My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.
As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.
Let’s read the next three verses of this revealing psalm.
Psalm 69:6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.
Psalm 69:7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
Psalm 69:8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.
David was the king, an outspoken adherent of the God of Israel, many times expressing his faith, leading the nation as an example. From his early days of slaying Goliath, and the many battles he successfully waged for Saul, throughout his own reign, he constantly exhibited a living faith in the LORD God of hosts. During the good and the bad, David stood with God.
His faith in God was drawing others into a living faith within the kingdom. During the most difficult days of his reign, his actions, though confusing at times, resulted in exhibiting an understanding of God that was almost New Testamental.
Consider when he lost his first child with Bathsheba. He finished mourning after the child passed. He knew of the resurrection, of the hope for life after the grave. The clean himself up upon the notice of the child’s death was shocking for the people around him, and yet so very instructive!
That was then. This is now. This period of David’s life had all the potential to completely decimate the faith of others in the kingdom. He was accepting of the responsibility that the faith he lived, was consequential to others.
This attitude showed a deep love for others, in the midst of a fiery trial. Remember, David was being crushed at this time, his very existence as a king, and possibly as a breathing person, was on the line, and he is concerned about others, and how his life, with disappointments and defeats, may cause others to lose hope.
He is concerned for others, for their hope to not be impacted by his suffering, and yet he speaks of reproach that he bore, for the sake of the Lord.
He is concerned for the sake of his brethren. He is concerned for the sake of the Lord. Can you feel the tension he is in? He has taken on the life of a disciple, seeking to serve God at his own expense, and yet in this costly life, a life that experiences a crushing of pride, a life that may experience temporal disappointments, he is concerned that as his brethren may see his difficulties, they would not be set back.
David speaks of one specific trial that cut deep. His estrangement from his mother’s sons. He is estranged, away from his kin, living the life of a foreigner in relation to his closest family ties.
But wait. Why does he mention his mother’s sons? Is he simply being poetic, saying the same thing in the next stanza? There is a possibility that something else may be going on.
Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Is David speaking of not belonging within the “proper” family of Jesse? It is coincidental that when Samuel called for the sons of Jesse to come before him, only the first seven sons were presented to him. What was David? Chopped liver? Yes he was out tending sheep, but did not Jesse have servant s for this task if needed?
No matter whether David was the result of one of his parents being unfaithful, or that he had simply been rejected by his brothers due to his call by God, the situation was very discouraging. The Word speaks of David becoming a stranger, an alien to the family. It was a process he was undergoing, and that with every rejection, every separation from his brothers, it provided fuel for the enemy to cause shame and reproach.
If David underwent all this internal conflict and strife, turmoil of his spirit, what can we say about the greater David? After all the Scriptures were written about Him.
Consider the first verse we looked at this morning in relation to the Lord Jesus. We sometimes look to Him and see an invincible, no-holds-barred type of Savior, One that could not disappoint.
Yet in the garden, might He have had this type of conflict within His soul? What massive turmoil went on in His soul in the garden? The next 24 hours would be His greatest test, His greatest opportunity to “drop the ball”, yet in the garden He, the Giver of Life, faced death. The very thing that was completely opposite of His nature was to consume Him, to overpower Him, to cause Him to be absolutely and completely alone.
I don’t know about you, and this is conjecture on my part admittedly, but I think He must have ventured into the very same doubt and worry that David expressed above, the fear that
… those who hoped in God not be put to shame through Jesus.
He saw the death, the shame, the mocking and the cruel treatment, the temptations of failing His mission. (I am convinced Jesus could not have failed, yet the fears of potential failure must have been massive, ripping at His heart, soul and mind!) The spiritual warfare must have been gut wrenching!
On the other side of the grave, after potential failure became resounding success, we can be thankful that the Scriptures provide this promise for us.
Romans 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
My friends – Consider the One who suffered in the Garden. Take a moment and consider the warfare He experienced, though we truly cannot.
And during that warfare, His disciple slept. And He loved them to the end. For that is the type of Savior we have!
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