“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.” (Psalm 69:1–3, ESV)
“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” This is a commonly
used phrase that seems to be used to support extreme responses in the face of
extreme circumstances. The origins of this might go back to Hippocrates who was
a physician living 400 years before the birth of Christ. In “Aphorisms” he wrote,
"For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure….” While medically there
might be a need to take more extreme measures than otherwise might have been
sought when the life of the individual is at risk, this phrase has been
extended to a support a form of moral relativism which supports taking actions
that would normally be considered unacceptable and even unconscionable and/or
unlawful. It seems to say that it all rests on us, and we must do what we can
to bring it about.
But is this really how the Christian is supposed to live? In
psalm 69 we find David crying out to God in desperation in the face of his
enemies. According to these words in verses 1 through 3 and the rest of the psalm
David saw no escape and he was crying out to God for deliverance. I don’t know
about you, but I can really relate to the cry of David these verses. There are
times when I don’t see any possible solution to the situation facing me, and
this after trying to poke in every corner in an effort to find an escape or an immediate
answer. We have this phrase, “in over our heads,” and I think David is
admitting that he is in one of those over his head times, where not only is he
struggling to keep his head above water, but the very ground under him is
collapsing and he feels himself sinking even deeper. And as we read from these
verses this was not a momentary thing, but one of an extended duration wherein
he had grown extremely tired of crying out for help even to the point of him becoming
almost unable to utter another word and his eyes unable to see any hope. And
this was true even in relation to God. This was David’s heartfelt condition and
the place from where he started this psalm.
But as it is with a number of the psalms of David (and
others) when he came to God in the midst of a great struggle, the story did not
end there. In the verses which follow we find David bringing his struggle under
God’s wise and attentive watch care and His strong and powerful hands. In verse
5, he speaks about God’s knowledge of his mistakes and his foolish actions
with, “O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from
you.” (Psalm 69:5, ESV) And he follows it with a prayer that his situation
would not have caused others to stumble before God. Even in his proper insistence
that people turn to God it has given cause for others to sit in the gates of
the city and mock him.
But David remains persistent in turning his eyes to God in
prayer and resting in God’s hands for deliverance in His proper time. In verse
13 he continues, “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.” (Psalm 69:13, ESV) And
then he repeats the cry of verses 1-3, “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.”
(Psalm 69:14–15, ESV)
While David had just acknowledged that God would move in His
time to act for David’s salvation, David again cries out to God for deliverance
and even speedy deliverance at that, for he saw his situation as truly
desperate. “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.
Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!” (Psalm
69:16–18, ESV)
And so the psalm continues as David reflects on the
desperate nature of his situation and God who was his savior, forgiver, and
deliverer. As the psalm draws to a close David’s eyes have regained hope even
in the midst of the miry muck. While his head may have still have been barely
above water, he committed to singing praises with every breath he had.
“I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify
him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord
more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. 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. Let heaven and earth praise him, the
seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion and build up the
cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; the offspring of
his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.”
(Psalm 69:30–36, ESV)
Tough times press us in every way, and there are so many
things which we encounter in our lives that push us up to what seems to be the
very last moment when short of some extreme intervention the whole of our
existence might collapse around us. These are truly desperate times, but they
are also times when rather than taking desperate measures we should rather cry
out to our God in our desperation and plead to Him for His deliverance. While
we don’t know what form it might take, we do know that He is near and that He
will indeed act. While we may not see the answer at the moment we deem most
necessary, we know that He knows exactly when it is best. And we also know that
He will give us strength to endure until that time.
In this I am mindful of the end of Genesis and the beginning
of Joshua, were Joshua was repeatedly told to be strong and courageous, even
very courageous. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be
frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord
your God is with you wherever you go.”” (Joshua 1:9, ESV)
Another unknown to us psalmist wrote, “A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to
the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will
not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who
keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord
is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the
moon by night. The Lord will keep
you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord
will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and
forevermore.” (Psalm 121, ESV)
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