PSALM 69 - Drowning in Derision

Introduction

The only way to shut Jeremiah up was to throw him into a cistern. King Jehoiakim burned the scroll of the words of YHWH that Jeremiah had delivered to him, but then God gave him another copy (Jeremiah 36). He was thrown into prison because the guards at the city gate believed he was defecting to the Chaldeans (Jeremiah 37), but even in prison he kept warning that the city was doomed.

But even in prison, Jeremiah remained faithful to the message that God had given him to deliver:

Jeremiah 38:2–3 (ESV)

2 “Thus says the Lord: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. 3 Thus says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.”

And in their anger and hatred for Jeremiah and his stubborn refusal to stop declaring the message of God’s judgment on Jerusalem, they took ropes and lowered him down into an empty cistern, where neither he nor his inconvenient message would be able to escape:

Jeremiah 38:6 (ESV)

6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

And there, in the festering muck at the bottom of the empty cistern, Jeremiah may very well have remembered the old song of David, the psalm that is before us today:

Psalm 69:1–3 (ESV)

1 Save 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.

The hatred and reproach that Jeremiah suffered at the hands of people who hated him for his faithfulness to God is nothing new—David suffered that reproach from King Saul and his family (think of Michal watching him dance before the ark), as did Moses before him, who

Hebrews 11:24–25 (ESV)

24 ...when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

And on back we go, even to Cain, who murdered his brother Abel over Abel’s faithful love for God. Psalm 69 is the cry of every faithful child of God who suffers the reproach and hatred and slander of standing firm for the truth of God’s Word and the glory of God’s Name and the hope of God’s Kingdom in this world. If Psalm 67 is the vision of the harvest of the nations into the glory of the Gospel and Psalm 68 is the glory and honor of the merciful might of the God who calls and rules those nations, then Psalm 69 is the song of the faithful soul that works towards that harvest and swears allegiance to that God in the middle of hatred, opposition, slander and reproach.

And Psalm 69 stands as your great hope in the midst of that reproach and enmity between you and a world that hates you because it hates the God that you love. Because Psalm 69 is one of the psalms that the writers of the Gospels quote more than almost any other as they tell the story of Jesus’ life. Jesus Himself was no stranger to the hatred of the world, and He warned us of as much in John 15--

John 15:18–19 (ESV)

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Psalm 69 was written by David, experienced by Jeremiah, and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This is the hope that you have, Christian, as you face the hatred and enmity and scorn for your allegiance to the Son of God this morning:

You bear no REPROACH that was not already ENDURED by Christ

There is much to consider in this psalm, and so what I hope to do this morning is take a “guided tour” of its riches by looking at the way the New Testament authors interpreted it in light of the person and work of Jesus—surely this is one of the Psalms that Jesus explained to the disciples in Luke 24 when He said that

Luke 24:44 (ESV)

44 everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

The first twelve verses of the psalm are the desperate cry of a faithful believer who is sinking down into the mud of the hatred and reproach—a faithful child of God who is

I. DROWNING In false ACCUSATIONS (Psalm 69:1-12)

Psalm 69:1–2 (ESV)

1 Save 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.

In verse 3, you can hear the despair creeping into his voice, that he is beginning to feel that he is in

A hopeless SITUATION (vv. 1-4)

Psalm 69:3 (ESV)

3 I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.

The weight and heaviness of the reproach that he bears for God’s Name is all the heavier for the sense that God has forgotten Him, that He is not coming to his rescue soon enough, and that he is sinking down with no foothold into the muck and mire of scorn and derision.

Have you felt that hopelessness? Whether because of a family member who thinks you’re an idiot for all the Jesus stuff, or co-workers who casually dismiss your commitment to Christ, or the relentless barrage of ridicule and hatred and fear-mongering from the media aimed at your “Christian extremism”, we are more and more acquainted with the flood of false accusations against those who love God and His Word.

David cries out to God in exasperation over the false charges brought against him:

Psalm 69:4 (ESV)

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?

