THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: God's Nurture Of The Inner Man In The Life Of Faith

LXIX: Learning To Leave Overwhelming Injustices For God To Handle

(Psalm 69:1-36)

I. Introduction

A. A believer can be wronged in such an overwhelmingly bad and painful way that he himself cannot handle it.

B. Psalm 69:1-36 has a lesson on this matter, so we view it for our insight and edification (as follows):

II. Drawing From God's Past Provisions For Praising Him Today, Psalm 69:1-36.

A. The introductory remarks in the English Bible comprise the first verse of the Hebrew text (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1033), so we stay with the numbering system of the English Bible for clarity with this lesson, and we translate Psalm 69:1-36 as follows: (1) "Save me, O Elohim, for the waters have come up to my life principle." (2) "I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the depths of waters and the flowing stream overflows me." (3) "I have grown weary with my calling; my throat is parched. My eyes fail waiting hopefully for my Elohim." (4) "Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; vast is the number of those who seek to exterminate me, those who vainly are my enemies. That which I did not rob I am forced to restore." (5) "O Elohim, You (emph. pron.) know my foolishness, and my guilt is not hidden from You." (6) "May those who wait for You not be disgraced because of me, O Adonai Jahweh Almighty; may those who seek You not be put to shame because of me, O Elohim of Israel." (7) "For I endure scorn for Your sake; insult covers my face." (8) "I am caused to be estranged from my brothers, and an alien to my own mother's sons." (9) "For the 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 (emph. pron.) pray to You, O Jahweh, in the time of Your favor; O Elohim, in Your great loyal love answer me with Your salvation." (14) "Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the depths of waters." (15) "Do not let the flowing stream overflow me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me." (16) "Answer me, O Jahweh, out of the goodness of Your loyal love; in Your great mercy turn to me." (17) "Do not hide Your face from Your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in straits of distress." (18) "Come near to my life principle and redeem me; on account of my foes ransom me." (19) "You (emph. pron.) know I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are conspicuously 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 to drink." (22) "May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap." (23) "May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever." (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 Your 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 [earthly, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Ex. 32:32] life and not be listed with the righteous." (29) "I (emph. pron.) am in pain and distress; may Your salvation, O Elohim, protect me." (30) "I will praise the Name of Elohim in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving." (31) "This will please Jahweh more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs." (32) "The afflicted will see and be glad -- you who seek Elohim, may your hearts live." (33) "For Jahweh hearkens unto the needy and does not despise His captive ones." (34) "Let the heavens and the earth praise Him, the seas and all that move in them." (35) "For Elohim will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it." (36) "Then the children of His servants will inherit it, and those who love His name will dwell there."

B. David in this psalm claims that many had unjustly charged him with sin, and that so much pressure had been exerted on him that he had been forced to restore what had wrongfully been charged to his debt, v. 1-5. The fallout of this injustice isolated him from his relatives (v. 9), so David prayed that innocent people would not be harmed by the effects of the false charge against him (v. 7). In this case, all David could do was appeal to God Who sees all things and Who knows the facts (v. 6, 14) that He might intervene. [The psalm is heavily cited in the New Testament especially of Christ's sufferings ( Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Psalm 69)]

Lesson: When he was so greatly wronged that he could not himself deal with the wrong, David appealed to God for divine intervention, exampling for us how to handle similar crises in our lives.