Psalm 6:9 NKJV
The Lord has heard my supplication;
The Lord will receive my prayer.
Finding Assurance
MY NOTES
There’s a beautiful turning point in Psalm 6. David has been pouring out his heart—weary from groaning, soaking his bed with tears, feeling like his eyes were wasting away under the weight of grief. Then, almost without warning, the tone shifts:
“The Lord has heard my supplication; The Lord will receive my prayer.” —Psalm 6:9 (NKJV)
It’s like the clouds part, and a shaft of light breaks through. Suddenly David isn’t just hoping God might listen. He’s settled. Confident. The Holy Spirit has settled the matter in his heart: God heard me.
Maybe you’ve known that moment. You’re on your knees (or face-down on the couch) after a long stretch of heavy praying, and something inside settles. It’s not always fireworks or a booming voice. Sometimes it’s just a quiet knowing that the prayer has been received. Martin Luther once wrestled so hard in prayer that he came out of his closet jumping and shouting, “Vicimus! Vicimus!”—“We have conquered! We have prevailed!” David is feeling that same victory here.
Notice the way he reasons: “The Lord has heard… the Lord will receive.” Past experience becomes fuel for future confidence. He’s not guessing anymore. Because God listened once, David knows He will keep listening. That settles the fear. The anxiety loosens its grip. The future no longer looks like a dark tunnel with no exit.
The word David uses for “supplication” carries the idea of petitions for grace and mercy—the kind of praying we do when we know we have nothing to bargain with. Just need. Just dependence. And the phrase “receive my prayer” paints the picture of God taking that prayer as something pleasant, like incense rising, made acceptable through the mediation of Christ.
Here’s the thing that strikes me: the sharpest, most honest prayers often come in the school of adversity. When life is smooth, our prayers can get a little vague—like arrows shot from a slack bow. But when trouble presses in, the string is drawn tight, and the arrow flies straight at the mark. David’s prayer was personal (“my supplication”), urgent (“the voice of my weeping”), and persistent (night after night). Even Jesus learned the depth of this kind of praying in the days of His flesh (Hebrews 5:7).
So if you’re in a hard season right now, don’t despise it. One of the greatest gifts affliction can give is that it teaches us to pray like we mean it. And the same God who heard David is still in the business of hearing. He may not always give the exact answer we picture, but He never ignores a heart that comes honestly. Sometimes the “no” or the “wait” turns out richer than the “yes” we were begging for—just ask Paul about that thorn in the flesh.
Prayer
Abba, thank You that You are the God who hears. Thank You for those moments when Your Spirit settles a quiet confidence in our hearts that the prayer has been received. Teach us to pray with the honesty that trouble often produces. Help us remember past answers so we can trust You for the ones still coming. When the response looks different than we expected, give us grace to believe that You are still kind and still working for our good. We bring our current burdens to You now—receive them, Father, and give us peace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Key Takeaways
- God sometimes settles an unshakable confidence in our hearts that our prayer has been heard—this is a real work of the Spirit, not wishful thinking.
- Past answers become strong encouragement for future trust: “He has… He will.”
- Trouble often produces the most focused, honest praying of our lives.
- Even when the answer doesn’t look the way we expected, the prayer is still received.
Cross References (NKJV)
2 Corinthians 12:8-9
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Hebrews 5:7
who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.
Luke 18:1
Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.
Psalm 66:19-20
But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer, Nor His mercy from me!
1 John 5:14-15
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Proverb for Today
Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge; For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; Let them all be fixed upon your lips, So that your trust may be in the Lord; I have instructed you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge, That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, That you may answer words of truth To those who send to you? Proverbs 22:17-21 NKJV
Daily Scripture
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:8-9 NKJV
Closing
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV
Grace be with you. Amen.
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Summary of Commentaries:
In the commentaries below, David suddenly knows his prayer has been heard. The Spirit settles a quiet confidence that can’t be shaken—even when others might call it bold. Past answers become the ground for future trust: “He has heard… He will receive.” That assurance turns despair into calm. Trouble often produces the strongest praying—personal, urgent, persistent. Affliction becomes a school where God teaches His children to pray, and the answer, even if different from what we asked, is still good.
