Do you feel overwhelmed? Tired? Stressed? Do you feel like you have no friends, and that people are always talking about you behind your back? You're not alone. David often wrote about such things in the Psalms (I LOVE the Psalms). Life is Hard. We're promised hardship: 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (From John 16) 18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (From John 15)." From those two passages alone, I think it's safe to assume we're going to face trouble. In fact, as I go throughout scripture anyone who's truly sought to follow after God will face hardships. Why? I can't rightly explain it, other than that we live in a broken world, but I also think that there's a ruler of this world, fallen and evil, who seeks to stamp out God's presence and people whenever and wherever we choose to live for Him. If we do not bow to the world and its whims, Satan, the Prince of this world, will seek to make us as useless as possible, or seek to destroy us in any way he can. Take heart! Jesus has overcome! Take Heart! Greater is He who is in YOU than who is in the world! Take Heart, and find your rest in Christ Jesus. The Enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy, but Jesus offers life, and that to the full! Jesus is still making good on His promises, including: " 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11)
Psalm 69 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Psalm 69
A Plea for Rescue
For the choir director: according to “The Lilies.”[a] Davidic.
1 Save me, God, for the water has risen to my neck. 2 I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no footing; I have come into deep waters, and a flood sweeps over me. 3 I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. 4 Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head; my deceitful enemies, who would destroy me, are powerful. Though I did not steal, I must repay.
5 God, You know my foolishness, and my guilty acts are not hidden from You. 6 Do not let those who put their hope in You be disgraced because of me, Lord God of Hosts; do not let those who seek You be humiliated because of me, God of Israel. 7 For I have endured insults because of You, and shame has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother’s sons 9 because zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me. 10 I mourned and fasted, but it brought me insults. 11 I wore sackcloth as my clothing, and I was a joke to them. 12 Those who sit at the city gate talk about me, and drunkards make up songs about me.
13 But as for me, Lord, my prayer to You is for a time of favor. In Your abundant, faithful love, God, answer me with Your sure salvation. 14 Rescue me from the miry mud; don’t let me sink. Let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep waters. 15 Don’t let the floodwaters sweep over me or the deep swallow me up; don’t let the Pit close its mouth over me. 16 Answer me, Lord, for Your faithful love is good; in keeping with Your great compassion, turn to me. 17 Don’t hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me quickly! 18 Draw near to me and redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies.
19 You know the insults I endure— my shame and disgrace. You are aware of all my adversaries. 20 Insults have broken my heart, and I am in despair. I waited for sympathy, but there was none; for comforters, but found no one. 21 Instead, they gave me gall[b] for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table set before them be a snare, and let it be a trap for their allies. 23 Let their eyes grow too dim to see, and let their loins continually shake. 24 Pour out Your rage on them, and let Your burning anger overtake them. 25 Make their fortification desolate; may no one live in their tents. 26 For they persecute the one You struck and talk about the pain of those You wounded. 27 Add guilt to their guilt; do not let them share in Your righteousness. 28 Let them be erased from the book of life and not be recorded with the righteous.
29 But as for me—poor and in pain— let Your salvation protect me, God. 30 I will praise God’s name with song and exalt Him with thanksgiving. 31 That will please Yahweh more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves. 32 The humble will see it and rejoice. You who seek God, take heart! 33 For the Lord listens to the needy and does not despise His own who are prisoners.
34 Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moves in them, 35 for God will save Zion and build up[c] the cities of Judah. They will live there and possess it. 36 The descendants of His servants will inherit it, and those who love His name will live in it.
Footnotes:
a Psalm 69:1 Possibly a tune; Pss 45; 60; 80
b Psalm 69:21 A bitter substance
c Psalm 69:35 Or and rebuild
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