Latest / LifeAudio / Praying Christian Women - 505 Praying Through Psalms 69: When the Waters Are Up to Your Neck!

Transcript

Praying Christian Women - 505 Praying Through Psalms 69: When the Waters Are Up to Your Neck! · LifeAudio

0:02
Speaker 1: Life Audio Hi there, and welcome to another Prayer Through
0:07
Speaker 1: the Psalms episode of the Praying Christian Women podcast. I'm Jamie,
0:12
Speaker 1: and I'm excited to be back. We've taken a long
0:14
Speaker 1: hiatus from our Prayers Through the Psalms over the summer
0:18
Speaker 1: and kind of into the fall, and I'm really excited
0:21
Speaker 1: to bring back these weekly devotions because it's a highlight
0:25
Speaker 1: of my week, and I hope it's a highlight of yours.
0:28
Speaker 1: We are into Psalm 69. So we've done 68 Psalms
0:32
Speaker 1: before now. So we're just moving through them. And this
0:37
Speaker 1: one is kind of a long one. And some of
0:41
Speaker 1: the passages are going to be familiar to you because
0:45
Speaker 1: they're quoted a lot in reference to Jesus' suffering on
0:49
Speaker 1: the cross. And some of them have familiar imagery about
0:55
Speaker 1: sinking in the muck and the mire. I particularly love
0:59
Speaker 1: the Psalms that talk about sinking because I have a
1:03
Speaker 1: very vivid object lesson kind of from our time in Alaska.
1:08
Speaker 1: So when we get into the actual text of this chapter,
1:13
Speaker 1: you'll notice it talks about sinking into the mud and
1:15
Speaker 1: then it talks about being in the water up to
1:17
Speaker 1: my neck. And there's a very sad and scary but
1:23
Speaker 1: true situation in Alaska. So I believe Alaska has, if
1:28
Speaker 1: not the largest tide gradient and fastest incoming and outgoing
1:34
Speaker 1: tides of anywhere in the world, at least one of
1:37
Speaker 1: the quickest change of tides and one of the most
1:42
Speaker 1: large tide gradients of anywhere on the planet, which means
1:46
Speaker 1: that when the tide goes out, it goes out quickly
1:49
Speaker 1: and it goes out a lot. And when the tide
1:52
Speaker 1: comes in, it comes in quickly and it comes in
1:54
Speaker 1: a lot and way faster than anyone that doesn't have
1:57
Speaker 1: experience with it will expect it to. In addition to this,
2:02
Speaker 1: which can be dangerous for someone trying to cross an
2:04
Speaker 1: area of a stream or a river or body of
2:08
Speaker 1: water that looks like it's actual solid ground, even if
2:13
Speaker 1: it's just regular solid ground and you're going across and
2:15
Speaker 1: the tide comes in quickly, it can take you by surprise.
2:17
Speaker 1: They actually have something called a bore tide that comes
2:21
Speaker 1: different heights at different times. People actually will surf it
2:24
Speaker 1: on the tourniquet arm. And it is just a large,
2:29
Speaker 1: basically where the incoming and outgoing tide meet, and it
2:32
Speaker 1: forms kind of a little, like a wave. And it
2:34
Speaker 1: can be a large wave, it can be a middle-sized
2:36
Speaker 1: wave or a small wave, but it carries surfers, so
2:39
Speaker 1: it's significant. So basically, you gotta be careful. But if
2:43
Speaker 1: that weren't enough of the tide coming in quickly and
2:45
Speaker 1: going out quickly, we have something interesting we have glacial
2:50
Speaker 1: silt that forms mudflats. So if you think of cornstarch,
2:55
Speaker 1: it's what's called a non-Newtonian fluid. So when you step
2:58
Speaker 1: on it, when you smack it with your hand, it
3:01
Speaker 1: becomes solid. And when you let it go, it just
3:03
Speaker 1: kind of like turns back into sort of a mushy liquid.
