Slices
Prepare
Pray now for someone you know, or know of, who is responsible for the persecution and suffering of others (see Matthew 5:44).
Bible passage
For the director of music. To the tune of ‘Lilies’. Of David.
1 Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
3 I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without reason
outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are my enemies without cause,
those who seek to destroy me.
I am forced to restore
what I did not steal.
5 You, God, know my folly;
my guilt is not hidden from you.
6 Lord, the Lord Almighty,
may those who hope in you
not be disgraced because of me;
God of Israel,
may those who seek you
not be put to shame because of me.
7 For I endure scorn for your sake,
and shame covers my face.
8 I am a foreigner to my own family,
a stranger to my own mother’s children;
9 for zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10 When I weep and fast,
I must endure scorn;
11 when I put on sackcloth,
people make sport of me.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.
13 But I pray to you, Lord,
in the time of your favour;
in your great love, O God,
answer me with your sure salvation.
14 Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
18 Come near and rescue me;
deliver me because of my foes.
19 You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
all my enemies are before you.
20 Scorn has broken my heart
and has left me helpless;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I found none.
21 They put gall in my food
and gave me vinegar for my thirst.
22 May the table set before them become a snare;
may it become retribution and a trap.
23 May their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and their backs be bent for ever.
24 Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.
25 May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute those you wound
and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
27 Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.
28 May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.
29 But as for me, afflicted and in pain –
may your salvation, God, protect me.
30 I will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hooves.
32 The poor will see and be glad –
you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33 The Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
35 for God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it;
36 the children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.
Explore
There is nothing like the psalms. All emotional life is here. Psalm 69 is one in which a human soul exposes itself utterly. Apologies if you turned from rather heavy Jeremiah readings this Sunday hoping for a gentle, pastoral psalm. This is not one of those.
The roller-coaster ride which is Psalm 69 begins with the cry, ‘Save me’. Many bleak images paint a picture of someone at the very end of their hope and their resource. To make matters worse, there are enemies planning the writer’s death and – to some extent – it is the writer who is to blame (v 5). Staring up from these depths, it is astonishing that the psalmist is able, in verse 13, to write (or sing) of the ‘great love’ and the ‘sure salvation’ of the same Lord whom we Christians serve.
Weirdly, verses 22–28 then shift straight into a horrible, cursing mode. How on earth are we to reconcile this with the lovely final, celebratory section? Let’s be as clear as Jesus was: this outpouring of bitterness is not OK (Matthew 5:44). However, it is real, it is human, and, by the end of the psalm, it is dealt with. The grim sections of the Bible are never the end of the story.
Respond
Ask the Lord to expose the darkest places of our hearts so that we, too, might find the mercy proclaimed in verse 16.
Deeper Bible study
‘I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.’1
This psalm is an individual lament that seems to relate to the psalmist’s concern for right worship in the Temple (v 9). Indeed, the disciples remembered verse 9 when Jesus cleared the Temple.2 It may reflect circumstances like those we encountered on Friday in Jeremiah 26. Moreover, Jeremiah experienced something like verses 2 and 14.3
As you read the psalm, watch for ‘I’ statements, ‘you’ statements and ‘they’ statements.The psalmist brings his troubles to God in ‘I’ statements, mostly in verses 1–13, although they are mixed with ‘you’ statements, since the psalm is a prayer. ‘You’ statements are more prominent in verses 14–20, as he calls on God to rescue him. ‘They’ statements occur throughout the psalm, but are prominent in verses 22–28, where the psalmist asks God to condemn his enemies. The tone changes in verse 30, where the psalmist seems to recognise that God has heard his prayer and resolves to bring words of praise and thanksgiving. The last few verses may have been added later and probably refer to the return from exile in Babylon, applying God’s answer to the psalm to all God’s people.4
Two aspects of this psalm can be uncomfortable for Christians. First is the idea of lament itself. Lament doesn’t sit well with us: we are much more comfortable bringing our praises to God. Psalm 69 reminds us that God also wants to hear about our pain. Verses 22–28 are more uncomfortable still. Here the psalmist asks God to judge his foes (unlike Jesus who asked his Father to forgive them). However, prayers like this also belong in the Bible. When we see atrocities against defenceless people, Psalm 69 gives us the warrant to pray for God’s justice (not our own).
In the face of injustice, trust that God will deal justly with those who commit atrocities against others.
1 Ps 69:30 2 John 2:17 3 See Jer 38:22 4 Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72, IVP, 1972, p268
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Lamentations 3–5; John 20
Pray for Scripture Union
SU Slovakia give thanks for all the Ukrainian resources they have been able to distribute to help churches and other organisations. Pray that the Ukrainian and Slovak language handouts for children will be put to good use.
