Comfort from the Psalms: Psalm 69

I woke up groggy, in pain, and feeling pretty yucky overall. As the morning progressed, my symptoms only worsened. I found myself feeling more discouraged with my limitations. While this is a common occurrence in my fight to heal from chronic infections, I still quickly find myself discouraged, frustrated, and weary. This is not how I wanted my day to go. My frustrations built up and I began to get angry at the world.

I opened my Bible, even though I didn’t really want to read. And as I read Psalm 69, God used the honesty and difficulty to soften and encourage my weary heart. There you find much struggle. And yet hope.

“Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck
I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.”

I must admit, I have thought very similar things in my battle with chronic illness and in facing the difficulties of life in a fallen world. David feels overwhelmed by his terrible circumstances. He's walking through deep waters, and then to make matters worse, a flood sweeps over! He compares himself to sinking in mud where there is no place to plant his feet. He’s drowning in the depths. He questions if God will even come to deliver him.

But what struck me is that David didn’t allow his doubt and despair to turn him away from God. Instead he turns to God in his pain:

“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.”

This is what you and I need to do when we wake up and everything seems to be going wrong. When that phone call brings heartbreaking news that a friend was killed in a car accident. When that emergency car repair left you broke and you aren’t sure how to pay for groceries the rest of the month. When that doctor’s appointment brings a devastating diagnosis. When all around you seems to be falling apart, and there is no one to help or comfort you.

David understands this. He laments, “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.” (v. 20) Do you ever feel completely alone and helpless? Even the divinely-inspired writer of the Psalms did! Yet David continues to cry out to God:

“Deliver me from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Hide not your face from your servant,
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.” (v. 14-17)

In the midst of suffering, it frequently feels like God is far off. So David calls out to God, “Draw near to my soul, redeem me…” (v. 18) He tells God of his distress, even though God already knows and understands everything about him (vs. 19-29). He asks God to save him on the basis of God's faithfulness, love, and mercy (vs. 13, 16).

And then then David remembers where his hope is found. It's not in his circumstances changing, but in God Himself.

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

Even the purpose of God's deliverance is to remind us that HE is the God who saves. Be encouraged that God hears you and that He will answer. Sometimes that answer comes in the form of grace we don't want. "Uncomfortable grace" as Paul Tripp calls it. Nevertheless, it is exactly the grace we need.

"You give the healing and grace
Our hearts always hunger for"
-Wonderful, Merciful Savior