Psalm 69

Prayer for Deliverance from Persecution

To the leader: according to Lilies. Of David.

¹ 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;
    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;
many are those who would destroy me,
    my enemies who accuse me falsely.
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 Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,
    O Lord God of hosts;
do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me,
    O God of Israel.
⁷ It is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
    that shame has covered my face.
⁸ I have become a stranger to my kindred,
    an alien to my mother’s children.

⁹ It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;
    the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
¹⁰ When I humbled my soul with fasting,^[a]
    they insulted me for doing so.
¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing,
    I became a byword to them.
¹² I am the subject of gossip for 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.
With your faithful help ¹⁴ rescue me
    from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
    and from the deep waters.
¹⁵ Do not let 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 Do not hide your face from your servant,
    for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.
¹⁸ Draw near to me; redeem me;
    set me free because of my enemies.

¹⁹ You know the insults I receive
    and my shame and dishonor;
    my foes are all known to you.
²⁰ Insults 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 vinegar to drink.

²² Let their table be a trap for them,
    a snare for their allies.
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 live in their tents.
²⁶ For they persecute those whom you have struck down,
    and those whom you have wounded they attack still more.^[b]
27 Add guilt to their guilt;
    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 lowly and in pain;
    let your salvation, O God, protect me.

³⁰ I will praise the name of God with a song;
    I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
³¹ This will please the Lord more than an ox
    or a bull with horns and hoofs.
³² Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
    you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
³³ For the Lord hears the needy
    and does not despise his own who are in bonds.

³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him,
    the seas and everything that moves in them.
³⁵ For God will save Zion
    and rebuild the cities of Judah,
and his servants shall live^[c] there and possess it;
³⁶     the children of his servants shall inherit it,
    and those who love his name shall live in it.

Dear God, this is the passage for today’s Lenten meditation from Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation. Sister Miriam has us focusing on verse 16, but as I read the psalm this morning, it was verse 6 that struck me:

⁶ Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,
    O Lord God of hosts;
do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me,
    O God of Israel.

I want to love you. I want to love others. But one thing that scares me is leading others who earnestly love you astray. Or leading those who are earnestly seeking you astray. Or just having some failing that comes back on you and on those around me who worship you. I have a friend who is becoming a good friend. He is a pastor. I have my little pieces of theology that go against the grain and can be considered kind of weird. And I could be incredibly wrong. I have found myself regretting saying some things about what I think to him because, if it is heresy, I don’t want to lead him down the wrong path and away from you.

Father, I am about to spend time today with that very friend, a relative, and many other men as we hear encouragement about what boys in our world need to be a man in today’s culture. I confess I am skeptical of the topic and what will be taught. But with this reading today, I want to be careful about how I share that. I want to be careful how I love them, love the boys in my life, and love my own children, who are now grown. I certainly made mistakes in their lives. I might have done things that put a wedge between them and you, I don’t know. But I know that I have this day. This moment. Help me to be very careful in it.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen