#800 The Lilies' Song

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 dishonor through me,

O God of Israel.

7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,

that dishonor 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 dishonor;

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;

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. Psalm 69 ESV

A Psalm of David to the chief musician upon Shoshannim "upon the lilies".

Save me o God - There is a type here that will show both the prayer of David and yet still the Son of David.

…6 And in another passage God says: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” 7 During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered.… Hebrews 5:7

The flood sweeps me over - Oh man of sorrows, acquainted with so much grief, I shall hide my face from You no longer, my heart blesses You. 

…4 At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’ 5 The waters engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; the seaweed wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God!… Jonah 2: 4-6

- Sin is as mire for its filthiness, and the holy soul of the Saviour must have loathed even that connection with it which was necessary for its expiation. His pure and sensitive nature seemed to sink in it, for it was not his element, he was not like us born and acclimatised to this great dismal swamp. Here our Redeemer became another Jeremiah, of whom it is recorded (Jer 38:6) that his enemies cast him into a dungeon wherein "was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." Let our hearts feel the emotions, both of contrition and gratitude, as we see in this simile the deep humiliation of our Lord. I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. The sorrow gathers even greater force; he is as one cast into the sea, the waters go over his head. His sorrows were first within, then around, and now above him. Our Lord was no fainthearted sentimentalist; his were real woes, and though he bore them heroically, yet were they terrible even to him. His sufferings were unlike all others in degree, the waters were such as soaked into the soul; the mire was the mire of the abyss itself, and the floods were deep and overflowing. To us the promise is, "the rivers shall not overflow thee, "but no such word of consolation was vouchsafed to him. My soul, thy Well beloved endured all this for thee. - C.H. Spurgeon

Let not those who hope in You be put to shame through me - If you are the leader then you are a great leader if you realize that your actions or short comings fall upon those beneath you. When David struggled it was important that he struggled through, but it is human nature not to see those who struggle as overcoming, rather we view the struggle as condemnation. Christ would be esteemed as "stricken, smitten of God and afflicted", yet for our transgressions and iniquities. David often suffered for his own sin, but Christ for the sins of others, and this was a stumbling block for the Jews and foolishness to the gentiles. For those who were and are being saved it is the gospel and the power of God for our salvation. 

…5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of Me.” 7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind?… Matthew 11: 5-7

I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons -

-  As David's brethren envied him, and spake evil of him, so our Lord's relatives by birth were jealous of him, and his best beloved followers in the hour of his agony were afraid to be known as having any connection with him. These were sharp arrows of the mighty in the soul of Jesus, the most tender of friends. May none of us ever act as if we were strangers to him; never may we treat him as if he were an alien to us: rather let us resolve to be crucified with him, and may grace turn the resolve into fact. - C. H. Spurgeon

For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up - So few these days can get past their own honor, but what of those who would honor God above all else? What a horrid place this must be or become to them.

 - Thus the Great Mediator was, in this respect, a substitute for God as well as for man, he bore the reproaches aimed at the one, as well as the sins committed by the other. - C. H. Spurgeon

13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”

18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”

19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”

21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. John 2: 13-22

They gave me sour wine to drink - 

28 After this, knowing that everything had now been accomplished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there. So they soaked a sponge in the wine, put it on a stalk of hyssop, and lifted it to His mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.… John 19: 28-30

Let their eyes be darkened - To be turned over, left to that which we have loved, unbelief, the cover of night over our theft, our self worship, malice and every sin that God can only and always hate, utter darkness. When Jesus walked the earth, the physically blind received sight, but we are all born spiritually blind, legally blind, but if you have come to see, then you have witnessed the greatest miracle of all.

- They shall wander in a darkness that may be felt. They have loved darkness rather than light, and in darkness they shall abide. Judicial blindness fell upon Israel after our Lord's death and their persecution of his apostles; they were blinded by the light which they would not accept. Eyes which see no beauty in the Lord Jesus, but flash wrath upon him, may well grow yet more dim, till death spiritual leads to death eternal. - C. H. Spurgeon

For they persecute him whom You have struck down - Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and it is the character of men that when they see a man down, under the judgment of God, that they, not suffering, feel the need to kick, spit, slander and mock all the more. 

…3 As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” 5“Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied.… Acts 9: 3-5

…15 Now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for Yourself a name renowned to this day, we have sinned; we have acted wickedly. 16 O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, I pray that Your anger and wrath may turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy hill; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all around us. 17 So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary.… Daniel 9: 15-17

…16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the aged, gather the children, even those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. 17 Let the priests who minister before the LORD weep between the porch and the altar, saying, “Spare Your people, O LORD, and do not make Your heritage a reproach, an object of scorn among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” Joel 2: 16-17

…5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail. 6 He has made me a byword to the people; I am the one in whose face they spit. 7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.… Job 17: 5-7

…41 In the same way, the chief priests, scribes, and elders mocked Him, saying, 42“He saved others, but He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”… Matthew 27:42

What have we done?