Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2535
“Isaid, LORRD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against You.” Psalm 41:4.
THIS was one of David’s sayings—“I said.” It was a saying that was worth saying and it is worth re-saying—“I said, Lord, be merciful unto me.” How often he said it, we do not know. The more often, the better. There is no day too bright for saying it and there is no night too dark for saying it. “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me.” Every one of David’s sayings was not worth repeating, for he said some things that he had to retract. “I said in my haste,” he said, on one occasion and, possibly, what he said in his haste he repented of at his leisure. But this saying in our text needs no retracting! It only needs repeating and, until we enter Heaven, we may keep on saying it—“I said, Lord, be merciful unto me.” I have never heard of Christ rebuking anybody for speaking thus. He who said, “God, I thank You that I am not as other men are,” received no commendation from the Lord Jesus Christ. But he who said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” went down to his house justified rather than the other! This is a good saying, a true saying, a humble saying and a gracious saying. And I say again, the more often it is repeated, the better. “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me.”
Observe that this is a saying to the Lord—“I said, LORD, be merciful unto me.” You hear people say, when they are talking and gossiping, “I said to her and she said to me,” or, “He said to me and I said to him”—so-and-so and so-and-so. Well, what does it matter what you said or what they said? Very likely it is not worth repeating, nor the answer that was made to it! Much of what is said may be summed up in the Dunottar Castle motto—
“They Say. What Do They Say? Let Them Say.”
It all comes to nothing! It is only breath vainly spent, which would be far more wisely expended if it were, as the poet Cowper said—
” To Heaven in supplication sent”
How much better it would be if each one of the parties concerned said, “Lord, be merciful unto me!” If we would speak twice to God and only once to men, or if we even reached so happy a proportion as at least to say as much to God as we say to our fellow men, how much healthier, happier, stronger, more heavenly and more holy would we become! You need not try to remember all that you have said to your fellow men—probably much of that is best forgotten—but it is good to remember what you have said to your God, if it is anything like this saying of the sweet Psalmist of Israel, “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me.”
Let this be one of our sayings as well as David’s. As he said, “Lord, be merciful unto me,” I am sure I ought to say it, and I think, dear Friends, you ought to say it, too. If there is anybody here who thinks that he has grown so good that he does not need to pray, “Lord, be merciful unto me,” I am very thankful, for once, that I am not as that man is, for he must be eaten up with pride! He cannot be right in his heart who will not pray for mercy and, surely, he has received no mercy who does not feel his need of more mercy. God can scarcely have begun to work in that man who thinks that he needs no longer make confession of sin, or seek mercy from God. David tells us, “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me,” and I advise you to make this one of your sayings, also. People sometimes say, “It is an old saying,” and that is supposed to be its commendation. Well, this, also, is an old saying. A young man says, “My father used to say so-and-so,” and I have no doubt that, if you had a godly father, he used to say much that was worth remembering and worth repeating—and you cannot do better than use your father’s words, especially if they were like David’s on this occasion. Let it be reported of you in your biography, if it is ever written, “This was one of his sayings. He often said, ‘Lord, be merciful unto me.’”
Notice, also, that this was the saying of a sick man and of a sick saint. “I said, Lord, Be merciful unto me.” It is not written, “I said, Lord, You are unmerciful to me in chastening me; you deal too severely with me in placing me upon this sickbed and causing me to lie here till the bed grows hard as a rock beneath me.” No, there is no complaining, here, though there is petitioning! There is no murmuring, though there is supplication. “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me.” When you get well, again, after an illness, it will be a great comfort if you can look back and feel, “I did not complain, but the chief cry from my sickbed was, ‘Lord, be merciful unto me.’”
I have thus briefly introduced to you one of the sayings of a sick saint—a sick king—and that king was David, the man after God’s own heart. And I believe that this saying of his was after God’s own heart and that this prayer was pleasing in the ears of the Most High. “I said, Lord, be merciful unto me.” So now I will try to show you that our text contains, first, a prayer—“Lord, be merciful unto me.” Next, a confession—“I have sinned against You.” And then, thirdly, a plea, and a very singular plea it is—“I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against