“Lord do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My Soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?” (Psalm 6:1-3 NIV).

I believe we can all relate to David’s anguish, as expressed in Psalms 6. We’ve all been there. The circumstances all pile on top of one another ot the point that we feel we are drowning in our problems with no end in sight. We fee faint. We feel such deep mental pain that we can feel it in our bones. Our very souls are in anguish, and all we can think about is, “How long, Lord? How long do I have to endure this?”

I was certainly in this state the day I received a call from my wife’s doctor asking me to come in to her office. I knew my wife had been under investigation for cancer, and I knew my wife would most probably be at the doctor’s office at that very moment. The call and invitation could only mean one thing: The tests had come back positive for cancer!

It was in reality a 20 minute drive to the doctor’s office, but to me it seemed like an eternity. Cancer is a killer! If my wife had cancer, I would most likely lose her! I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to lose my wife!

Somehow I made it to the office and somehow we both made it through the next few hours. We didn’t tell anyone. Not yet. Upon advice of her doctor, we decided to wait until she had seen her surgeon before letting everyone know, and so we had to try and put on a happy face to the rest of the family. Finally that horrible day was over and I tumbled into bed. I didn’t sleep, however. How can one sleep at such a time as that? My soul was most definitely in deep anguish and my bones were in agony. I felt faint. I felt rebuked, and all I could do was cry out, “God, make this go away!”

Psalms 6 concludes with these verses: “The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish; they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.” (Psalms 6:9-10 NIV)

I experienced this that night. At some point I must have fallen asleep because I distinctly remember waking up with the idea that could have only come from my Heavenly Father: I needed to pray for my wife and to trust that God would heal her. After all, He loves His children!

And that is what I resolved to do.

That was 8.5 years ago, and I am happy to say my wife is still with me, and she is healthy and happy. When it seemed like the world had crashed in around me, God came to my rescue. He gave me the assurance and peace of heart I needed when I didn’t feel like I could go on any longer. And not only that, but in the end, He healed my wife of her cancer.

Are you up to your neck in problems? Does there seem like there’s no way out? Are you tired of carrying it all on your own? Follow Davids example. Cry out to our Heavenly Father. He will come through for you with peace and comfort!

Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “The Sling for God” devotional series, please click here.)