Psalms of David
“The Lord hears the needy.” This was the standout verse when I did my Lectio Divina on Psalm 69. This on one level is a typical lamenting psalm in that it uses an extended metaphor of a drowning man to describe the prayer of someone who is being persecuted for being faithful to God.
Psalms in Book 2 are like Book 1 in that they are mostly lament and distress although they now include a communal voice in addition to the singular voice of the first book.
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The books of Psalms are roughly themed like this:
Book 1: Psalms 1 – 41: God is beside us.
Book 2: Psalms 42 – 72: God goes before us
Book 3: Psalms 73 – 89: God is all around us.
Book 4: Psalms 90 – 106: God is above us.
Book 5: Psalms 107 – 150: God is among us.
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.
69 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.
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?5 O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
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 dishonour through me,
O God of Israel.
7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonour has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons.
9 For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.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.
14 Deliver me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
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.
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!19 You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonour;
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.
22 Let their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
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.
29 But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!30 I will praise the name of God with a song;
Psalm 69 ESVUK
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
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.
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.
Here in West Yorkshire, UK, there is a festival every year, the Wakefield Food, Drink and Rhubarb Festival, often shortened to the Rhubarb Festival, (taking place from 16th to 18th February 2024 for those who would like to visit) and celebrates the start of the forced rhubarb harvest. Rhubarb is forced by adding well-rotted manure or fertiliser around the roots and keeping all light out. It leads to a softer, sweeter and earlier crop.
Like forced rhubarb, Psalm 69 is about flourishing in the dark.
I said this was a typical lament, but the psalm is structured so that the lament section comes twice. There is a cry for help from a drowning man, using a mixed metaphor of drowning in the ocean or in a miry pit, from verses 1 to 4, and a section on David being reproached following in verses 5 to 12. This is then repeated with another cry from the drowning man and another reproach section. (Verses 13-18 and 19-29). The song ends in praise in the last seven verses.
If a Christian were to echo sentiments such as those written by David in Psalm 69 in a church in their own words, so that the source was not evident, I am sure that it would not be long before some of their fellow worshippers, even a leader, tell them they need more faith, putting the burden onto the hurting people. I have heard people say, “If you are feeling far from God, guess who’s moved,” It is quite possible that nobody has moved and I find this sort of advice abusive. Someone told me that because it could be true for some people it is OK to say it. My understanding is that it is so often abusive, even when the person saying it has good motivation, that words like this should never be said. I have had this said to me in the past when suffering from depression so that instead of seeking psychiatric help I turned inward in self-loathing. My hint is that you should never blame the victim. Sadly churches can be good at victim blaming.
We need people to lament. They need people who will listen. Laments can be prophetic, as Psalm 69 is, but I am not restricting laments being prophetic to the verses in the Bible. By not listening to people lamenting we could be refusing to listen to the voice of God.
Psalm 69 as prophesy of Jesus
There are a number of places where New Testament writers use words from this psalm as prophesy pointing towards Jesus:
| John 15:24 | Uses 69:4 to point to Jesus being hated without cause. |
| John 2:17 | Uses 69:9a to point to Jesus’ zeal for the temple at the cleansing of the Temple. |
| Romans 15:3 | Uses 69:9b to point out that those who hated Jesus hated God also. |
| Matthew 27:34, 48; Mark 15:36; Luke 23:36; John 19:28-29 | From 69:21 – Jesus is given vinegar to drink on the cross. |
| Romans 11:9-10 | Uses 69:22-23 to show that the grace under Jesus Christ is greater than works under the Jewish law. |
| Acts 1:20 | Uses 69:25 when speaking about Judas Iscariot when electing his replacement in the 12 apostles. |
Biblical lament is so often prophetic that it would seem to me that speaking through lament is one of the things that God does. By trying to make all parts of all our services positive and happy I believe that we are closing a way that God speaks. I pray that God’s church will relearn to lament, both privately and in public and more clearly hear the voice of God in our laments.
Psalm 69 as help in a dark place
It would be wrong to think that prophesy is the only reason Psalm 69 is in the Bible, what would it have meant to its original readers? It is so easy for Christians to see Psalm 69 quoted in the New Testament in relation to Jesus Christ and think that this is the only thing this psalm speaks about, but we need to look at the reason for the lament.
The mixed metaphor of David drowning in the sea and sinking in a bog hole shows that this is not literal: This is not the prayer of a drowning man but symbolic of someone who is overwhelmed by everything that is going on.
The bog hole metaphor was used in Psalm 40. As Psalm 70, the next psalm, is the final verses of Psalm 40, so there is a connection between the two songs.
This feeling of overwhelm is something I feel when I am having an autistic meltdown, but also felt when I was depressed. I am choosing to concentrate on depression here, because it will relate to more people than just autistics, although the high suicide rate in autistic people shows it is more common in this group. Dealing with people with depression is also something that the church is bad at, particularly those areas of the church that demand worshippers should be happy.
Here are some misconceptions about depression which are found in society at large, but also in the church.
| Misconception | Reality |
|---|---|
| Depression is a sin (also you are failing to trust God). | Depression is an illness, not a sin. Serious mental illness, like depression need treatment, not condemnation. |
| Depression is punishment from God. | Depression is not caused by unconfesed sin. It is not the fault of the person who is suffering. I consider victim blaming to be a sin. |
| Depresion will go away if you have enough faith. | Depression is a serious mental illness, it will not be cured by praying harder. There is no shame with a depressed Christian seeking medication. |
| People with depression are unstable. | Some people with deep depression may need to step back from certain tasks but others are capable of continuing to work. |
| It is shameful to discuss mental health openly. | A church community should be a safe environment to discuss mental illness openly. Depressed poeple should receive as kind a response from Christians as they do from Jesus. |
| You can always tell when someone has depression by outward apearences. | You cannot always tell when someone is depressed from outward apearences. Some people are so good at covering it up you would thinkthey were always happy. |
| It is OK to talk about other people’s depression without them knowing. | Absolutely not. You may think you are giving other people knowledge so that they can be sensitive, but this is a serious breach of a person’s confidence.Prayers and prayer requests should be respectful, not opportunities for gossip. |
| Depression is an excuse for lazyness. | People who are depressed are already dealing with enough without being shamed for not doing enough. Your relationship with God is more important than what you are doing. |
| Depression is not real. | Depression is real, It impacts the brain’s ability to function as it should. The idea that depression is not real prevents many people from getting help. |
It is OK for you to be open about hoe you are feeling if you are depressed. It is OK for depressed people to be open about how they are feeling. Stifling their voice could be shutting out the prophetic voice of God.
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Making an ass of myself 
Yes. I was booked at the mention of the rhubarb festival and then seriously challenged by recognising the poor response that I and the church often have to anxiety and depression. So much more in this as well. Thank you.