He did nothing to earn the hatred and scorn of his enemies (this verse is quoted in John 15 as Jesus is encouraging His disciples that they will be hated just like He was.)

But then as David considers all the false charges against him, he cannot deny that he is in fact guilty before God:

ps 69:5

Psalm 69:5 (ESV)

5 O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

In other words, David says, “I may be innocent of the charges they bring against me, but I know I am not innocent before You!” David cries out in a hopeless situation, and he acknowledges

A worthless REPUTATION (vv. 5-8)

David isn’t “playing the victim” here in this psalm; he realizes that he is calling out for rescue from a God Who knows exactly what is in his heart. And so along with his cry for rescue from his enemies’ reproach is David’s prayer that he not bring more reproach on God’s Name through his own sinfulness!

Psalm 69:6–7 (ESV)

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. 7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.

David prays that God’s Name and His people would not be put to shame by his behavior; that he would remain honorable in his response to the scorn heaped on him. “Lord, I am capable of reacting very badly to this scorn and ridicule; please don’t let me respond in such a way as to bring shame on You and your people!”

Verse 8 reminds us of how Jesus’ own brothers didn’t believe in Him, mocking Him in John 7 that He needed to “show Himself to the world!” at the feast in Jerusalem (John 7:3-5).

Verse 9 is another verse quoted in John’s Gospel. In John 2:17, when Jesus cleansed the Temple of the moneychangers

John 2:17 (ESV)

17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

But here in Psalm 69 we get the rest of that verse:

Psalm 69:9 (ESV)

9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

The “zeal for the House of the LORD” that filled Jesus at that moment was followed by

A reproachful HUMILIATION (vv. 9-12)

As David sings it, His zeal for God led to mourning over the ways that God’s glory was being torn down and ridiculed. David’s heart for God’s glory was broken over the way he saw God’s glory being profaned, and as a result he “wept and humbled his soul with fasting” (v. 10)—and that weeping “became his reproach”. People mocked him for being brokenhearted over the way God’s glory was being profaned.

And this is exactly what happened to Jesus—His zeal for the glory of God in the Temple caused Him to drive out the thieves and robbers in its courts, and that very zeal was one of the reasons He was targeted for destruction:

Mark 11:18 (ESV)

18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

Christian, when you are overwhelmed by the flood of false accusations that you are a “Christian Extremist” or a “Jesus freak” or “holier than thou” or a “hypocrite” or “bigot” because of your love for God, His Word and His Church, you have the comfort of knowing that there is no reproach that you bear that has not already been borne by Christ Himself. And as David continues here in Psalm 69, he moves from drowning in false accusations to

II. TRUSTING in God’s FAITHFULNESS (Psalm 69:13-21)

Psalm 69:13 (ESV)

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.

Even though your enemies are trying to drown you in false accusations, Christian, see here how Psalm 69 reminds you that

The LOVE of his GOD never FAILS (vv. 13-16)

David cries out to God to deliver him from sinking into the mire of their lies, to be delivered from the depths of his enemies’ slander and hatred (v. 14). David prays

Psalm 69:15–16 (ESV)

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.

In the midst of their attacks, David clings to the covenant love of God—the lovingkindness that never fails. He knows that God will never forsake him because God will never break His promise—and He had promised to love David and put his descendant on the throne forever.

David trusts in God’s faithfulness because the love of God never fails—but he also trusts in God’s faithfulness because

The MALICE of his ENEMIES never RESTS (vv. 17-21)

Psalm 69:17–18 (ESV)

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!

The reproach and hatred of David’s enemies described here was fully experienced by His Son centuries later, as He hung on that Cross, the object of hatred and shame and dishonor and malice like no one else in all of human history:

Psalm 69:19–21 (ESV)

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. 21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

John 19:28–30 (ESV)

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Christian, whatever shame and ridicule and hatred and reproach you bear for the sake of the Name of Christ, there is no reproach you will endure that He did not bear first!

