Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19970420.htm
PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm Sixty-Nine - Handling Persecution From Formerly Close Associates For Making A Biblical Stand
(Psalm 69:1-36)
- Introduction
- Scripture commands the believer to pursue holiness, for God is holy, separate from sin, 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1.
- However, when a believer decides to take that stand, if close human associates choose not to take the same stand, real tension develops in the relationship. If the believer refuses to yield to compromise in this matter, he can even be severely mistreated by even many formerly close associates, and that can hurt so much that one can begin to wonder if one might have been WRONG in taking the original stand!
- In light of the pain of this experience, and of the tendency for it to press the believer toward relinquishing his correct stand, Psalm 69:1-36 stands as an instruction psalm to encourage the afflicted as follows:
- Handling Persecution From Formerly Close Associates For Making A Biblical Stand, Ps. 69:1-36.
- David called out to the Lord for help from a vantage point of intense personal distress, Ps. 69:1-3:
- David called out to God, explaining that fearful waters of trouble were rising to destroy him, Ps. 69:1.
- He felt helpless, claiming it felt like he was sinking in miry depths where there was no foothold, 2a
- He felt he was facing great harm, like a person who was drowning beneath a flowing stream, 69:2b.
- David was fatigued, sensing that he was running out of personal stamina to handle the trouble, 69:3.
- This intense personal distress was persecution from formerly close associates for taking a godly stand:
- The cause of this trouble was David's having taken a firm stand for God's will, Ps. 69:7, 9.
- Consequently, even David's siblings, his mother's sons had become estranged from him, Ps. 69:8.
- So great were the stakes involved in the issue that David expressed concern that others taking the same righteous stand could have been disgraced in the whole matter, Ps. 69:6!
- David itemized the painful, unjust persecutions he faced unto the Lord as follows:
- He told the Lord that he was hated without a cause, Ps. 69:4a.
- He explained to God that he had even been unjustly forced to restore what he had not stolen, Ps. 69:4b.
- David revealed to the Lord that he faced scorn and insults (v. 8), and when he broke down and wept under the emotional pain of this mistreatment, instead of getting any sympathy, he only received more scorn and mockery, Ps. 69: 10-12, 20.
- The solution for David was his faith in God's great loyal-to-covenant-love (chesed, v. 13) for which David felt he could cling as a basis of asking God's intervention, Ps. 69:13-19. In other words, since God had made clear promises regarding David's blessing in the issue regarding his stand, no matter how many and how unjust and how related the many were to David who were mistreating him, God would counter the godless group and come to David's defense and support!
- David asked God for clear retribution to his detractors, Ps. 69:20-29:
- He asked that the detractors have their own efforts to trouble David backfire to hurt themselves, 69:22.
- He asked that the oppressors experience grief (eyes be darkened, backs bent), B.K.C., O.T., p. 844.
- He asked that God's wrath be unleashed upon them so that they would lose their homes, Ps. 69:24-25.
- David asked God to discipline them for every crime they are committing, to take their lives prematurely in judgment, blotting their names out of the book of the temporally alive in the process, Ps. 69:27-28.
- In expectant hope, David shared his hope that God would reverse the current injustices so that not only he, but also all others taking the same stand would be relieved and renewed, Ps. 69:30, 32, 35-36 in particular.
Lesson: If we suffer persecution for taking a STAND found in SCRIPTURE, the GOD of SCRIPTURE can be expected to come to our aid no matter how many are our opponents, nor how formerly close they were to us nor how devastating their oppressions are against us in the stand!
Application: GOD and SCRIPTURE are so WEIGHTY that all the human associates we have, all of their beliefs, all of their abilities to inflict harm or pleasure upon us cannot begin to stack up effectively against God and His Word! If we BELIEVE this fact, it equips us to survive persecution no matter what is its intensity, for we will then no longer depend on man, but GOD for our every fulfilling sustenance!