Psalm 69:1,3: “Save me, O God! / For the waters have come up to my neck . . . / I am weary with my crying; / My throat is dry; / My eyes fail while I wait for my God.”

March 15th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This psalm has been called “the poor man’s prayer” because it is the humble, vulnerable, and transparent cry of David to the Lord. He couldn’t shrug off that people he cared about were slandering and betraying him. There is no other portion of Old Testament Scripture more frequently quoted in the New Testament, except Psalm 22, than these verses. We might say that David was writing here more like the prophet of God that he was, than in any other place. Almost a 1000 years before the incarnation of Christ (God in the flesh), these words correctly predicted many events in the Savior’s betrayal, death, and resurrection.

David cried to the Lord until his throat and tears were gone, because his burdens were so completely overwhelming him. Betrayal is most painful when it happens through someone close to us: friend or blood. Both Jesus and David experienced this depth of betrayal and it did make them suffer for a time. It seems that betrayal either makes us softer or harder, depending on whether or not we can forgive the perpetrator.

In 1998 the Navy had to find a place to store 12,000 gallons of napalm until they could find a company to “treat it or process it.” They had originally contracted with a company in Indiana, but when political protest broke out over allowing something as deadly and destructive as bottled-up napalm into their cities, the company backed out. The people of Indiana didn’t want it anywhere near them. Bottled-up anger, unresolved  bitterness, has the same potential for destruction if we allow it to come into our lives. That is why Jesus said, “And forgive us our sins, / For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. / And do not lead us into temptation, / But deliver us from the evil one” (Luke 11:4).

“LORD, please do forgive us from holding grudges against those who have hurt or wronged us in any way. Release us, please.”