Psalm 69 shows us how to cry out to God when we are sinking under the reproach of the world because of our commitment to Christ—when David was drowning in false accusations he trusted in God’s faithfulness. And starting in verse 22 we see David

III. CALLING on God’s JUSTICE (Psalm 69:22-29)

In verse 21 he describes how when he was hungry and thirsty his enemies gave him sour wine and poisonous food—and starting in verse 22 he describes how God would someday

Turn the TABLES on them (vv. 22-25)

Psalm 69:22 (ESV)

22 Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.

They poisoned David’s food and gave him vinegar when he was thirsty, and so now the delicacies at their table will be a snare and a trap for them. They caused David to tremble under the weight of their false accusations and scorn, and so now they will be made to tremble under the indignation of God (vv. 23-24). Verse 25 has a military feel to it, describing David’s enemies in terms of tents and camps—God will take away their power—they will no longer have the ability to muster their forces against him. They will be as powerless as they tried to make David—God will turn the tables on them.

Starting in verse 26, David prays that God will

Return their PITILESSNESS to them (vv. 26-29)

Psalm 69:26 (ESV)

26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

This kind of pitiless hatred from those who hate God and His people is becoming more and more prevalent today; we live in an environment where a prominent Christian apologist receives a grave medical diagnosis and is promptly attacked by atheists online gleefully telling him to die. David prays that God would be as merciless to them as they have been to him in his distress:

Psalm 69:27–28 (ESV)

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.

Psalm 69 reminds us that when we are drowning in false accusations and hatred because of our faith that we must look to God for justice, call on the same righteousness that our enemies hate, and entrust Him to answer them for their wickedness.

This is what Jesus Himself did when He was reviled--

1 Peter 2:23 (ESV)

23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

But beyond just His example of humility in suffering there is another, more amazing truth to be uncovered here in these verses: this psalm reminds us that there is no reproach that we bear that Christ did not endure first, and these verses remind us that on that Cross, all of these judgments were poured out on Him!

Read these verses again, Christian, and tremble at the realization that this is what God the Father poured out on His Son! It was for your sake, Christian, that God “poured out His indignation upon Him, and let His burning anger overtake Him (v. 24). it was because of your sin, Christian, that God “added to Him punishment upon punishment and had no acquittal from Him, it was because of you that Christ was “blotted out of the book of the living” and "not be enrolled among the righteous” (vv. 27-28)!

Isaiah writes about Jesus’ punishment:

Isaiah 53:4–5 (ESV)

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:8 (ESV)

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

Here is the wonder and weight of Gospel glory that Psalm 69 reveals to us—that the same Savior who already suffered all the reproach that you and I bear for His Name also suffered all the punishment we deserve for reproaching His Name!

Let the glory of that truth weigh on you, Christian—because it is only when you have clearly seen and felt the magnitude of what Christ suffered on your behalf on that cross that you can be

IV. REVIVED by God’s FAVOR (Psalm 69:30-36)

Starting in verse 30, David goes on to sing of his restoration from the reproach he has suffered:

Psalm 69:30–31 (ESV)

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.

By His death on the Cross, your Savior provided a sacrifice that pleased God more than any other sacrifice ever before or since!

The writer of Hebrews says that by Jesus’ death on the Cross

Hebrews 10:10 (ESV)

10 ...we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

David sings here that

God delights in HUMILITY over SACRIFICE (vv. 31-33)

Psalm 69:32–33 (ESV)

32 When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive. 33 For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

The angry reproaches of God’s enemies will be answered with His indignation and wrath as He turns the tables on them and returns their pitiless hatred back on their own heads—but because Jesus died under God’s wrath, everyone who calls on God in Jesus’ Name will be heard! He will never despise those who have been thrown into the cisterns of false accusations, He will never turn away from the cries of those who are weary of crying out to Him in the mud and mire of reproach—because Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God died as a sheep being led to the slaughter. God’s delight in Jesus’ sacrifice means that He will always hear your humble cries to Him!

God delights in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and so He delights to hear your cries from the pit. And because He has accepted Jesus’ perfect sacrifice,

He delights to ESTABLISH His people FOREVER (vv. 34-36)

Psalm 69:34–36 (ESV)

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.

