Save Me O God

All right, let me read Psalm 69 for us.

I will switch over to the ESV.

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold.

I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me.

I am weary with my crying out.

My throat is parched, my eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause.

Mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal must I now restore?

O God, you know my folly.

The wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts.

Let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.

For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.

For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.

When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

I am to talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me in your saving faithfulness.

Deliver me from sinking in the mire.

Let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.

Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.

Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good.

According to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Psalm 69, verse 17.

Psalms 69:17

Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress.

Make haste to answer me.

Draw near to my soul.

Redeem me.

Ransom me because of my enemies.

You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor.

My foes are all known to you.

Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair.

I look for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.

They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

Let their own table before them become a snare, and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.

Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.

Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.

May there can't be a desolation.

Let no one dwell in their tents, for they persecute him whom you have struck down,

and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

Add to them punishment upon punishment.

May they have no acquittal from you.

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living.

Let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

But I am afflicted and in pain.

Let your salvation, O God, set me on high.

I will praise the name of God with a song.

I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.

When the humble see it, they will be glad.

You who seek God, let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.

For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah.

And people shall dwell there and possess it.

The offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

It's a long psalm.

Psalm 69.

So, I love when life makes sense.

It kind of makes life hard for me, because life often doesn't make sense.

And life can be complicated and unclear.

So that's what this psalm talks about.

There are a lot of life complexities in this psalm.

And the key takeaway is that in a complicated and confusing life, the faithful depend on God's mercy and praise God.

So let's take a closer look at this psalm.

First, let's look at three different types of lives.

There's the complicated life of the psalmist, who's David here.

Second, the complicated life of Christ.

First, and third, our own complicated lives.

So first, David's life.

As we read the psalm, David is going through a really hard time.

He describes himself as drowning underwater.

It's a picture of being overwhelmed, being overtaken, and sinking in mud or being stuck and trapped.

He's been crying out so much that he's tired out.

His throat is dried out.

So it's unclear what he's going through, but even without the particulars, we're able to relate with him.

Have you ever felt this way?

Like, you're going through so much that you feel overwhelmed, that you're stuck in a situation.

You're exhausted because you're crying out to God for help.

Nothing's happening.

Part of his hard time is understandable.

He acknowledges that he's a sinner.

Verse 5,

O God, you know my folly.

The wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

So he's experiencing the guilt of his sin.

But on the other hand, it's not understandable.

Because what's happening is there are a lot of people who hate him for no good reason.

They attack him with lies, and they're unjustly making it worse.

I'm trying to think about situations where we might find ourselves in this.

When we're younger, maybe you're stressed out about some exam.

You really need to get a good grade so you can pass the class.

And then for some reason, some classmate says, tells the teacher that, you know, you're actually cheating.

You've been cheating all day, right?

So that's not helpful.

Or you're struggling at work to meet a deadline.

You're working really hard.

And for some reason, a coworker tells your manager that you've been watching YouTube all day, right?

It's like not helping the situation.

Rubbing salt in the wound.

Kicking you while you're down.

So David's, he's got his sins.

He's got these enemies.

And he's also experiencing the anxiety of caring for others, for other believers.

In verse 6, David worries about bringing shame and dishonor upon other believers.

So maybe you've experienced this.

Have you ever brought dishonor upon God because of your life or caused others to stumble because of your actions?

I know I have, and it's a bitter place to be.

So he's experiencing that too.

And finally, on top of these things, there's the hardship that comes from caring about God.

He's zealous for God.

He humbles himself.

He fasts.

He puts on sackcloth.

And because of all this, what's his reward?

He's the subject of drunkard songs.

People are making fun of him.

And it says that the contempt that people have for God is directed towards him.

So maybe you felt this too in these experiences.

You've been mocked because you're zealous for God.

Maybe people say, oh, he seemed so holier than thou.

Or, oh, she prays.

That's so weird.

Or, he's such a prude.

So David is experiencing all of these things.

But in the midst of this, he responds in a few ways.

