Sometimes people just do bad things to us. I remember a time as a child when I was a little klutzy…okay, I was a lot klutzy and I’m not a whole lot better now. I had gone to church camp and as the youngest kid there, I was often the subject of ridicule and practical jokes—boys can be cruel too.
I remember one klutzy incident where I was running and tripped and broke a mirror I was carrying. Although I wasn’t hurt (even by the shattering of the mirror), I cried and cried about it. After a few older boys with me made sure I wasn’t hurt (kinda…), they began making fun of me for tripping and told me what trouble I was getting into for breaking the mirror. You see, that mirror was my friend. I could look in it and see someone who didn’t make fun of me. Now it was gone and the others with me only ridiculed me for an accident.
Even as adults, we sometimes have those “breaking points” where we just can’t take it anymore. We are not “bad people” when we reach the end of our rope. Our Psalmist in Psalm 69, King David, was also at the end of his rope and truly evil people tormented him and David had enough. We pick up this Psalm where left off last time, verse 19.
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 they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.
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.
29 But as for me, afflicted and in pain—may your salvation, God, protect me.
Those who had insulted him and broken his heart to the point of being sick dishonored David. When he looked around for someone to have a little pity and sympathy to him, David said, “I found none” (verse 20). Instead of sympathy, David only found more insults and pain!
So the King of Israel prays the Lord would be his retribution. “It is mine to avenge,” declares our Lord in Deuteronomy 32:35, “I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.” David calls on the Lord to do what He has promised to the enemies of the Lord’s anointed. We may not be comfortable with the language, and certainly Jesus told us to forgive our enemies (Matthew 6:12 and Luke 23:34), David asked for his enemies to have their names “blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous” (verse 28). In other words, David is asking for the Lord to put them under eternal judgment. In our terms: send them to Hell. Ouch.
Without going into too much detail on this part, we must always remember David’s position and the extremity of the sins committed against not only him but the Lord. These were not just minor irritants; these were attacks against the God-anointed King of Israel. To attack David was to attack Israel. To attack Israel was to attack the apple of His eye. That means it wasn’t a good idea to attack Israel. It would be easy to follow a trail into theological backwoods of this promise of defense extending to the church but that’s not really the point of the Psalm or this section of it.
Look at verse 29: “But as for me, afflicted and in pain—may your salvation, God, protect me.” Our pain and torment is real and God can take us speaking harshly like David did but it is always fascinating to notice that through his tears, he comes back to the place of praise. The crux of what David is saying here is the Lord is His salvation—his deliverer. In the form of a prayer, David asks the Lord to protect or defend him.
Isn’t that a prayer we need to pray sometimes? Aren’t there moments in your life when the pain and torment cause us to “pray down fire” instead of praying down peace on someone’s head? In those moments we must remember verse 29: ”may your salvation, God, protect me.”
When the ache dished out on our hearts by others is overwhelmin
g, “may your salvation, God, protect me.”
When the pain is overwhelming and the tears won’t seem to stop, “may your salvation, God, protect me.”
When you don’t know how to respond to those tearing you down, “may your salvation, God, protect me.”
Even in the pain we look up and remember the words of Jesus “I am with you always, to the end of the age” and we remember the victory that is already ours.
Verse 1
Come and see His glory come just as you are
Come and hear the story of His heart
God so loved His children He gave His only Son
That we might be forgiven death has been overcome
Verse 2
Come you tired and weary come just as you are
Come and let His mercy heal your heart
God so loved His children He gave His only Son
That we might be forgiven death has been overcome
Bridge
Holy holy holy is the Lord our God
Mighty King of Glory You have rescued us
Chorus
Hallelujah hallelujah
You are the God of our salvation
You have conquered You have risen
You are the God of our salvation
“God of Our Salvation”
Phil Wickham
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Life Meets Theology 