David trusted in God’s delight in establishing His people, that no matter what reproach or scorn or hatred they endured He would deliver them from all of it, and that no attempt to destroy them or drown them in false accusations would ever cause them to fall. David begins this psalm crying out in the depths of the mire, thrown into the empty cistern of accusation and scorn and reproach, and ends with a joyful celebration of the faithfulness of God that brings him through all of it!

Beloved, here is your hope when you are weighed down by the reproach that you bear—when you are not welcome at your family gathering, when you are passed over for a promotion at work, when your social media feed gets filled with harsh and bitter attacks against you for your faith in Christ, when you are alone and lonely because no one wants to have a relationship with a “religious fanatic...” When you feel as though that flood is about to sweep over you and swallow you up in its depths, cling to the truth that Jesus has already suffered that reproach!

He knows what it is like for His own family members to resent and ridicule Him and say that He is out of His mind. He knows the sting of harsh and bitter words flung at Him with malice and hatred from spiritual teachers who should have loved and honored Him. And He knows what it is like to suffer the agony of loneliness in the blackest of nights when even His closest friends couldn’t be bothered to stay awake and pray with Him. He knows what it is like to writhe in agony, dying a slow and painful death under the wrath of Almighty God, while people walk by and make fun of His convulsions.

Christian, Jesus knows what it is like to suffer the reproach and hatred of this world, because when He prayed a prayer like this in the Garden of Gethsemane—when He cried out for God to save Him—God said no. When Jesus looked for pity, He found none. When Jesus looked for comfort, He found none. When Jesus was thirsty, He was given vinegar to drink. When He cried out for the steadfast love of God and abundant mercy, God turned away from Him. When Jesus was in distress on that Cross, His Father made haste to ignore His cries.

And beloved—because the Father said “No” to His Son when He cried out for mercy on that Cross, He will never say “no” when you cry to Him in Jesus’ Name! Because Jesus suffered all the reproach and hatred that this world could ever pile on Him, you have His promise that you will never be abandoned in that reproach! Because He died under false accusations, they no longer have power over you! Because He suffered the punishment that your wicked rebellion deserved, God adding to Him punishment upon punishment on that Cross with no acquittal, because He was blotted out of the book of the living and not enrolled among the righteous but “numbered with the transgressors” (Isa. 53:8, 12), then you have a perfect plea before that same holy and righteous God!

As Isaiah would write centuries later,

Isaiah 53:11–12 (ESV)

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Jesus Christ offered a sacrifice for sin like no other—an offering that pleased His Father more than any ox or bull with horns or hooves—an offering that purified once for all time those who draw near to save them to the uttermost! And when you call on the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and trust in Him to save you, you have His unbreakable, unshakeable promise that you will not suffer as His enemy, but you will enter into the eternal joy and fellowship and comfort and peace and love as His dear child!

And so, Christian, let us do as the writer of Hebrews exhorts us—let us not be afraid of the scorn and reproach and derision of this world, or flinch from the consequences of standing firmly on His Word and His promises.

Hebrews 13:12–13

12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured

When those reproaches come—and they will—let us rejoice that we can join our Savior in them, that we are walking a path that He already walked, that when we find ourselves under the reproach of this world that He is already there with us. Because of the sacrifice by which He purified us forever, let us then through Him continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, never fearing to acknowledge the Name of our Savior, Jesus Christ! (Hebrews 13:12-15).

BENEDICTION

Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

David uses imagery of drowning or being suffocated by the flood of false accusations from his enemies. Have you experienced opposition from others who scorn you for your faith in Christ? How does this psalm describe that experience?

What are some of the verses in this psalm that the Gospels apply to Jesus’ life? How does your understanding of this psalm change when you consider that these were words that Jesus could have spoken or sung when He suffered reproach?

Look again at the pattern of David’s prayer in this psalm—from crying out to trusting in God to calling on His justice and finally rejoicing in His faithfulness. How can this pattern instruct you when you come under reproach from an unbelieving world?