First, he asks God that punishment would fall upon his enemies.

Maybe it's a very gratifying prayer, right?

Verse 24, pour out your indignation upon them, that your burning anger overtake them.

Add to them punishment upon punishment.

Second thing he does is he asks God for salvation.

Verse 29, I am afflicted and in pain.

Let your salvation, O God, set me on high.

And then last, he declares that he and all of creation will praise God.

So verse 34, let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.

So that's David's life.

Let's look at a lot of different things that are happening.

Second, let's look at Jesus' life.

So David is a type of Christ, which means there are things in David's life that find their full fulfillment in Christ.

So, for example, Jesus was the one who was drowning under the waters, sinking under the mud.

He was so overwhelmed and trapped that we read that his sweat was like drops of blood.

He was asking God, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.

He was in that hard place.

Jesus was so zealous for God's house that he drove out the money changers with the whip-a-cords.

You guys remember when he did that?

He wasn't making any friends among the Jewish leaders doing that.

And he cared so much for his people that he laid down his life for us.

John 15 says,

So those are some similarities, but there are some key differences between Jesus and David.

One of them is, unlike David, Jesus had no sins to feel guilty of.

So when David's enemies hurled accusations towards him, it's kind of like they're throwing matches at a pile of dry leaves.

They're half-truths, but they could catch on some of the truths of David's life that he's actually a sinner, right?

But with Jesus, when accusations were thrown towards him, it's like matches thrown into the ocean, right?

They go out, there's like nothing that's going to catch on.

Because he was perfect and pure in character.

But his enemies piled on to accusations anyway, because they hated him.

And unlike David, David called down punishment upon his enemies, but the Lord responded with grace and forgiveness.

On the cross, he says,

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

And in Christ's life, we actually see the ultimate complexity.

It's a man who lived a perfect life, who deserved happiness and rewards, if anyone deserved it.

But he died like a criminal, being hung on a cross, on a wooden cross.

And so the questions come to mind, how could a good and just God allow this to happen?

What sense is there in this?

But it's because this was the only way that God could save us.

Jesus had to die so that we could live.

2 Corinthians 5.21 says,

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Isaiah 53 says,

He was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

It was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer.

So the ultimate complexity finds its resolution in the loving will of God.

So that's Christ's life.

Let's look at our lives.

Have you ever faced times like these?

I'm sure you guys have.

Where you're dealing with so much stress that you feel like you're drowning.

Where you're in a deadened situation.

You feel like you're stuck in mud.

You're not going anywhere.

Where people are attacking you maliciously with lies.

Where you experience circumstances that are confusing.

Don't make any sense at all.

I know I have.

A couple things that come to mind.

It's growing up in a family situation where things were really hard.

I wonder why are they the way that they are?

Why did God have me born in this family?

I don't understand.

Or even recently.

Seeking to get into business school so I could provide for my family.

Good motivation.

God was opening all these doors for me.

And then I finally failed to get it.

Super confused.

Frustrated.

Disappointed.

But with even just a few years hindsight, I could see God's loving will in these things.

Having a difficult family history.

It's no unique thing.

And so I can comfort those who have experienced similar things.

And I don't fully understand the business school situation still.

But I know one outcome is that Carolyn and I had to switch plans.

And we chose to have a daughter who's an imminent blessing.

And so, I mean, sometimes even these peaks of getting these answers into these situations, it's slim to none.

Right?

Sometimes we just don't get the answers.

And so what can we hold on to during those times?

One thing we will always have is the cross.

It's this complexity where we see the loving will of God.

At the cross is where God's holiness and love meet.

And we can always remember that God loved us so much that he put his own son to death.

And so even when we don't understand specific situations, we can hold on to God's character.

That he's good and loving.

And so I think the Matt Redmond song that we just sang is great.

He says, he has a line in there.

You give and take away.

My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name.

Right?

So in good times and bad.

In faith, we can always choose to praise God and cry out to him.

So with that, let's enter into another song, Brian.

Thank you.