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“The Lord hath heard my supplication.” The Holy Spirit had wrought into the Psalmist’s mind the confidence that his prayer was heard. This is frequently the privilege of the saints. Praying the prayer of faith, they are often infallibly assured that they have prevailed with God. We read of Luther that, having on one occasion wrestled hard with God in prayer, he came leaping out of his closet crying, “Vicimus, vicimus;” that is, We have conquered, we have prevailed with God.” Assured confidence is no idle dream, for when the Holy Ghost bestows it upon us, we know its reality, and could not doubt it, even though all men should deride our boldness. “The Lord will receive my prayer.” Here is past experience used for future encouragement. He hath, he will. Note this, O believer, and imitate its reasoning.
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Albert Barnes
The Lord hath heard my supplication — Repeating the sentiment in the previous verse, to express his assurance and his joy. Nothing is more natural in such circumstances than to dwell on the joyous thought, and to repeat it to ourselves, that it may make its full impression.
The Lord will receive my prayer — As he has done it, so he will still do it. This allays all fears of the future, and makes the mind calm. The state of mind here is this: “The Lord has heard my prayer; I am assured that he will do it hereafter; I have, therefore, nothing to fear.”
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John Gill
The Lord hath heard my supplication,…. Which he had presented to him, Psalm 6:1; in which he deprecates his anger and hot displeasure; entreats his free favor, grace, and mercy; desires healing for soul or body, or both; prays a return of his gracious presence; and deliverance and salvation out of all his troubles, from all his enemies, and from death itself. The word used properly signifies petitions for grace and mercy, which the psalmist put up under the influence of the spirit of grace and supplication, and which were heard;
the Lord will receive my prayer; instead of a burnt offering, as Aben Ezra glosses it; as sweet incense, as what is grateful and delightful, coming up out of the hands of Christ the Mediator, perfumed with the sweet incense of his mediation: the word signifies prayer made to God as the righteous Judge, as the God of his righteousness, who would vindicate his cause and right his wrongs; and a believer, through the blood and righteousness of Christ, can go to God as a righteous God, and plead with him even for pardon and cleansing, who is just and faithful to grant both unto him. The psalmist three times expresses his confidence of his prayers being heard and received, which may be either in reference to his having prayed so many times for help, as the Apostle Paul did, 2 Corinthians 12:8; and as Christ his antitype did, Matthew 26:39; or to express the certainty of it, the strength of his faith in it, and the exuberance of his joy on account of it.
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Matthew Henry
He infers the like favorable audience of all his other prayers: “He has heard the voice of my supplication, and therefore he will receive my prayer; for he gives, and does not upbraid with former grants.”
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The Pulpit Commentaries
The school of adversity.
“The Lord hath heard,” etc. This outburst of triumphant gratitude is like a sunbeam out of a dark, stormy sky. A wail of profound sadness echoes through the earlier portion of the psalm. In his deep affliction the psalmist seems to lose sight of the light beyond; he sees but the dark silence of the grave (Psalms 6:5). Suddenly the clouds part; faith revives; the conviction that God is the Hearer of prayer fills his soul with joy, and with the certain hope that God will answer.
But even prayerful Christians have to own that there is no prayer like that we offer in trouble. In prosperity prayer is apt to be vague, like an arrow shot skyward from a slack string. Prayer in trouble is like an arrow shot from a full-bent bow—straight at the mark. David’s prayer was intensely personal, “my supplication;” urgent, “the voice of my weeping;” persistent, “all the night” (Psalms 6:6); seizing hold on God’s mercy as its plea (Psalms 6:4). Even our blessed Lord learned this lesson (Hebrews 5:7).
Therefore, ONE PRINCIPAL BLESSING OF AFFLICTION AND STRONG CONSOLATION under it is this—that thus our Father is teaching his child to pray. Our Lord teaches this lesson (Luke 11:5, etc.; Luke 18:1, etc.). Never lose hold of this truth in darkest trouble, for without this it will be dark indeed—meaningless, hopeless, comfortless. The Lord has heard your prayer in the way of taking note of it—knows more about it than you do yourself. Therefore he will hear in the way of sending an answer: if not the exact answer you wish and expect, then something better. So St. Paul’s thrice earnestly repeated prayer was answered with a refusal richer in grace and love than if his petition had been granted (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
Observe: If we lived nearer to God, more in the spirit and habit of prayer, in peaceful, prosperous days, we might perhaps the less need to be taught in this sharp school.
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