on his bed of illness, and he cries out to heaven, "Lord, how long? How long will I be on this bed? How long, oh Lord?

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How long?" So you see the length of suffering is always a great concern to the sufferer. How long must I remain in the hospital? How long will this sickness last?

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How long? Lord, Lord, heal me. Do it because of your mercy's sake. Do it not because I deserve it,

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because I know I don't deserve it. But you're always giving your mercy, showing your love and forgiveness to those who do not deserve it.

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So Lord, do it again. Do it for me, Lord, heal me. Do it again. I'm tired of being sick.

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No doubt many of us here have had that experience. Been some ailment that you want to get rid of and you are tired of it. It just seems to torment you. And so you can identify with the psalmist here, "Lord, heal me."

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You see the psalmist is praying for renewed vigor. He wants to get well not because he deserves it but because he is already bowed down and devoid of strength. He knows that if he is raised up that the Lord must do it.

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There is no human cure for what ails him. If his sufferings continue, he will deteriorate beyond recovery. I think it's sort of expressed in the language of the spiritual, "I'm troubled, I'm troubled. I'm troubled in mind.

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If Jesus won't help me, I surely will die." There is sickness that only God can heal. One doctor expressed it in this language, said, "I anointed the wounds, God did the healing."

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And there is a kind of spiritual sickness that in many instances gives rise to many of our physical maladies that only God can heal. Many people going to the doctor really need the spirit healed if they ever expect to get the body healed.

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Spiritual sickness. Only God can heal. Person who is suffering from this kind of sickness needs to cry out, "Lord, heal me." Rudyard Kipling was desperately ill.

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And the nurse that was ministering to him came to his bedside and said, is there something that you need that I can help you with? And he turned to her and said,

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I need God, can you help me there? "Oh Lord, heal me." Some sickness, some illness, only God can heal. You take the sickness of guilt, you can go to all of the physicians of this world, but

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When you are laden with guilt, they can't heal you. Only God can do that. Only God can really give you the experience of his forgiveness and lift you and release you and relieve you and heal you.

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Only God can do that. A sickness of malice. You can't go to some place, some marketplace in this world, or some physician of this world, and he's

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going to rid your life of malice, envy. And yet some people are eaten up with it. And they cannot be at peace with themselves, jealousy. can't see anyone else have more than they have without being vexed to death almost.

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And only God can heal that. Only God can somehow come in and change that spirit and give healing. Only God can do that. Hate toward other people.

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Some people hate themselves as well as others. And the real problem that they have with other people is that they hate themselves. And so the hate that they send out to others

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is the kind of hate that just generates toward themselves and naturally it is expressed in their relationship with everything they touch. And there's nothing, no self,

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can change that, that the world gives. Only God can change it. And this constant rebellion against goodness, the rebellion against the eternal goodness,

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only God can change that sickness. So, the psalmist cries out, oh Lord, heal me. Turn your countenance to me once more

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in life giving mercy. Heal me. Heal me. Dorothy Hiatu is the president of the National Federation

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of Negro Women's Clubs. Tells a story about an experience in her life involving Eleanor Roosevelt, whose birthday we celebrated-- 100th birthday we celebrated this past week.

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Dorothy Hyatt says that she was involved in a serious auto accident in Washington, D.C. And back in that period she was carried to Freedman Hospital and she was in a segregated ward.

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Black people were put in a certain section, humiliated. It's enough to be sick, but you were even further humiliated by the way you were treated when you were sick. And she was in this ward along with others.

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And she said that Mrs. Roosevelt came to that hospital and brought flowers and visited the on the black ward and she says for her that was healing for the first lady. It was called the first lady of the world to have such concern that she would come to the hospital and visit with her and others, she said just her presence there was healing.

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And that's what the psalmist is saying, "Lord, you come. Your countenance is healing mercy for me. That your presence with me in this sick room and in dealing with my condition, that is healing.

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That's healing." It's a healing experience. And as you read that psalm, he says, "Now, even though I'm having a hard time, and I'm down as far as I can possibly go, but I know that you have the power.

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Even though I'm shedding so many tears that I'm drowning in my tears, it may seem, from a human standpoint, he said, "But you can make my bed to swim." You know you're on a bed of affliction with God. When God comes into our lives, when God's countenances is upon us, and when God smiles

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upon us that he is able to make my bed to swim. To swim. To swim. To swim. To swim. Now, all my life, you know, I've had a problem with swimming and just this year, after getting And as old as I am, I've decided to try to learn to swim. And the waters, I'd always thought of as being means of destruction.

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But somehow when you relax, one of the first things the instructor said to me is, "You relax," and the waters would carry you. And so you relax in the arm of God, no matter what may be the condition or circumstance, matter how sharp may be the pain to somehow relax in the arm of God and cry out, "Lord,

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heal me." And that's enough. That's enough. That's enough. The psalmist says after that he said the Lord has heard my supplication. In other words he will accept my prayer. It is this faith that enables us to sing in the rain because rain's gonna come. It's gonna come. Oh we may feel all right we have good health

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20/20 vision one point in our lives but as you keep on living the rain's come. rain of sickness comes it comes to everybody if you keep living it comes and here is a prayer that is to be sung in the temple service with eight strings that's what it says in the caption eight strings in ancient Israel

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hymns praising God for his presence on earth and his union with all things earthly played on a harp of seven strings. But then there were songs that had to do with the Messiah, with deliverance, with hope, with redemption.

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Those were to be played on a harp with eight strings. this one here is to be played on a harp with eight strings. I'm talking about when you are sick, when you're low as you can possibly get and you have all of the pain and your enemies are standing around your bed and wishing you were dead, that here is a song that you

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play on a harp of eight strings. Thanks be to God. What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. We extend now the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The crowd, "Oh Lord heal me," and he comes as the great physician to heal us of all

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of our ailments. Give us that wholeness and that harmony in our lives that only the Savior of the world can give. We invite you to come now as we extend the invitation to accept Him as your personal Savior. God of grail, we have a dearly sought. All our sins and griefs are left.

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♪ God, I pray for this to happen ♪ ♪ Yet I'm willing to die for it ♪ ♪ Oh, but please, behold us ♪ ♪ Amen ♪

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♪ God forgive and praise Him then ♪ ♪ All these laws to you have given ♪ ♪ Then we'll meet again ♪ ♪ Oh, we'll meet again ♪

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♪ Oh, and we'll know again ♪ ♪ Through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air ♪

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♪ Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ [ Music ]

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