3:09
Speaker 1: I you know, kids will play with it and stuff. Well,
3:15
Speaker 1: picture something like this with very, very fine particles formed
3:18
Speaker 1: by glaciers coming down mountains and turning soil and rock
3:23
Speaker 1: into tiny, tiny, fine, fine grains of particles. And because
3:28
Speaker 1: they're so tiny and fine, like cornstarch, when they mix
3:31
Speaker 1: with water, they form basically quicksand is what it ends
3:35
Speaker 1: up being. So when there's absolutely no water and you
3:39
Speaker 1: have a completely low tide, It might feel solid as
3:44
Speaker 1: you're walking on it. You can kind of see a
3:45
Speaker 1: little bit of liquid in it, but just a little
3:48
Speaker 1: bit of liquid, a little bit of water coming up
3:51
Speaker 1: and it becomes quicksand. So every year someone ends up
3:57
Speaker 1: going out on the mudflats thinking, going for a walk
3:59
Speaker 1: because it looks like open area and a tide will
4:04
Speaker 1: come in way quicker than the person thinks and and
4:07
Speaker 1: they'll get stuck. And what happens is, just like quicksand,
4:10
Speaker 1: the more you struggle, the deeper your feet go into
4:13
Speaker 1: this glacial silt. And as the tide comes in, very sadly,
4:19
Speaker 1: and unfortunately, sometimes people die. It's been known to happen.
4:22
Speaker 1: I don't know when the last time was, but it's
4:24
Speaker 1: probably not even been a handful of years, maybe just
4:27
Speaker 1: a couple of years since someone has died due to
4:29
Speaker 1: going out on the mudflats. All of this to say
4:32
Speaker 1: that what will happen is the tide comes in and
4:35
Speaker 1: the water rises and rises. You can't get your feet out.
4:39
Speaker 1: And eventually it gets up to your neck. And this
4:42
Speaker 1: is the picture I have when I read what David
4:44
Speaker 1: says in this psalm. It's panic and just intense anxiety
4:52
Speaker 1: due to impending doom. So I want you to kind
4:56
Speaker 1: of have this picture, not to be morbid, but in
4:59
Speaker 1: this psalm, The water is up to his neck and
5:02
Speaker 1: he can't get out. He is stuck just like someone
5:06
Speaker 1: who would be stuck in the mudflats would be. If
5:09
Speaker 1: you find yourself in a situation where you're feeling impending doom,
5:13
Speaker 1: maybe it's not life or death, but maybe it's the
5:16
Speaker 1: life or death of your reputation or maybe it's financial
5:20
Speaker 1: ruin or maybe it's a health condition that might not
5:25
Speaker 1: be life-threatening but is absolutely scary and devastating. Whatever it
5:31
Speaker 1: happens to be, whatever your struggle, I want you to
5:34
Speaker 1: put yourself in the position of David. And then I
5:36
Speaker 1: want you to experience the progression from this desperation into
5:42
Speaker 1: expression of his raw, true feelings. Because he, more than
5:47
Speaker 1: anyone else in the Bible, demonstrates, gives us permission to
5:52
Speaker 1: be angry with God, to be desperate, to feel hopeless,
5:57
Speaker 1: and yet to go to God with those feelings. Let's pray.
6:13
Speaker 1: Let's pray. We just come to you today asking that
6:32
Speaker 1: you would point us to truths in this passage, that
6:36
Speaker 1: you would point us to examples of how we can
6:39
Speaker 1: live our own lives with more authenticity in our relationship
6:43
Speaker 1: with you, with more trust, and just with the freedom
6:48
Speaker 1: to express our raw and true and sometimes untidy emotions
6:53
Speaker 1: to you through prayer. We just pray that if there
6:56
Speaker 1: are any barriers between us and reading your word and
7:00
Speaker 1: hearing from your Holy Spirit, that you would just break
7:03
Speaker 1: them down in Jesus' name. We confess any sin, whether
7:08
Speaker 1: it's sin in our thoughts, in our words, in our actions,
7:12
Speaker 1: whether it's sin we're aware of or sin we're not
7:14
Speaker 1: aware of. We pray that you would take it from us.
