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.
Psalm 69:13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
Psalm 69:14 Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
Psalm 69:15 Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.
The psalmist turns to prayer for deliverance. After describing the pit of trials he is experiencing, he draws his attention to the only One who can provide deliverance.
After describing men in the earlier passage as those who disapprove of him, as those who throw reproach and shame upon him, David now looks to the One who rightly may show disapproval. Yet David knows the God he serves. He emphasizes the impossible when he writes of God and His
..abundance of His steadfast love
Recall that for God to have steadfast love is to describe His faithfulness in the midst of rebellion. Steadfast love was often translated in older versions as mercy or even pity. The term used is חֶסֶד cheçed and is closely equivalent to our term grace in the New Testament. Also embedded in this term is the concept of commitment, of covenant keeping. I am sure when I mention that God is the ultimate keeper of covenant, my reader will heartily agree!
And yet David goes beyond simply speaking of the cheçed of God, but adds the superlative of abundance. He appeals to the abundance of mercy, faithfulness, love and commitment of God in this prayer. He is looking to the One who is NOT like the men he has just described, throwing reproach and shame on his life. No – God is different, and to that difference, David appeals!
David prays for deliverance. He has described those who are against him previously, and now uses pictures of mire, of the deep, of a flood and of the pit (grave) to emphasize his hopelessness.
Each of the pictures he uses are overwhelming situations that provide no hope of self rescue. Only an outsider could provide the deliverance required, and thankfully David knew His God as One who was fully committed to His cause, including his own life and kingdom.
How much more for the greater Son of David, and how this prayer may have contained the same spirit of desperation for Him as He prayed in the garden. God exercised an abundance of steadfast love to the Savior in delivering Him up from the grave, and shedding the salvation to the world.
Are you in a place where there is no self preservation, no way to find strength or rescue within yourself. Be it known that in this condition, you need to reach out to the One who is abundant in steadfast love.
His name is Jesus, and to follow Him is to know the love of God.
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