the oasis blog

Psalm 69 (English Standard Version)
Psalm 69
Save Me, O God
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.
1Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim

with waiting for my God.4 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?
5 O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
6Let 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.
7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons.
9 For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
11When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.
13But 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.
14 Deliver me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
15 Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Hide not your face from your servant;
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!
19 You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
20 Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
21They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
22 Let their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
27 Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29 But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
30I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31This will please the LORD more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33For the LO RD hears the needy
and does not despise his own people 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 the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36 the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

This is nothing conclusive; just some things that I was studying today at Starbucks. enjoy :)

I love how honest David is. He never holds back in expressing himself to the Lord, even when upset or angry. There was such depth in their relationship. He knew that the Lord already knew exactly where his heart was and exactly what he had done. In verse 5, David says, “the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you,” The Lord is aware of everything, so why should I pretend?
I think greater than his honesty was David’s ability to praise. You may say that this doesn’t sound like praise. David is busy crying about everything that is going wrong in his life. Where is the Lord? The change happens in verse 13 with one word, “But…”. . In one word, David takes a step back from his current mess, looks up and remembers who his God is. “But,” David states, “as for me, my prayer is to you,” Even when David was in terrible situations he was able to shift his attention from his surroundings and on to the Lord. I remember one of my bible professors in college telling us that David was truthful before the Lord, but he never left his Psalms in a place of complaint; he always turned it back to praise.

I love verse 13. It gives me hope. My ability to worship the Lord is not dependent on ideal situations. True worship, pure worship, happens in the place of sacrifice and brokenness. Obedient worship is the product of broken worshippers. Just look at verses 30 and 31 “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.”God cares about my ability to praise him not just in my moment of triumph but in the moments of great defeat.
That’s where I want to live, in an attitude of praise and honesty before the Lord.