7:18
Speaker 1: We lay it at the feet of Jesus because we can,
7:20
Speaker 1: because he died to pay the penalty for those sins.
7:25
Speaker 1: And you've promised to remove them as far as the
7:27
Speaker 1: East is from the West. And that when you look
7:30
Speaker 1: at us, you see your son. You see purity. And
7:34
Speaker 1: you're able to commune with us in a way that
7:36
Speaker 1: would not be possible without Jesus. So we thank you
7:40
Speaker 1: for the gift of Jesus as well. And for the
7:42
Speaker 1: gift of your word. And we just pray that you
7:44
Speaker 1: would bless this time of meditation on your word and prayer.
7:49
Speaker 1: And we just pray that your word would go out
7:52
Speaker 1: today and not return empty. In Jesus' name, amen. All right,
7:58
Speaker 1: let's read this Psalm. This is a long one, I'm
8:01
Speaker 1: warning you, but it's really, really good. So hang in there.
8:05
Speaker 1: Psalm 69. And as usual, this is from the NASB,
8:09
Speaker 1: the New American Standard Bible, 1995. I just really like
8:12
Speaker 1: this translation to read the Psalms. It says, a cry
8:16
Speaker 1: of distress and imprecation on adversaries. This is the first
8:21
Speaker 1: time I've seen this in a description. Imprecation is an
8:26
Speaker 1: imprecatory prayer. or basically calling down God's wrath on enemies.
8:31
Speaker 1: And we've talked about this. Actually, Praying Christian Women has
8:36
Speaker 1: episodes that address imprecatory prayers and whether or not it's
8:39
Speaker 1: appropriate to call down curses on our enemies. You can look,
8:44
Speaker 1: you know, Google that, look into it, see what you think,
8:48
Speaker 1: come to your own conclusions. Not everything that's demonstrated in
8:53
Speaker 1: the Bible is for everyone. On the other hand, prayer.
8:58
Speaker 1: It's God's word. And I feel like we pray the
9:01
Speaker 1: Psalms as our own prayers. Some of them will inevitably
9:06
Speaker 1: be imprecatory. We've seen them before. I've just never seen
9:10
Speaker 1: it written in a description from the Bible. So this
9:13
Speaker 1: is for the choir director, according to Shoshanim, which means
9:18
Speaker 1: the lilies, possibly, which some people think is in reference
9:23
Speaker 1: to the tune that it was to be sung to,
9:26
Speaker 1: which again, Like to be able to hear these Psalms
9:30
Speaker 1: sung would be incredible, but we can't. Not until heaven.
9:35
Speaker 1: And it is a Psalm of David. So this is
9:37
Speaker 1: definitely attributed to David. Save me, O God, for the
9:41
Speaker 1: waters have threatened my life. I have sunk deep in
9:45
Speaker 1: mire or mudflats, if you want to sort of swap
9:49
Speaker 1: that out in your head. And there is no foothold.
9:53
Speaker 1: I have come into deep waters and a flood overflows me.
9:57
Speaker 1: I'm weary with my crying. My throat is parched. my
10:00
Speaker 1: eyes fail while i wait for my god those who
10:03
Speaker 1: hate me without a cause are more than the hairs
10:06
Speaker 1: of my head those who would destroy me are powerful
10:09
Speaker 1: being wrongfully my enemies what i did not steal i
10:13
Speaker 1: then have to restore So this first part is just
10:17
Speaker 1: talking about that feeling of being overwhelmed. And it says,
10:21
Speaker 1: my eyes fail while I wait for my God. It's
10:23
Speaker 1: this picture of looking. I remember when I was a
10:25
Speaker 1: kid and I would look for the school bus coming
10:27
Speaker 1: to the bus stop. And my dad was way taller
10:30
Speaker 1: than me. And so he would see it before I
10:32
Speaker 1: would see it coming. He also, I think, had better
10:34
Speaker 1: eyesight than me. And so it's kind of like David
10:38
Speaker 1: just waiting, waiting on God. and just his eyes are
10:42
Speaker 1: just getting tired from straining and looking and hoping, you know,
10:45
Speaker 1: every moment he thinks God's going to come. Meanwhile, the
10:49
Speaker 1: waters are coming higher and higher and higher, and there
10:52
Speaker 1: is no foothold. These mud flats are sucking his feet in,
10:56
Speaker 1: so he can't swim away. Oh God, it is you
10:59
Speaker 1: who knows my folly, and my wrongs are not hidden
11:02
Speaker 1: from you. May those who wait for you not be
11:05
Speaker 1: ashamed through me, oh God, God of hosts. May those
11:09
Speaker 1: who seek you not be dishonored through me, O God
11:12
Speaker 1: of Israel, because for your sake I have borne reproach.
