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.

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 69:11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
Psalm 69:12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

Ok who wrote this? I say that sarcastically, for I know King David wrote it, but gosh golly, all I can see in this passage is the New Testament witness of Jesus.

Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me

For David, this phrase described his desire to be close to the tabernacle, to be passionate to see God’s tabernacle become the Temple. It was a distraction of the highest magnitude, a desire that left all other goals in life to be secondary.

Remember my friend, this is the king of Israel, a world power at the time, and David was not consumed with status, power, wealth or image. He was focused on the source of all goodness and righteousness.

Mark 11:15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
Mark 11:17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

John 2:16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
John 2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

For Jesus, this zeal was intensified in His life, but not for some physical representation of God’s temple. (I mean no disrespect to King David in this instance.) Jesus was looking to the Temple of God being the people of God that God would reside in, for that has been the plan all along. A group of people who seek God, who allow God to reside in them (as a group) and exhibit the nature of God to those outside the group.

Jesus passion led Him to the cross. His zeal was all consuming, and for a time in the temple, Jesus passion exploded on the scene, for those in the temple were users of people, profiting off those who seek God, instead of living a life of self sacrifice for others. The very antipathy of God’s desire was being witnessed by the very Son of Man in the Temple of God. How utterly inviting for passion to erupt!

Psalm 69:9B

Psalm 69:9 …and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

For the king of Israel to suffer personal reproaches strikes me as odd, for many, if not all kings in the ancient days would not suffer insult or shame from any in their kingdom. Those who verbally attacked a kings person were usually punished, jailed, beaten or worse.

Yet for David, as he followed after God, realizing who God is and what God is like, willingly accepted the shame aimed at God as his own.

His passion, they may say, is extreme, just too much, he has his head in the clouds and is of no earthly good. Hatred – undeserved as mentioned in verse 4 – experienced by David from his enemies, provided for David additional instances where he would bear the burden of being a believer in the midst of unbelief.

Romans 15:3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

For Jesus, for Paul to say that He did not please Himself may be one of the greatest understatements written. Going without sleep to be alone with the Father, watching his followers disappoint Him and yet continue to invest time and effort into them, healing and preaching to the masses, knowing they will turn on Him, going for weeks without food, not having anyone but Satan know, performing a baptism ritual in identifying with sinful people, reserving judgement in order to save, turning the cheek for the sake of love.

My friend – He took the hatred and shame the world spewed onto a holy God, He took it Himself, and in the midst of all the injustice. the pain, the loneliness and ingratitude, He continued to love God with all His heart mind and soul, and every neighbor who has ever lived.

How can we truly grasp the width, depth and length of His grace and mercy towards us. It is almost as if the expanse of His grace to us is beyond belief, that is simply can’t be true, it is too good to be true.

But He rose from the grave, with hundreds seeing Him, and His church has marched on, grasping ever so slightly (at least for myself) the tremendous grace He has provided us.

May His name be praised.

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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.

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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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.

Let’s continue reading this beautiful psalm.

Psalm 69:4 More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?
Psalm 69:5 O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

“Without cause” is the Hebrew term חִנָּם chinnâm, and it can be translated as “devoid of cost”, “without reason”, “without advantage”, “for nothing”, or “to cost nothing”.

The hatred David’s enemies provide to him freely given to him due to nothing that he has done. That seems to be the message.

Now I understand that the Scriptures are God Breathed, and have a message for each of us, with the burden on us to seek to understand the message in it’s original intent, and to find application for us in our daily lives and circumstances.

Since we are in the psalms, and the author is David, I would suggest David is describing his feelings here, not an absolute truth.

Consider that if this trial was during the rebellion of Absalom, with David having been the King for close to 4 decades. As a military strategist and warrior, along with being an political animal, he surely had left a trail of reasons for some to hate him.

For instance, consider David’s counsellor Ahithophel. He turned on David during this time, joining with Absalom. Did he turn on David for no reason?

Not so sure, for if we read the Word, Ahithophel may have been the grandfather of Bathsheba. That is, if Eliam, Bathsheba’s father is the same Eliam described as Ahithophel’s son in 2 Samuel 23:34, we have a connection.

2 Samuel 11:3 …”Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

2 Samuel 23:34… Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

Now I realize I am not an Old Testament grandfather, but if someone murdered my grandbaby’s husband and committed adultery with my grandbaby, I tend to think I may have cause for some hatred! (Can you tell I got me some granddaughters? They will always be my grandbabys!)

So what is the reason for this rabbit trail Carl?

My point is that David may have felt guiltless in his circumstances, and the relative suffering he was undergoing may have been much exaggerated to what true justice may have deemed. For him to say “without cause” may have expressed his perception of his history, as opposed to living in reality. Now of course, there surely was much more going on that I do not understand, but David was suffering in this Psalm, suffering greater than I have experienced. It is with no judgement that I make this observation, but only for the sake of understanding David’s situation, his crushing heart ache, and the prayers he is crying out to God in.

David may have exaggerated his condition, for he may have given some cause for the hatred. Rightly or wrongly, David was suffering through a trial.

Yet he said “without cause”. Curious how that entered into the Word, for centuries later, the greater Son of David actually found his situation fit this statement.

