Psalm 69
Psalm 69 opens with a good
thought. It seems at first that David is
trying to accuse God for being slow to protect him – after all, he does claim
that his eyes grow dim while waiting for the Lord’s response. Yet, David does confess his sinfulness in the
few verses following. David acknowledges
that it is because of his folly that he is in this predicament. Furthermore, David acknowledges that the
things that he has done wrong are absolutely not hidden from God. Not only is David guilty of sin, but God
knows exactly how guilty!
This comment is a
foundation to the Christian life. It is
so easy to get upset with God because He isn’t exactly doing what we think He
should be doing. But when we consider that
what we typically think He should be doing actually falls into the category of
“saving ourselves from our own mistakes,” we tend to experience a shift in
perspective. If we put ourselves into a
predicament, we should be grateful that He is there to help at all! Thus what we can see is that while the first
third of the psalm initially seems to be about impatience on David’s behalf, it
actually boils down to gratitude for God’s presence.
Verses 7-8 also caught my
attention. “For it is for Your sake that
I have born reproach … I have become a stranger to my brothers.” When I heard this, I couldn’t help but think
of Jesus’ teaching in Mark 10:29-30 or Luke 14:26-27 or even Matthew
10:34-39. All of these are difficult
passages, but they really come down to a single piece of Biblical truth. Are you more allied to your family or to
God? Who would you forsake first: God or
your blood relatives?
Of course, I’m not
advocating forsaking either. In an ideal
world we can be united with family in our devotion to God. You noticed that I didn’t say devoted to our
family, right? There will come times
when we will have to choose. All of us
can only serve one master. David is
confessing here in this psalm that he has chosen God over family. Jesus teaches us in the New Testament that
any true follower of God will be more allied to God than their own family. It is a difficult teaching to understand, but
it is an absolutely necessary one. All
the more reason to impress upon our own families the importance of following
God! In our devotion to God may we unite with our families!
In fact, look at what David
says in verse 9. John quotes it in John
2:17. Zeal for God’s house consumed
him. Zeal for God’s house! Not zeal for his own house. Not zeal for his progeny or his
ancestry. Zeal for God’s house has
consumed him. Oh, that we would all be
consumed with zeal for God’s house.
This leads us into the
ending of the psalm. As David once more
progresses through his need of salvation and his own culpability, David finally
turns to giving the Lord praise. As he
should, by the way. What event in life
cannot ultimately lead to giving God glory?
Even in our darkest hour we have reason to give God glory and recognize
His greatness. In our moment of greatest
sin we can still turn and give glory to God for who He is.
Psalm 70
As long as Psalm 69 is,
Psalm 70 is short and to the point. This
is a great point to realize. Sometimes
we have the time to make grand petitions to God. Sometimes as our world crashes around all we
can do is offer up the immediate “Save me!” kind of prayers. Both have their place. We should have confidence to know that we can
call out to God in an emergency. We
should also take the time and relate to God in more ways than in the emergency.
As we look at Psalm 70, I
don’t plan on saying too much – for most of what could be said has already been
said over the last three or four psalms.
But I will say this. Notice that
even in this “Oh God, save me!” kind of psalm that roughly a quarter of the
psalm is still devoted to giving God praise and glory. David was in tune with speaking to his God
enough that even in an emergency praise came out of his mouth. That’s a neat point – one to which I know I
can strive towards!
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