Chapter 69

David.

2021 - It opens this way:  1 To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David. Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. [Psa 69:1 ESV].  This is a cry for help from a despairing situation.  This is not about needing a prom dress or money for new tires.  This man is at risk of torture and death.

1st stanza, David says he is in deep mire, greatly distressed, and weary of praying with no results.  This is David complaining that God delays His answer.  This verse:

3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. [Psa 69:3 ESV]

But I note that he is still praying, still asking, still trying.  We have to pray until the day we die for the things that matter most.

2nd, David counts his enemies, confesses his faults.

Oh my...look at the timeliness of this verse:

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? [Psa 69:4 ESV]

Not sure how exactly, but this looks like a FB post.

3rd, David prays that he will not be the cause of public reproach on God's people.  The verses are as follows:

6 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. [Psa 69:6 ESV]

David doesn't want to be the cause of other's shame.  He says he wants to bear that shame himself.

2021 - This, and also, let not those who don't know you turn away because of me!  Don't let my hypocrisy harden the hearts of the helpless.

4th, David again talks of his enemies and their ridicule of him because of his zeal for God's house.  David prays that their intentions will not be his end.  This verse:

13 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. [Psa 69:13 ESV]

A good way to look at the prayers that we continually pray, the petitions that go unanswered year after year.  God's timing is what matters, and it is up to us to remember that he loves us, and that we yield to His timing.

FB Post 7/7

5th, David pleads with God for an answer.

6th, David knows that God is aware of all his situation.

7th, David is specific about what he wants God to do to his enemies.  It is very wrathful.  Here is some of it:

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. [Psa 69:27-28 ESV]

This is a prayer about true enemies.  About those seeking our very lives.  This is not something to wish on anyone.  In fact, is this OT stuff only?  Proverbs came right after this, and it says love your enemies, and give them water when they're thirsty.  How do we reconcile this prayer with that concept?  This seems to pray that they go to hell.  There is no MSB note to help with this.

2021-Vss 22-25, A non-defensive prayer. NDP.  This is perhaps the strongest NDP I have yet seen.  Vss 27, 28 above are very direct.  Is it only David that can pray this way?  I am just still having so much trouble justifying such prayers.  Can it really all be down to being ok to wish God would punish, but not ok to punish them ourselves?  That just seems too simplistic to be the explanation.

8th, 1 vs

9th, 30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. 31 This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. [Psa 69:30-31 ESV]  David knew that God pondered the heart, saw sin there, even when it was never acted out.  David knew it wasn't about external compliance with the law.

10th, David acknowledges that the future is God's Zion.  He will ultimately save it.