Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - When The World Hates You | The Writings | Psalm 69

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

How do you respond when people are against you? How should Christian's respond when faced with persecution? How did Jesus respond? In today's episode, Keith shares how Psalm 69, one of the most frequently quoted Psalms in the New Testament, reminds us to trust in God's judgement, not our own. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 69

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Do you ever feel like the world is against you like you just can't catch a break? Do you ever feel like you have enemies in the world? Maybe there are dark spiritual forces that seem to align themselves against you and your well-being. Or maybe it feels like your enemies are other people or circumstances in this world. I think we've all been in that situation at some point.

and if you haven't ever been there, just wait. Very few people escape this life without feeling overwhelmed by their problems. So what do you do and you feel that way? Some people get angry, others get depressed, and still others wallow and self-pity. But what if Psalm 69 shows us another way to handle these all too common situations in life? Psalm 69 starts with David praying for God to save him. Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters. The floods engulf

me. King David is calling out for rescue, and he uses figurative language to describe his situation. The waters are up to his neck. We say he's just keeping his head above the water. It's pretty clear that he's overwhelmed. But there's probably more to it than that. In the Old Testament, the waters are often identified with chaos. Many of the surrounding nations had origin stories about a water god being defeated by a chief god. Also, in the ancient world, it wasn't uncommon for a person suspected of a crime to be thrown into deep water to see if they could prove their innocence by escaping. But even without knowing that ancient context, it's pretty clear that David is struggling. His problems are like the rising water. His feet are sinking into the mud. Verse 3. I am

worn out calling for help. My throat is parched. My eyes fail looking for my God. In this verse, he tells us that he is mentally and emotionally exhausted. He is worn out. He's called out to God so much that he's thirsty. He can't see God. Verse four. Those who hate me without reason, outnumber the hairs on my head. Many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. David has enemies who attack him without cause. Do you ever feel like people have turned against you, even though you don't deserve it? You haven't done anything wrong. If yes, then you can identify with David.

Sometimes we bring difficulties on ourselves because of our foolish choices, but other times people don't have any reason to be against us, and yet they still are. Verse 5, you, God, know my folly. My guilt is not hidden from you. I really like it that David recognizes that although these enemies hate him without reason, that doesn't mean he's without sin. He's willing to examine his own heart and be honest about what he finds there. Two things can be true at the same time. First, these people attacking me are wrong to do so. Second, I have my own sin that I need to deal with. Although we don't know all the specifics,

we do find out more about why David is under attack. Verse 7. I endure scorn for your sake and shame covers my face. Verse 9. For zeal for your house consumes me and the insults of the those who insult you fall on me. So what David is saying is that his suffering is not only undeserved, but he is enduring it as a representative of God. They hate him because they hate God. All of this leaves David terribly discouraged. Verse 19, you know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed. All my enemies are before you. Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless. I looked for sympathy, but there was none. For comforters, but I found none. They put gall my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. In dealing with his enemies, David had hoped to find

some friends, some companionship, but he could find no one to support him in his time of trouble. In fact, the ones he thought might help him only made the situation worse. Instead of food and water, they gave him gall and vinegar. Gau is a poisonous herb. So food sustains, but poison kills. Water would quench his thirst, but they gave him vinegar, which would only intensify it. In his discouragement, David prays that God would rescue him, but then his prayers turn to asking for God's judgment to fall on his enemies. Verse 22, may the table set before them become a snare. May it become retribution and a trap. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever. Pour out your wrath on them. Let your fierce anger overtake them. Finally, the psalm closes with David praising God.

Verse 30, I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with Thanksgiving. So here's King David, who isn't a perfect man, but he is a godly king who loves God and stands up for the weak, and he is facing undeserved persecution at the hands of his enemies who are also the enemies of God. So David the king is turning to God for help and asking God to come and judge his enemies. In one sense, this Psalm can serve as a guide for Christians to seek God's help when they in difficult situations. But there's something else that I find really interesting in Psalm 69. It's one of the most frequently quoted Psalms in all the New Testament. The New Testament authors saw Jesus as the fulfillment of this Psalm. He is the only truly righteous person, and of course, he was

wrongly persecuted and killed because he obeyed his father. In John 15, Jesus tells his disciples, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. But did the world have reason to hate Jesus? They had seen him do good works and speak words, and that should have convinced them that God had sent him. But John 15 says that their hatred of him is fulfilling what is written in the law. They hated me without reason. Well, that quote, they hated me without reason. That's from Psalm 69. In John 217, Jesus cleansed the temple courts and drove out all the money changers,

and the disciples remembered what he had said in Psalm 69, and they applied it to Jesus. They remembered that Psalm 69 said, Zeal for your house will consume me. But perhaps the most striking application of Psalm 69 to Jesus is found in the passion narrative. In the Psalm, David hoped for someone to comfort him, but instead those around him put gall and his food and gave him vinegar for his thirst.

David responded to that by praying for God to judge his enemies. But when Jesus was on the cross and he was given vinegar for his thirst, Instead of calling for judgment on those who crucified him, he prayed, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing. So what are some of the things that we can learn from Psalm 69? Well, first, we can learn that God's justice demands that he judge sin, and that is good. We want a God who judges sin. We want a God who fixes the world, and that means punishing sin and evil. A God who doesn't punish sexual violence or child abuse or racism isn't a good God.

all sin must be paid for, either by Christ's death on the cross or by the one who committed the sin. When Jesus returns, there will be a judgment day, and on that day, every Christian will approve of what God does. We will not be embarrassed of God's justice. That's what David's prayer makes plain. A second thing that we can learn is that Psalm 69 foreshadows the ministry of Jesus. What David experiences as the Lord's anointed king, Jesus will complete. greater ways in his own suffering and death. Jesus' suffering will be saving and condemning. For those who accept it, it will say, for those who are hardened by it, it will condemn. Third, this Psalm gives

us incentive to forgive. We should not take David's prayers for divine judgment to mean that we should curse our enemies or judge them ourselves. Jesus bore our sins, and we should share the good news of forgiveness with everyone we can. Judgment belongs to God, not us. That's why Paul wrote in Romans 12, do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, it is mine to avenge, I will repay, says the Lord. On the contrary, he says to us, if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink, and doing this you heat burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. We follow King Jesus, who you taught us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate you, to bless those who curse you,

to pray for those who persecute you. We leave justice in the hands of God.