Psalm 69:1-12 NKJV
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire,
Where there is no standing;
I have come into deep waters,
Where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary with my crying;
My throat is dry;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4 Those who hate me without a cause
Are more than the hairs of my head;
They are mighty who would destroy me,
Being my enemies wrongfully;
Though I have stolen nothing,
I still must restore it.
5 O God, You know my foolishness;
And my sins are not hidden from You.
6 Let not those who wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me;
Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.
7 Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;
Shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
And an alien to my mother’s children;
9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up,
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting,
That became my reproach.
11 I also made sackcloth my garment;
I became a byword to them.
12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me,
And I am the song of the drunkards.
Psalm 69 is a Messianic Psalm, parts of which, like Psalm 22, Jesus the Messiah was surely praying from the cross, as the experiences of David foreshadowed certain experiences of Christ, the Son of David, some of which are also reflected in the lives of all Christians.
“I sink in deep mire.” David describes his grief, weariness, and desperation, which Christ experienced to an even greater degree on the cross. But there is no despair here, no giving up on God’s help. David’s prayer becomes the Messiah’s prayer, “Save me, O God…I wait for my God.”
Who is causing this grief? “Those who hate me without a cause.” David, like Jesus, had not wronged those who hated him. But this is part of the enmity that God described in Genesis 3:15 that would exist between believers and unbelievers in this world. Before God, David, like all of us, could confess his foolishness and his sins, but before men, David was innocent, while Jesus was innocent before both God and men. Therefore, the hatred displayed against them both was entirely unjust.
When believers suffer unjustly, for God’s sake, it still hurts. It’s still painful. But Jesus, who was well-acquainted with unjust suffering, encourages us, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12).
Why should we gladly suffer unjustly for God’s sake? Because Jesus suffered unjustly for our sake. “Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18). Indeed, as prophesied in this Psalm, it was zeal for God’s house that consumed Jesus and led Him to cleanse the temple in Jerusalem (twice!) before He was crucified. The house of God was not only there for God’s glory. It was there for the salvation of those who were to find God there. It was for both God’s sake and for sinners’ sake that Jesus willingly bore reproach. May we be willing to do the same!
Let us pray: O Lord Jesus, thank You for suffering unjustly for us. When we suffer grief and sadness for Your sake, sustain us by Your Spirit as we wait for You to deliver us. Amen.