“Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” -Psalm 6:4–5
With David’s painful, frustrated cry of “How long?” still hanging in the air, he moves to petition God, “Turn, O Lord, deliver my life.” He supports his petition that the Lord would turn (change his mind; lit, repent) and deliver him rather than destroy him with two arguments.
The first argument is an appeal to God’s ethos, his character: “save me for the sake of your steadfast love.” Steadfast love is one word in Hebrew (hesed) and refers to God’s goodness, his loyalty to the covenant.
The second argument is an appeal to reason (logos). Who will be alive to give testimony in the sanctuary to God’s deliverance (the manifestation of his loving-kindness) if David is dead?
If the Psalms are preserved for our instruction (Colossians 3:16), what does this passage teach us about prayer? Perhaps we are too timid in our own prayer life. And, perhaps, we are timid because we do not know God the way David knew God.