For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psalm 69:1-12

1 Save me, O God,
    for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in the miry depths,
    where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
    the floods engulf me.
3 I am worn out calling for help;
    my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
    looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without reason
    outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are my enemies without cause,
    those who seek to destroy me.
I am forced to restore
    what I did not steal.

5 You, God, know my folly;
    my guilt is not hidden from you.

6 Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    may those who hope in you
    not be disgraced because of me;
God of Israel,
    may those who seek you
    not be put to shame because of me.
7 For I endure scorn for your sake,
    and shame covers my face.
8 I am a foreigner to my own family,
    a stranger to my own mother’s children;
9 for zeal for your house consumes me,
    and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10 When I weep and fast,
    I must endure scorn;
11 when I put on sackcloth,
    people make sport of me.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,
    and I am the song of the drunkards.

A. Find Out:

1. What does David feel is happening to him? v.1-2
2. What has he been doing to no avail? v.3
3. With whom is he suffering? v.4
4. What does he acknowledge? v.5
5. What does he not want to happen? v.6
6. What is happening to him? v.7-12

B. Think:

1. What seems to be the original cause of David’s anguish?
2. What seems to be happening to him?
3. Yet what is his concern in the midst of it?

C. Comment:

The psalm starts with a straight forward plea for God to save David, the writer. He feels he is drowning (v.1,2) and he has called for God’s help and it has not come (v.3). He is aware of some (unspecified) sin (v.5) that he believes is the cause of what is happening to him.

But what is happening? There seem to be two aspects to it. First there are his enemies who have risen up and seek to destroy him (v.4). May we suppose that this refers to other nations? Sometimes when God disciplines us, He lifts back His protection so enemies rise against us to drive us more fully into His arms.

Before we come on to the second group who are causing him anguish, we must note his concern – for those who follow the Lord, that they will not be led astray by David’s misdemeanours and by what is happening to him (v.6). A good heart reaction of a shepherd!

But then comes the second cause of anguish, the scorn he receives from his own people (v.7,8). As he seeks to work out his relationship with the Lord – going to the temple (v.9), fasting in repentance (v.10,11) – all he finds is that his own people mock him. They do not understand or appreciate what he is going through and seem not to have the same heart he does, so are not concerned for what concerns him. He is mocked by all (v.12). It is not good!

D. Application:

1. When we sin, the Lord disciplines us to bring us back.
2. Discipline comes in a variety of ways, all painful!

Passage: Psalm 69:13-28  

13 But I pray to you, Lord,
    in the time of your favour;
in your great love, O God,
    answer me with your sure salvation.
14 Rescue me from the mire,
    do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
    from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
    or the depths swallow me up
    or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love;
    in your great mercy turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant;
    answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
18 Come near and rescue me;
    deliver me because of my foes.

19 You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
    all my enemies are before you.
20 Scorn has broken my heart
    and has left me helpless;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
    for comforters, but I found none.
21 They put gall in my food
    and gave me vinegar for my thirst.

22 May the table set before them become a snare;
    may it become retribution and a trap.
23 May their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
    and their backs be bent for ever.
24 Pour out your wrath on them;
    let your fierce anger overtake them.
25 May their place be deserted;
    let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute those you wound
    and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
27 Charge them with crime upon crime;
    do not let them share in your salvation.
28 May they be blotted out of the book of life
    and not be listed with the righteous.

A. Find Out:

1. To what does the psalmist appeal? v.13,16
2. What does he ask the Lord to do? v.14,15,17,18
3. What has particularly hurt him? v.19-21
4. What does he ask to happen to his enemies? v.22-25
5. Why? v.26
6. So what does he ask happen to them? v.27,28

B. Think:

1. What does David trust in, in making his plea?
2. Again what does he feel is happening to him?
3. What does he want the Lord to do?

C. Comment:

In verses 1 & 2 we saw David’s sense of drowning in the hatred of his enemies, and he repeats that sense now in v.14 & 15, but now he also appeals to the Lord’s love and mercy (v.13,16). If we know nothing else, we know the Lord loves us and our appeal can always be on this basis. There is a sense of critical urgency in his plea for help (v.17,18).

Then he explains why he finds it so difficult: it is the scorn and mockery from his enemies that almost breaks his heart (v.19,20). He who should be their leader, and a light for the people has been shamed and disgraced and in dire need. He needed help from those nearest to him but all he received was scorn and mockery. Indeed it got worse; they contaminated his food and drink.

In a cry for justice he asks the Lord to deal with these enemies of his. He asks that the comfort and security that they know (v.22) be turned around and become a means of disciplining them. He wants the ability to see be taken from them (v.23) and for them to be made slaves. He wants them to be taken away (v.25,28) so they are not even listed among the people of God, for they join in the discipline of God without mercy (v.26) and for that they are guilty of sin (v.27) and thus scorn their salvation. These people, he says, have forfeited the right to be called the righteous people of God.

D. Application:

1. God may discipline someone but we are called to be merciful.
2. We are not to pour fuel on those who are already down.

Passage: Psalm 69:29-36

29 But as for me, afflicted and in pain –
    may your salvation, God, protect me.

30 I will praise God’s name in song
    and glorify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox,
    more than a bull with its horns and hooves.
32 The poor will see and be glad –
    you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33 The Lord hears the needy
    and does not despise his captive people.

34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
    the seas and all that move in them,
35 for God will save Zion
    and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it;
36     the children of his servants will inherit it,
    and those who love his name will dwell there.

A. Find Out:

1. How did David feel and what did he want? v.29
2. But what will he do and why? v.30,31
3. Who will this affect and how? v.32
4. What does the Lord do, and not do? v.33
5. So who does he call to do what? v.34
6. Why? v.35,36

B. Think:

1. How is David clearly still feeling?
2. Yet what does he purpose to do?
3. What does this lead him to go on to do?

C. Comment:

Verse 29 sums up very succinctly what David has been saying in this psalm: he is in anguish and he needs the Lord’s protection against those who come against him. But then, as so often with David, we see the real strength of heart of the man; he declares he will praise God (v.30), not because he’s been delivered but simply because that will please God. His reference to and ox or a bull (v.31) suggests that he will bring praise simply as an offering to the Lord. Offerings were brought as an indication of relationship with the Lord and so he simply wants to praise God, almost as a love offering.

Then he expresses a very pastoral thought: the poor (v.32a) of his people, those who tend most to seek the Lord (v.32b), will be pleased when they see this response in David. He will be an example to them so that they will realise that the Lord hears those who are needy and does not despise them in their captivity to poverty (v.33).

As he does this that allows him to call on all of creation (v.34) to praise the Lord, for he knows in his heart that whatever misfortunes befall Judah at the moment (v.35) the Lord will be there for them and He will restore them and bless their future generations (v.36), all those who are truly His. He may be in distress and not yet delivered but he knows that deliverance and blessing will come.

D. Application:

1. In the midst of trials can we praise the Lord?
2. Praise for God depends on His greatness, not our problems.