Drowning In The Deep Series

Introduction: When the Waters Rise

Here in our city, especially during the rainy season, we know the feeling of rising water. We see a simple downpour turn a street into a river. We know the anxiety of a flood that creeps higher and higher, threatening our homes and our safety. There is a unique kind of panic that comes when you feel like you’re about to be overwhelmed.

Sometimes, life itself feels like a flood. The waters of anxiety, grief, injustice, or betrayal begin to rise, and we feel like we’re drowning. But what do you do when those waters are rising because you are trying to follow God? What happens when your faithfulness leads not to blessing, but to backlash? When your zeal for God brings you only the reproach of men?

After the triumphant victory parade of Psalm 68, the Bible gives us the raw, messy, and painfully honest lament of Psalm 69. This is a song from the depths. But it is also one of the most important psalms for understanding the suffering heart of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This psalm gives us permission to be brutally honest with God, it points us to the Savior who endured the ultimate reproach for us, and it shows us the difficult path from deep sorrow to defiant praise.

I. The Honesty of Desperation (vv. 1-12)

The psalm opens with a cry from a man who is going under. It gives us a language for our own desperation.

A. Drowning in Trouble

Verse 1 is a gasp for air: "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing..." This isn't just a metaphor; it's a feeling. It’s the feeling of exhaustion, of having no solid ground beneath your feet, of your throat being dry from crying out for help that doesn't seem to come. The psalmist is validating our pain. God is not afraid of your honest, desperate cries. He invites them.

B. Suffering for God's Sake

The source of this suffering is crucial. Verse 7: "Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face." Verse 9 gives the famous reason: "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up..." This is not suffering because of a foolish mistake. This is suffering that comes as a direct result of being faithful to God.

Have you felt this? Maybe it's the quiet mockery at your workplace because of your Christian integrity. Maybe it's being misunderstood by your own family because you hold to biblical values. Maybe it's the loneliness that comes from standing for the truth when everyone else is compromising. This psalm tells you that your suffering is seen by God.

C. The Pain of Rejection

The pain is made worse by isolation. Verse 8: "I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children." The deepest wounds often come from those who should have been our biggest supporters. The psalmist is mocked by everyone, from the leaders in the city gate to the town drunks (v. 12). He is utterly alone in his faithfulness.

II. The Heart of the Savior (vv. 9, 21)

As we read this psalm of deep personal pain, the Holy Spirit, through the New Testament writers, pulls back the curtain and shows us that this is more than just David's story. This is a prophetic portrait of the suffering of Jesus.

A. The Prophetic Portrait

The parallels are too specific and too profound to be a coincidence.

1. "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" (v. 9). The disciple John tells us that when Jesus cleansed the temple, filled with a burning passion for His Father's glory, this very verse came to their minds (John 2:17).

2. "The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me" (v. 9). The Apostle Paul quotes this in Romans 15:3 to show how Christ did not please Himself, but took upon His own shoulders all the insults and blasphemies the world hurled at God.

3. "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink" (v. 21). Matthew's gospel records that this happened, detail for detail, as Jesus hung on the cross.

B. The God Who Understands

What does this mean for you, in your own flood of sorrow? It means everything. It means that when you suffer unjustly, you have a High Priest who is not distant and unfamiliar with your pain. He has been into the deep mire. He has felt the sting of reproach. He has been rejected by his own brothers. He has been consumed by zeal. He has tasted the vinegar. He understands your sorrow perfectly, because He experienced it completely and for your sake. This psalm is not just David's prayer; it is a window into the suffering soul of your Savior.