11:16
Speaker 1: Dishonor has covered my face. I've become estranged from my
11:20
Speaker 1: brothers and an alien to my mother's sons. Or zeal
11:24
Speaker 1: for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of
11:28
Speaker 1: those who reproach you have fallen on me. And I'm
11:30
Speaker 1: going to note right here, zeal for your house has
11:32
Speaker 1: consumed me is often quoted in verses parallel with Jesus
11:38
Speaker 1: overthrowing the tables in the temple when the tax collectors
11:44
Speaker 1: and the thieves were in the temple, cheating the people
11:47
Speaker 1: of God. That is John 2, 17, after Jesus cleanses
11:52
Speaker 1: the temple. His disciples remember this scripture from this psalm,
11:56
Speaker 1: zeal for your house will consume me. I wept in
11:59
Speaker 1: my soul with fasting. It became my reproach. When I
12:03
Speaker 1: made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
12:06
Speaker 1: Those who sit in the gate talk about me, and
12:09
Speaker 1: I am the song of the drunkards. But as for me,
12:12
Speaker 1: my prayer is to you, O Lord, at an acceptable time.
12:16
Speaker 1: And here the tide turns a little bit where he's
12:20
Speaker 1: laying his case out. He's feeling overwhelmed. He's been falsely accused.
12:25
Speaker 1: He is sitting on debt that he didn't incur that
12:28
Speaker 1: he now has to pay back. So there might be
12:30
Speaker 1: a financial or Maybe it's symbolic of another kind of
12:34
Speaker 1: debt that he's in. And basically he is in this
12:40
Speaker 1: place of utter despair. And yet he says, but as
12:43
Speaker 1: for me, no matter what happens, no matter what trials
12:47
Speaker 1: and tribulations are piled up and heaped on me, as
12:51
Speaker 1: for me, as a child of God, my prayer is
12:54
Speaker 1: to you, God, in the greatness of your loving kindness,
12:57
Speaker 1: answer me with your saving truth. Deliver me from the mire.
13:02
Speaker 1: Do not let me sink. May I be delivered from
13:05
Speaker 1: my foes and from the deep waters. May the flood
13:08
Speaker 1: of water not overflow me, nor the deep swallow me up,
13:12
Speaker 1: nor the pit shut its mouth on me, saying, Do
13:15
Speaker 1: not rescue me before I drown. I'm so close to
13:19
Speaker 1: drowning right now, but I need you and I believe
13:21
Speaker 1: in you to save me before I drown. Answer me,
13:24
Speaker 1: O Lord, for your loving kindness is good. According to
13:27
Speaker 1: the greatness of your compassion, turn to me and do
13:29
Speaker 1: not hide your face from your servant, for I am
13:32
Speaker 1: in distress. Answer me quickly. Oh, draw near to my
13:36
Speaker 1: soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.
13:40
Speaker 1: You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor.
13:43
Speaker 1: All my adversaries are before you. Reproach has broken my
13:47
Speaker 1: heart and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy,
13:50
Speaker 1: but there was none. And for comforters, but I found none.
13:54
Speaker 1: They also gave me gall for my food. And for
13:57
Speaker 1: my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink. Again, this
14:00
Speaker 1: is another reflection in the New Testament back to this
14:04
Speaker 1: psalm when Jesus is offered vinegar when he's on the cross.
