Reflections on Psalms 69

 Psalms 69(Contemporary English Version)

1. (By David for the music leader. To the tune "Lilies.") Save me, God! I am about to drown.
   
2. I am sinking deep in the mud, and my feet are slipping. I am about to be swept under by a mighty flood.
   
3. I am worn out from crying, and my throat is dry. I have waited for you till my eyes are blurred.
   
4. There are more people who hate me for no reason than there are hairs on my head. Many terrible enemies want to destroy me, God. Am I supposed to give back something I didn't steal?
   
5. You know my foolish sins. Not one is hidden from you.
   
6. LORD God All-Powerful, ruler of Israel, don't let me embarrass anyone who trusts and worships you.
   
7. It is for your sake alone that I am insulted and blush with shame.
   
8. I am like a stranger to my relatives and like a foreigner to my own family.
   
9. My love for your house burns in me like a fire, and when others insulted you, they insulted me as well.
   
10. I cried and went without food, but they still insulted me.
    
11. They sneered at me for wearing sackcloth to show my sorrow.
    
12. Rulers and judges gossip about me, and drunkards make up songs to mock me.
    
13. But I pray to you, LORD. So when the time is right, answer me and help me with your wonderful love.
    
14. Don't let me sink in the mud, but save me from my enemies and from the deep water.
    
15. Don't let me be swept away by a flood or drowned in the ocean or swallowed by death.
    
16. Answer me, LORD! You are kind and good. Pay attention to me! You are truly merciful.
    
17. Don't turn away from me. I am your servant, and I am in trouble. Please hurry and help!
    
18. Come and save me from my enemies.
    
19. You know how I am insulted, mocked, and disgraced; you know every one of my enemies.
    
20. I am crushed by insults, and I feel sick. I had hoped for mercy and pity, but there was none.
    
21. Enemies poisoned my food, and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar.
    
22. Make their table a trap for them and their friends.
    
23. Blind them with darkness and make them tremble.
    
24. Show them how angry you are! Be furious and catch them.
    
25. Destroy their camp and don't let anyone live in their tents.
    
26. They cause trouble for people you have already punished; their gossip hurts those you have wounded.
    
27. Make them guiltier than ever and don't forgive them.
    
28. Wipe their names from the book of the living; remove them from the list of the innocent.
    
29. I am mistreated and in pain. Protect me, God, and keep me safe!
    
30. I will praise the LORD God with a song and a thankful heart.
    
31. This will please the LORD better than offering an ox or a full-grown bull.
    
32. When those in need see this, they will be happy, and the LORD's worshipers will be encouraged.
    
33. The LORD will listen when the homeless cry out, and he will never forget his people in prison.
    
34. Heaven and earth will praise our God, and so will the oceans and everything in them.
    
35. God will rescue Jerusalem, and he will rebuild the towns of Judah. His people will live there on their own land,
    
36. and when the time comes, their children will inherit the land. Then everyone who loves God will also settle there.

---

David experienced shame and ridicule at the hands of enemies who hated him without cause. His only "sin" was that he had zeal for the Lord's house. David's suffering was a result of his enemies disdain for the Lord which had fallen on him. His experience, and the words of this psalm which describe it, have a prophetic nature to them in terms of Christ's suffering leading up to His Crucifixion. John 2:17 quotes from verse 9 of this psalm in reference to Christ's cleansing of the temple: "His disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for Your house will consume Me." In another prophetic reference to Christ, David said that though he waited for sympathy and comforters, all he received was, "gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." (69:21)

David knew he was not without sin and confessed that saying, "God, You know my foolishness, and my guilty acts are not hidden from You." (69:5) But it was not his foolishness or guilty acts that had brought on this persecution. Besides his zeal for the Lord's house, anything he did of a spiritual nature brought on the insults of his enemies: "I mourned and fasted, but it brought me insults. I wore sackcloth as my clothing, and I was a joke to them." (69:10-11) City officials and town drunkards alike "make up songs about me," sung in derision. (69:12)

David's prayer was this: "my prayer to You is for a time of favor. In Your abundant, faithful love, God, answer me with Your sure salvation. Rescue me from the miry mud; don't let me sink. Let me be rescued from those who hate me, and from the deep waters. Don't let the floodwaters sweep over me or the deep swallow me up; don't let the Pit close its mouth over me. Answer me, LORD, for Your faithful love is good; in keeping with Your great compassion, turn to me." (69:13-16) Though David felt he had cause to call upon God and to expect His help since it was because of his fervor for God that brought on his problems, his confidence in receiving God's help was based on God's "faithful love" and His "great compassion." In his prayer for his enemies, David asked that God "Add guilt to their guilt; do not let them share in Your righteousness. Let them be erased from the book of life and not be recorded with the righteous." (69:27-28) This prayer differs from Christ's prayer for His enemies in which he prayed "Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

Further appeals in the psalm for God's help spoke of the encouragement it would be to others who were in distress: "The humble will see it and rejoice. You who seek God, take heart!" (69:32) In response to God's help, David vowed to "praise God's name with song and exalt Him with thanksgiving." (69:30) He knew this would please the Lord "more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves." (69:31)