Considering the Bible

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 a single solitary verse of this revealing psalm.

Psalm 69:29 But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

In our previous passage, we attempted to understand some very difficult portions of this psalm. Condemnation of the enemy, blotting out those men from the book of life, adding punishment upon punishment upon his enemies.

Tough stuff to read, and even tougher to understand. In the midst of those prayers, I still am not convinced of the motivation of the saint writing such difficult verses. Was it that the psalmist wished such harsh judgement to fall on the enemy, or that he expected such harsh judgement to fall on the enemy.

There is a difference! But I will leave that to my reader friend.

Let us consider the psalmist as he turns a corner in his mind, as he speaks clearly of his condition, and of his response to God in the midst of his own condition.

Afflicted

For us modern believers, to be afflicted usually has the meaning of a persecution, of a trial to be endured, or of a persistent suffering. For the Hebrew saint, to be afflicted focuses on poverty, a depression of mind or circumstances, humility and weakness. A state of being that exemplified a lowly state, a state of being needy.

David was at his lowest in this psalm, and yet the surrounding of his enemies may not be the reason he is lamenting this affliction he speaks of. At this point in the psalm, he may have caught sight of his own spiritual poverty. More on this in our next definition.

Personally, I will admit that whenever I venture off into judgy-judge land, where my opinion is the law, and I freely condemn anyone who thinks or does otherwise, I eventually wake up from my stupor to realize how impotent and weak I am, how I have only reflected my own weakness onto others and then judged them to feel better about myself.

It was years ago, I was reading a small book on judgement, and a phrase out of that book has worked itself into my mind. The saint can do two things. Judge others (by that I mean condemn others) or Love others. What the Psalmist went through in the previous verses may have exposed his poverty, weakness and need to himself, and because of this, brought about this realization of his own heart.

As I said above, the previous passage is tough, and my understanding of the psalmist surely needs guidance.

In Pain

Previously, I mentioned that after all the judging the psalmist may have entered into – that is, if the Psalm reflects his wishes as opposed to his expectations – he may have “woke up” and realized he is, at his core, one and the same as those he judged. In this very verse, he may be in the middle of catching sight of his own spiritual poverty (affliction) and pain.

For the Hebrew reader, this word “pain” brought to mind physical and/or mental pain, and is associated with sorrow and grieving. Again, this may be a stretch for some, but I think he may be speaking of his own condition before God, a confession of his own heart.

How deep is the darkness, that when we lash out, we find that after, if we are honest, we must recognize that which we condemned, is that which we take part in, that which we might even love. It is these times when the honest saint will break, when tears are welcomed, when the pain is experienced, and we freely admit to a Holy and Righteous God that we are not worthy to be His subjects, nor could be. It is those times when the darkness of our own desires and experience is revealed, it is at those times that the light of the gospel is utterly, painfully blinding!

He is the Lord who provides light in darkness.

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

For that, we should be ever so thankful. When light shines out of darkness, it is inevitable that hidden things will be revealed. When hidden things are revealed, this will cause, for the honest saint, a self realization of utter poverty, combined with a deep sorrow towards the Lord.

If you are experiencing some self reflection that is difficult to handle, look to the source of light, not your own heart. He is the light. He is our salvation. He will lift us up, though we are lowly, poor and destitute. And when light shines in darkness, affliction and pain can be experienced. It is this repentance we need to agree to in order to maintain and grow in our life in Christ.

May His name be lifted up, and not ours!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

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 69:22 Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
Psalm 69:23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.
Psalm 69:24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
Psalm 69:25 May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.
Psalm 69:26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
Psalm 69:27 Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.
Psalm 69:28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

Difficult. This passage is simply very difficult to understand. How can we understand this passage that appears to be praying for vengeance, pain, judgement and suffering on those who are the psalmist’s foes. This passage just seems to be so human, so judgmental, so full of seeking God to punish others.

Let’s consider verse 26 first, try to understand the reason for this prayer, and then return to this general understanding of the passage as a whole

Psalm 69:26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

A long time ago, a Bible teacher I listened to would always remind me to ask the question, “What is the “therefore” there for in a passage? A similar question can be applied for verse 26. What is the “for” there for?

When a sentence starts with “for”, it indicates purpose or reason for the statement to follow. We could replace “for” with “because’, or “since” or “seeing”. The psalmist is giving us the reason for his complaint, for the seeming vicious judgement he wishes would pour down on his adversaries.

Ok, grammar lesson over, and let’s consider why the psalmist is praying for judgement to be unleashed on others.

Two reasons

1. They persecute him whom you have struck down

The first reason for this judgement to be sought after was that the enemies persecuted the author who was already at a low point, one who was under difficult times.

Per Strong’s concordance, this term of persecution may principally communicate a chasing after the victim, hunting the victim down, pursuing him and causing him no rest. The enemy is chasing the psalmist, even while he is at his weakest point, with God having struck him down.

Let’s be clear here. Two actions are being described here.

