Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. (Psalm 69:1-2)
As we all know, David was more than just a king and a psalmist; he was also a prophet. This psalm, though poetic in tenor, is understood to be a prophetic vision of the generations of Jews who would be subjected to centuries of exile. The opening line, “Save me, O God” is regarded as the collective cry of those who spent their lives toiling in the land of their enemy, often victimized and persecuted even to the point of death. The nations, likened to deep waters, continually threatened to overwhelm them at times, coming up to the their neck (literally, “soul”). Without God’s help, they would succumb to the swift currents and be forever lost in the sea of nations.
That was not their only problem; besides drowning under the oppression of their foes, they were also sinking in the muck and mire and could not extricate themselves. Commentators liken this to the worldly enticements that the nations introduced to God’s people — carnal habits that had been foreign to them — that, in their exile, gripped them like a man sucked into quicksand. For instance, while in Egypt they were treated harshly by their taskmasters, and yet adopted Egyptian customs including worship of their gods. David, seeing this as a continual threat, composed a prayer for God to deliver his countrymen from their exile and return them to their homeland.
David’s concern is understandable especially when we consider that God’s people have spent more time on foreign soil than in their own homeland. On the other hand, not only have they survived in exile but have thrived. When Jacob left Canaan he was alone; when he returned twenty years later, it was with wives, children and flocks. Later with seventy souls, he went down into Egypt; when Israel left Egypt, they numbered in the millions. The point is that exile did not restrict and limit their growth — it encouraged it. In fact, I would argue that it was always an important part of God’s purpose for His people.
This should be an encouragement to us all. Though there are times when we feel we are going under, stuck in the mud and at the verge of spiritual death, God is watching and waiting. When we cry out, “Save me, O God,” we have assurance that He will answer and deliver us. But let’s not overlook the value of the season we must endure before the deliverance. In spite of feeling disconnected and overwhelmed by the pressures around us, that does not mean we aren’t growing. It might be, in fact, that we are growing in ways we never imagined. It’s true that not everyone flourishes in this kind of scenario but it is true that we can flourish — that is, if we strive to keep our head above water, if we resist the current of societal trends and remember this — “Behold, God is my helper” (Psalm 54:4).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
Recent Comments