14:08
Speaker 1: May their table before them become a snare. And when
14:10
Speaker 1: they are in peace, may it become a trap. May
14:13
Speaker 1: their eyes grow dim so they cannot see. This is
14:15
Speaker 1: our imprecatory prayer. And make their loins shake continually. Pour
14:20
Speaker 1: out your indignation on them. And may your burning anger
14:23
Speaker 1: overtake them. May their camp be desolate. A little caution here.
14:26
Speaker 1: This is David being very raw. And as I said,
14:28
Speaker 1: there are things in the Bible like Solomon and other kings,
14:54
Speaker 1: you know, David committing adultery just because he committed adultery
14:56
Speaker 1: and was called a man of God's own heart doesn't
14:59
Speaker 1: necessarily mean that committing adultery is right, right? It goes
15:03
Speaker 1: against the Ten Commandments. It goes against God's best. Just
15:07
Speaker 1: because Solomon had tons of horses and chariots, even though
15:12
Speaker 1: the law said not to, and had multiple wives, even
15:14
Speaker 1: though the law said not to, it's still in the Bible.
15:17
Speaker 1: So I would caution praying that someone would go to hell.
15:21
Speaker 1: This is pretty much what this is saying. This is pre-Jesus.
15:25
Speaker 1: So their understanding of Sheol and of death was a
15:28
Speaker 1: little different. But here he's saying there's a book of life.
15:32
Speaker 1: To me, it looks like he's foreshadowing. I'm not a
15:34
Speaker 1: scholar on the Jewish understanding of the afterlife. There's Abraham's bosom,
15:39
Speaker 1: and then there's the abyss, which is in a parable
15:42
Speaker 1: of Jesus that kind of fleshed that out a little bit.
15:45
Speaker 1: But he's talking about a book of life. And he's saying,
15:47
Speaker 1: blot them out of the book of life. Basically, let
15:51
Speaker 1: them go to hell. And I would really caution, as
15:54
Speaker 1: you are incorporating these psalms into your prayer life, to
15:57
Speaker 1: look into this. Talk to a pastor. I'm not a theologian,
16:01
Speaker 1: but I do know that in one of our episodes,
16:04
Speaker 1: Alana and I talk about imprecatory prayer. I think our
16:08
Speaker 1: understanding of this needs to be taken in context because
16:13
Speaker 1: in Matthew 5, 43 to 44, it says, You've heard
16:16
Speaker 1: that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and
16:18
Speaker 1: hate your enemy. But I, Jesus, say to you, love
16:21
Speaker 1: your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. David
16:24
Speaker 1: was operating under Old Testament wisdom. And David was also,
16:30
Speaker 1: the enemies that were coming against him were coming against
16:33
Speaker 1: the God of Israel and his nation as well. And
16:37
Speaker 1: I don't have a good answer for you other than
16:40
Speaker 1: I personally don't believe that praying for someone to be
16:43
Speaker 1: cut off from the possibility of salvation is biblical. I'm
16:47
Speaker 1: going to leave it at that. I'm going to let
16:48
Speaker 1: you dig into it because there are some who say
16:51
Speaker 1: praying the imprecatory Psalms is fine. There are others such
16:55
Speaker 1: as C.S. Lewis who doesn't necessarily agree with that. So
17:00
Speaker 1: should we read God's word? Can we pray God's word? Absolutely.
17:04
Speaker 1: But when we do, the way I address this is
17:10
Speaker 1: I look at my enemy with a capital E as
17:15
Speaker 1: Satan and his minions. who are already condemned to hell.
17:19
Speaker 1: There's no way they can get out of that. That
17:21
Speaker 1: has been decreed and his destiny and their destiny is hell.
17:26
Speaker 1: So as I pray this Psalm, the way I would
17:30
Speaker 1: pray it would be to think my enemy is not
17:35
Speaker 1: flesh and blood, just like we learn in Ephesians. The
17:39
Speaker 1: battle is not against flesh and blood. It's about the principalities,
17:43
Speaker 1: the evil forces that set themselves up against God. So
17:46
Speaker 1: that's how I handle this. If this question has piqued
17:49
Speaker 1: your interest, I would really love for you to speak
17:52
Speaker 1: to someone who is a theologian to give you some
17:55
Speaker 1: insights or look further in scripture for your answers and
17:59
Speaker 1: go to God with that. So anyway, no more time
18:02
Speaker 1: on that. But I just I had to say that.