God has “struck” this saint down. The term speaks of being smitten, beaten, scourged, destroyed punished, even killed. This is no slight inconvenience on the psalmist!

On top of this, the enemy, seeing advantage in the psalmist’s weakened condition, continues chasing him, persecuting, harassing him.

No relief! Constant pressure!

2. They recount the pain of those you have wounded

Beyond this physical suffering of the saint, the second reason for our psalmist to seek judgement on his foes is that they speak of his pain, of the action of God on his life, on those who are under the hand of God.

After understanding our first reason, the persecution of man and smiting of God, this recounting of suffering seems to be somewhat insignificant. It is simply the telling of a condition the saint is under.

But consider. Being under the hand of God, and having everyone know about it due to someone speaking of it, only doubles the pain. There have been times where I have been the topic of gossip, the recounting of a “truth” that was not very positive about my life. The sting, the embarrassment, the hanging of my head, only helps me to identify with this reason for vengeance. In my heart and head, I have to admit I sought damage on those spreading “truth” about me, about God’s displeasure of me.

Consider this condition in a shame based culture like the Old Testament saint lived in. Multiply the sense of dread and embarrassment many fold, and then the effect may approach the truth of this saint’s condition.

Ok, so we have considered why the psalmist is praying this prayer regarding his enemies, and throughout this short study, I have implied that the psalmist wishes (or prays for) judgement to fall on those who persecute him and speak of his troubles. This may very well be true.

Yet a possible approach to this difficult portion of Scripture may be that the psalmist is recounting what he expects to happen as the just recompence of the outworking of the law on his enemies.

Let me explain.

Yes it appears the psalmist has evil intent, that his heart is full of hatred on his enemies, and this may be the correct interpretation. There are many times in the Word where we see the sinful side of man being exposed, recorded for our learning (and warning).

But I do pause on this way of approaching this passage, only due to the way the apostles considered verse 25.

Psalm 69:25 May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents.

Luke writes of Peter reaching back into this psalm in referring to Judas end condition.

Acts 1:20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and “‘Let another take his office.’

Therefore, let’s recount the end of Judas.

Judas, by all accounts, took his own life, shortened his life, and caused his “camp” to be desolate. He left this world with no descendants, and the prayer of the psalmist found fulfillment in a disciple of Jesus.

This action of Judas was self inflicted, for the last thing Jesus did towards Judas was call him “friend”.

Matthew 26:50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

Might the psalmist be speaking of the decisions and lifestyle of the enemy causing the judgement of God to be passively worked out in their lives?

Maybe. Maybe not. Simply a thought experiment for my reader to consider.

Yet this passage does speak of the judgement rightly deserved on those who persecute the Righteous One, the One who was smitten and struck down, wounded for our sakes. Verse 26 speaks of One who suffered, of One who was weakened and gossiped about, Who was taken advantage of, persecuted, smitten and scourged. He suffered, accepting this suffering, taking the pain, the shame and the judgement. He was placed in a tomb, by Himself, under the social stain of the “truth” of his legal conviction by the state.

Judgement should rightly fall on those whose heart and mind would have joined those who condemned Him. Judgement should rightly fall on me.

But He is a Savior like no other, and His substitution on my behalf is a fact I cannot get over, nor wish to. May His name and not mine, be honored today.

His name is Jesus, and He is beyond all explanation and understanding.

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

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 69:19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
Psalm 69:20 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
Psalm 69:21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

It has been said that this passage is amongst the deepest pleas for mercy in the Old Testament. David is hitting rock bottom, and expressing a complete helplessness and hopelessness, a condition that repeats the first few verses but has the sense of a deeper exposing of the grief and despair of the subject.

Reproach

Reproach is a common refrain in this psalm.

Psalm 69:7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
Psalm 69:10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
Psalm 69:19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
Psalm 69:20 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.

The Hebrew term is חֶרְפָּה cherpâh and includes the concepts of disgrace, rebuke and shame.

Shame

This is the only occurrence of shame in this psalm, and the Hebrew term is בֹּשֶׁת bôsheth. This term includes the concepts of confusion and shame, and is associated sometimes with idols, the object of shame for an Israelite. Shame, for the modern world is such that it is ignored, an emotion that is considered to be rejected as opposed to accepted and trained from. How often has our modern society taken a topic that is shameful, even just decades ago, and turned the topic into a discussion of those brave to enter into a shameful life decision. This rejection of the painful emotion of shame is not to anyone’s benefit. We, as a modern society have lost much honor by rejecting shame in our society.

The Hebrew culture was a shame based culture, and to be inflicted with shame was to enter into a condition that may effectively remove you from the social order, from business associations, from family and loved ones, who sought to uphold the social fabric of their community.

Shame, when accepted due to sinful activities performed by the subject, should produce repentance and possibly allow for reentrance in to the social order. At the very least, right living after repentance would be the fruit of accepting and responding to shame in a godly way.

