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.
III. The Path to Praise (vv. 13-18, 29-34)
Even in the deepest mire, the psalmist shows us a way forward. The path out of the pit begins with prayer and ends in praise.
A. The Cry for Justice
First, what do we do with the difficult "curse" verses (22-28)? In them, David calls for God's harsh judgment on his enemies. This is not a model for personal, petty revenge. This is a raw, desperate plea for God, the only righteous Judge, to finally intervene and make things right in a world filled with evil. It is the holy act of handing vengeance over to the only One who can wield it with perfect justice.
B. The Turn to Praise
After entrusting judgment to God, the psalmist makes a conscious, difficult choice. Verse 29: "But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high." He doesn't deny his pain. He states it plainly. And in the very next breath, he looks to God's salvation. He vows in verse 30, "I will praise the name of God with a song..." This is not praise because his circumstances have suddenly improved. This is defiant praise. It is praise that is rooted not in the stability of his situation, but in the unchanging character of his God.
C. Hope Beyond the Hurt
The psalm ends not with the psalmist's personal deliverance, but with a grand vision of hope for all of God's people and the restoration of Zion. This teaches us a vital lesson: sometimes, the way we endure our personal pain is by looking beyond it to God's larger, redemptive plan. Our story is part of His much bigger story, and His story ends in victory.
Conclusion: From the Mire to the Song
Psalm 69 is a gift to the suffering. It gives us permission to be completely honest with God in our desperation. It points us directly to the heart of a Savior who knows our sorrow because He bore it for us. And it guides us on the difficult, but possible, path from the deep mire of sorrow to the defiant song of praise.
What "deep waters" are you in right now on this Sunday morning? Are you trying to pretend you're fine? God invites you to be honest. Bring your messy, tear-filled, even angry prayer to Him, just as David did.
But as you do, look to the cross. See the One who was consumed with zeal for you. See the One who bore your reproach. See the One who drank the vinegar so that you could drink the living water. Find your comfort not in easy answers, but in the God who understands. And then, by His grace, make the defiant choice to praise Him—not for your circumstances, but for His character, His salvation, and His unending love.