18:04
Speaker 1: That's one. It's one thing to pray that God would
18:07
Speaker 1: turn the traps of your enemies against them. I think
18:10
Speaker 1: that's perfectly fine if the situation calls for it so
18:13
Speaker 1: that they are ensnared in their own sin. I think
18:16
Speaker 1: that's biblical, even New Testament biblical. But I do not
18:19
Speaker 1: think praying for someone to go to hell is biblical
18:23
Speaker 1: from what we know of who Jesus is. Okay. But
18:26
Speaker 1: I am afflicted and in pain. May your salvation, O God,
18:29
Speaker 1: and this is verse 29 that I'm picking back up on.
18:31
Speaker 1: May your salvation, O God, set me securely on high.
18:35
Speaker 1: I will praise the name of God with song and
18:37
Speaker 1: magnify him with thanksgiving. And it will please the Lord
18:40
Speaker 1: better than an ox or a young bull with horns
18:42
Speaker 1: and hooves. The humble have seen it and are glad.
18:46
Speaker 1: You who seek God, let your heart revive. For the
18:48
Speaker 1: Lord hears the needy and does not despise his who
18:51
Speaker 1: are prisoners. So here we go. He is afflicted. He's
18:55
Speaker 1: in pain. But he's saying, God, you are my savior.
18:58
Speaker 1: You're my salvation. Let that lift me up out of
19:01
Speaker 1: the muck and mire and set me. Kind of like
19:03
Speaker 1: the other psalm that talks about setting my feet upon
19:06
Speaker 1: a solid rock. set me securely on high. Let heaven
19:10
Speaker 1: and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves
19:13
Speaker 1: in them. For God will save Zion and build the
19:16
Speaker 1: cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.
19:19
Speaker 1: The descendants of his servants will inherit it, and those
19:22
Speaker 1: who love his name will dwell in it. And here
19:25
Speaker 1: he brings it all together. At the very end, after
19:29
Speaker 1: railing and raging and complaining and praying imprecatory prayers, he
19:34
Speaker 1: is saying, let heaven and earth praise him. Let the
19:37
Speaker 1: sea and everything that moves in him. So he's talking
19:39
Speaker 1: about the very thing that was about to swallow him
19:41
Speaker 1: up and kill him. Let even those things reflect back
19:45
Speaker 1: on God and praise him. So my word to you
19:49
Speaker 1: today is, God is bigger than even the things that
19:54
Speaker 1: are threatening to swallow you up because he's a redeemer
19:58
Speaker 1: of everything. So that even those things that are right
20:01
Speaker 1: now working against you, like the sea that's threatening by
20:05
Speaker 1: coming right up to your neck, he's bigger than all
20:08
Speaker 1: of it. And he can redeem it and not just
20:12
Speaker 1: lift you out of it, but turn even those difficult situations,
20:17
Speaker 1: and I dare say even people, back to himself to
20:21
Speaker 1: bring glory to him. Let's pray. Father God, we praise
20:26
Speaker 1: you for being a redeemer. We pray not only that
20:30
Speaker 1: you would lift us up out of the muck and
20:32
Speaker 1: the mire, the glacial silt that surrounds our feet and
20:36
Speaker 1: keeps us from being able to escape, that you would
20:39
Speaker 1: not only get us out of it, but that you
20:41
Speaker 1: would redeem it and reclaim it for yourself, God, for
20:44
Speaker 1: your good purposes, for our good purposes. In Jesus' name, amen.
20:53
Speaker 1: We'd like to take just a quick second to thank
20:55
Speaker 1: the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us
20:58
Speaker 1: on the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you will
21:01
Speaker 1: find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've
21:05
Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and so much more.
21:09
Speaker 1: That's lifeaudio.com.