On the other hand, shame laid on a person due to libel, gossip, slander defamation and lies is not something that can be responded to by the victim. Repentance is not necessary, or even available as a tool to repair the damage. The lies and vilification of the enemy stick to the victims character, and even in the best situations, some of the slander will never be removed from the social conscience.

Dishonor

Our third term is the Hebrew word כְּלִמָּה kᵉlimmâh, and it is mentioned twice within our Psalm.

Psalm 69:7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
Psalm 69:19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.

This term includes the concepts of insult, reproach, shame, confusion and ignominy.

As you have read through this short study, I am sure you have recognized the three terms we have looked at all describe the basic concept of shame.

David was experiencing a depth of shame in his condition that bared repeating in three different shades of meaning. For a king of Israel, the man after God’s own heart, to experience shame within the culture should speak volumes to the modern believer. It is not always the way of the Christ to walk in apparent honor within the social order, though we are not to bring the shame upon ourselves or family, or the church by willful sin and rebellion. Yet our enemy may fling accusations and slander to create the illusion of dishonor on our lives. Let us remember the counsel of Peter in regards to suffering, even of undeserved shame.

1 Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,

1 Peter 3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

Of course, we are to look to the Master in all areas of our life, and as David poured out his heart, helpless in his circumstance, we too may also cry out to the One who hears, and can restore in His time. For of all those who have walked this earth, He alone has suffered the greatest undeserved shame.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com

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 69:16 Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Psalm 69:17 Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
Psalm 69:18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!

David has bared his soul, revealed his troubles, the threat on his life and kingdom and admitted to his inability to find strength in himself. He has spoken of his humbling in front of his enemies, and the apparent success they bore over him. How it looked for all watching that he had trusted in error. His faith had been directed towards a God who was not able to answer.

How terrible for a saint to go through the appearance of One you have boasted of, and yet experience the appearance of His failing to save. The sting of disappointment cuts to the core, along with the raising of questions in the mind, the self doubt in the heart and the “lostness” the saint may experience.

David has but one thing to say to His Master.

Answer me. The boldness of this saint to demand an answer is beyond my experience. Yes, I have been through difficult times, but I fall into the “Why”, category of prayers. In reflection, this response to difficulty be asking “Why, why why” is the sign of a self indulgent prayer, concerned with my life as opposed to the honor of God!

David needs answers, and he is speaking to God from the most inner core of his being, demanding a response, knowing even in this apparent failure, that God is steadfast in His love, and that He is good. This is foundational for David, an unshakeable truth that he depends on and reminds God of, as he struggles through this prayer.

He hinted in his appeal to God’s nature in a previous verse.

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.

By the time we are three verses later, David has dropped the acceptable time option and is simply appealing to the Lord’s steadfast love and mercy.

He repeats similar demands throughout this small portion of the Psalm

Answer me

We have spent a moment on this demand, yet a moment more. To speak “answer me” is to demand an accounting from One of their inactivity, to direct One to pay attention to the state of the situation, and is to imply that the One spoken to has lost focus, is distracted, and possibly has lost interest.

David is so bold before God, yet his appeal is to the Lord of all creation, and not some vengeful, arrogant, sensitive, insecure cultural deity. He knows to whom he is speaking!

Hide not your face

For God to hide His face is a study that needs to be addressed at a later time, in a separate post or series of posts, for my readings have provided amazing implications.

For the purposes of this posting, and as a generality, God would hide His face due to His people forgetting Him. It was a way of expressing the discipline of God on His people, especially in times of prosperity for the people of God.

But let us consider the modern day believer. For the saint in the New Testament, God has provided the promise of never hiding His face.

Ezekiel 39:29 And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”

Yet we know that the believer is sometimes disciplined by God.

Hebrews 12:5-6 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

He has promised to not hide His face, and yet we turn from Him.

We turn from Him. His face is towards us in the Savior Jesus, and yet we turn from Him.

Draw near to my soul (Redeem me)

David, after all his confessions, his admission of weakness, his declaration of the trials he is going through, the injustice that he recognizes, in all of this whirlwind of distractions and tribulations, he calls on God to draw near to him.

What?

Are we not to draw near to God? Are we not the ones who are to initiate the process of closeness to God, of repentance and confession? Yes James makes that abundantly clear.

James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

David has spent the previous verses drawing near to God through confession of his sin and inability to solve his trials. He has admitted he is not in control, and that he has no other hope than in God.

Now, he is only expecting that which a millennium later James so succinctly put together for us.

But get this – David speaks in the imperative. For those like myself that aren’t grammar nerds, that speaks of a command, even an order. David may be telling God …

I am broken before you. I am helpless. But You are of a constant and steadfast love. It is who You are O Lord! Now your faithful response O God, is to draw near to me, to my very soul.

David knew his Master. He knew his God and His nature in that He is abundant in mercy, steadfast in love, that his God is a saving God, and that His love is good.

Yes – He is good!

May those who know the Lord confess always and only that He is good!

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Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com