Save me, God, for the water has risen to my neck. Psalm 69:1
Save me, God,
for the water has risen to my neck.
Psalm 69 Title
CSB
A Plea for Rescue
CEV
God Can Be Trusted
ICB, NLV
A Cry for Help
TPT
A Cry of Distress
ISV
When God Seems Distant
NKJV
An Urgent Plea for Help in Trouble
NRSV
Prayer for Deliverance from Persecution
For the 2nd time (Psalm 41 is the first) we have a Psalm entitled "upon the lilies." In this we have the lily among thorns, the lily of the valley, fair and beautiful, blooming in the garden of Gethsemane.
This points to the beauty of the subject treated of.
- E. W. Hengstenberg.
-Ps 69:1 (ISV)
This Psalm is an individual lament.
It is also prophetic, about Christ; alluded to:
v. 4 -They hated me without cause
v. 7 -For I have endured insults
v. 8 -I have become a stranger
v. 9 -Zeal for your house
v. 21 -They gave me vinegar
v. 25 -Your house is left to you desolate
Save me, O God; For the waters are come in unto my soul. (KJV)
Hebrews 5:7 reflects on this, for Christ:
During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
God wants our desperate prayers. Our loved ones simply can't handle this transparency.
Hebrews 5:7 illustrates Jesus doing this.
Save me, God! I am about to drown. (CEV)
Spurgeon:
Our trials like waters.
I. They should be kept out of the heart.
II. There are, however, leaks which admit them.
III. Take note when the hold is filling.
IV. Use the pumps, and cry for help.
The waters that come in are afflictions of the soul:
-Things that hurt, grieve, and break our hearts.
-Anguish, grief, misery, sorrow, and distress.
-Worry, depression, anxiety, and panic.
Jesus redeems us, he saves us from drowning.
Psalm 69 is an urgent plea to God, by a man in distress, in crisis; for deliverance from persecution, when God seems distant.
All of this has come upon him for doing no wrong, but for publicly backing God's cause.
"To stand with Christ means to bear His reproach, to share in His sufferings, and to live at His cross. To stand with Christ means to stand against this world-system. It is to do battle in His name by the power of the Holy Spirit ...Where people are willing to risk rejection, financial loss, family upset, and ecclesiastical disdain, there is a corresponding openness to the Spirit and freedom before God."
-Don Williams, Psalms 1-72, The Communicators Commentary
How are you doing with expressing your anguish to God?
When waters come into your soul, when your spirit becomes oppressed, when you are becoming alarmed, when your mind is penetrated by fear or doubt, and your faith is under attack; turn to prayer, loud or silent.
"Save me!"
Save me, God,
for the water has risen to my neck.
Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. (KJV)
Neck = life = soul
Afflictions of the soul:
-Things that hurt, grieve, and break our hearts.
-Anguish, grief, misery, sorrow, and distress.
-Worry, depression, anxiety, and panic.
Psalm 69 is the most quoted Psalm in the NT.
Applicable to Christ followers today.
The enemy's opposition is like drowning waters.
And we call out to God for deliverance.
-Psalm 69:1
We are each involved in the divine romance.
We are God's beloved.
We are asking God to deliver us from being destroyed and to punish the enemy.
In love, and at war.
Flowers on the battlefield.
Salvation is an event and a process.
Be real.
Just pray.
Prayer doesn't have to be eloquent.
No words sometimes.
Request, petition, lament.
With thanks, which might be hard.
Persevere.
Be shamelessly audacious.
Lament.
Stoicism is not faith.
You can be persevering, while complaining to God.
Be honest.
This is happening.
Humbly asking to be saved again and again is part of the life.
Having troubles and needing help is normal.
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