John 15:25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

Not only did Jesus’ situation fit this statement of David, He taught us that the Scripture was not merely coincidental in that it fit Jesus’ situation, but that was intended to be fulfilled in Him. David, the prophet spoke of his Greater Son in his prayer, and Jesus fulfilled this statement absolutely, having not sinned against His Father nor any man.

He truly was hated without cause.

Let’s consider how John wrote the same expression in the Greek. “Without cause” is an English translation of the Greek term δωρεάν dōreán, and may also be translated as “freely”, “in vain”, “as a gift” or “for naught”.

Where might I have read of this very same concept or thought in the New Testament? Hmmmm. Oh I remember!

Romans 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

So, we see that the Christ received hatred freely, without cause and from many. This was the consummate exercise of injustice.

His death and resurrection provided believers justification freely, without cause and for many. This is the consummate exercise of grace, freely granted to each of us.

May we remember Him, His trials for us and His grace towards us. May His name be praised.

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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.

Let’s read the first three verses of this revealing psalm.

Psalm 69:1 To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David. Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
Psalm 69:2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
Psalm 69:3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

Some place this psalm at the end of David’s life, possibly during the rebellion of Absalom his son. He certainly expresses deep sorrow, and a feeling of complete abandonment. If it was during this time of conflict with his flesh and blood, the inner turmoil must have been horrific.

Imagine the call of God on your life in combination with the betrayal of your own son. Consider the treachery and the emotional storm to navigate through. Place yourself in David’s position – God has placed you on the throne, and yet your own blood is your greatest enemy and the one seeking to destroy your life’s work.

Where is God in all of this? How could God allow this to happen? Why have you abandoned me?

Of course, much of this pain may be related to the sin of the King with Bathsheba, and his murderous actions towards her husband. Nathan spoke of the pain David brought upon himself, and the guilt David carried only multiplied the bitter betrayal.

Those who have children that are reading this post – be thankful for children who are faithful, who love you and support you. But for those true believers who have children that have walked away from God, that pain is very real. A parent’s regrets and doubts are constantly splashed up on the mind. Sleepless nights, going over and over the mistake made, the unchangeable history of wrong actions.

Yet this is not the situation David was in. Absalom did not simply walk away from the faith of his father, but he became David’s enemy, his greatest threat, a betrayer of the most heinous type, holding the very heart of the king in his hands, squeezing the life out of it.

David confesses his helplessness by speaking of being in “mire”. Mire speaks of a substance that has no bearing capacity, that will not provide support. Not only does is not provide support, it engulfs the person, even as they sink. The situation becomes worse as time moves on, and with every struggle against the surroundings, the problem only increases. The mire increases it’s hold of the sufferer. There is no self help in this situation, for it is only a matter of time before the mire overwhelms the entire person. It may be considered that the faster the sinking the better, for death is inevitable unless outside help arrives.

But as David speaks of finding no support for his own safety, that he can find no foothold, nothing he can save himself by, he also has no response from God.

No response.

He is waiting on God, yet continues to sink ever deeper. Wailing out for the Lord, but silence. He speaks of his eyes growing dim, another way of him saying he sees no way out of him circumstances.

Let’s remember who wrote this psalm. The writer is he who was after God’s heart, the mighty king David, who vanquished many by the guidance and power of God. He had walked before God since he was a young man, even as a child, and had experienced continual deliverances. He was no neophyte, who at the least disappointment with God, began to whine. God had delivered him often but in the midst of this abandonment, the very faithfulness of God was being questioned.

If this psalm was written upon the occasion of Absalom’s rebellion, we know from other passages that God allowed David to suffer, leaving his throne, his city and his temple, realizing that he may never return. God allowed him to suffer, yet in the end, David returned to his city and his dynasty continued as promised by his God.

But we also know that this psalm describes the Messiah’s abandonment, and during His abandonment, the mercy of rescue was not provided, the pulling out of the mire was not supplied. He suffered a horrific whipping, a cruel mocking, public shame and the torture of crucifixion. No mercy. No rescue. No deliverance from death.

David reluctantly entered this ultimate trial. Jesus set his face as a flint to enter into this trial. David suffered but was rescued from death, a death at the hands of his child. Jesus suffered and was murdered by His own people.

David’s turmoil was beyond my comprehension, and yet Jesus’s was far greater, far deeper, far more painful and far more mysterious.

Even as His death was galloping toward Him, He cried out to God….

“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Such an abandonment that David feared and yet escaped, his greater Son suffered through, dying all alone, forsaken by God.

How can we understand that? How can we comprehend this mystery?

My brothers and sisters – there is no comprehension for our feeble minds, neither here on this globe or in eternity. We cannot understand the depths of God’s work, His wisdom, His mercy or grace.

We can only worship such a God.

If my gentle reader is experiencing a sense of abandonment, a sense of hopelessness, look to the One who truly passed through the ultimate loneliness. Consider His mental and spiritual torture of abandonment, His struggle and turmoil to the point of death. He entered into His death through abandonment. Today He promises us keep us from abandonment.

Hebrews 13:5 …for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

No abandonment, no forsaking, but we must look to Him, who is the only One who has been totally abandoned!

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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