Holding On to Hope

Today's Reading: Psalm 69

Psalm 69:6 (ESV) "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."

I stared at the ceiling with tears streaming down my face. This ceiling didn't have the same popcorn effect as my last house, but the tears came from the same place. Year after year, I found myself lying on a different floor, staring at a different ceiling, crying about the same disappointments as I moved from place to place, feeling like I belonged nowhere.

Like my tears, my prayers seemed to be met with silence from God. Did He see me? Did He even care? Why hadn't He saved me from the pain?

That's why Psalm 69:3 hits so close to home: "I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God."

I don't know what disappointments you are facing today, but reading David's raw emotion in today's passage makes me wonder if he felt similarly. This personal psalm of lament reveals David's heart as he struggled with the ways his enemies treated him.

Twice, David asked God to deliver him from "mire" (Psalm 69:2; Psalm 69:14). "Mire" is a noun meaning "swampy ground" or a verb meaning "to get stuck in the mud." Scripture says the prophet Jeremiah, too, "sank in the mud" when he was thrown into a well just for speaking the truth (Jeremiah 38:6). Hopelessness can feel a lot like sinking into the mud.

But in his troubles, David chose to remember God's character.

He remembered God's steadfast love. (Psalm 69:13; Psalm 69:16)

He remembered God's faithfulness. (Psalm 69:13)

He remembered God's abundant mercy. (Psalm 69:16)

He remembered God's salvation. (Psalm 69:29)

He remembered God's compassion to hear the needy. (Psalm 69:33)

In our weariness, we cannot forget God is with us. Though it's easy to let our minds sink into despair when things are heavy, we can believe with confidence in the One who saves us. Like David, we can pray painfully honest prayers, saying both "I am afflicted" and "I will praise the name of God" (Psalm 69:29-30) because we are assured He will rescue and redeem us.

David expressed his feelings and did not hide them, but he remembered the truth: God is a God who saves. And this same God who David trusted to deliver him is the God who has sent His Son, Jesus, to save you and me … not just from the circumstances we are facing but from sin and eternity apart from God. (Romans 6:23) Jesus experienced suffering similar to, and greater than, David's: rejection, betrayal, gossip, slander and misunderstanding. Yet Jesus had His eyes fixed on "the joy that was set before him" (Hebrews 12:2).

If you've ever been weary in the waiting, you know the feelings of exhaustion from crying out to God. There is a heaviness when you start to feel hopeless. But Psalm 69 reminds us we aren't without hope. When we suffer, we have a Savior who understands. (Hebrews 4:15) When we lose hope, we can remember our struggles are temporary and through faith in Christ we are saved for eternity. (1 Peter 5:10)

Faith in Jesus offers us a better way to live in the middle of our pain: a hope that lasts. Our salvation sets us on high. (Psalm 69:29) Our hope in Him will not be put to shame. (Psalm 69:6)

Prayer: God, thank You for the hope we have in our salvation. Thank You that You don't leave us in the mire, but You rescue us. Even before Psalm 69 was ever written, You had a plan to save us. We praise You for hope that sets us on high and does not put us to shame. In Jesus' name, amen.

More Moments About Psalm 69

Psalm 69 is mentioned frequently in the New Testament, most often in relation to Jesus.

Jesus quoted Psalm 69:4 in John 15:25 when He said, "They hated me without a cause."

Psalm 69:8 is referenced in John 7:5, which says Jesus' own brothers didn't believe in Him.

The zeal David expressed for God's house in Psalm 69:9 is similar to when Jesus flipped the tables of the money-changers in the temple. (Matthew 21:12-13)

The suffering David experienced in Psalm 69:21 is similar to the description of Jesus getting sour wine on the cross in Matthew 27:48.

Both David and Jesus knew what it meant to experience rejection and suffering. But while David prayed for His enemies to suffer because of what they did, Jesus prayed for God to forgive His enemies. (Luke 23:34) In Matthew 5:11, Jesus says, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account."

I'm sure David did not feel blessed when others accused him. I know I don't. But Jesus reminds us that we don't always see what He sees. The suffering and rejection we experience now, He understands deeply, and it makes us more like Him.

Major Moment: God will save His people from the sinking mire.

This was originally published in the First 5 app as part of the Matthew study, A Better Way: How Jesus’ Life Guides Us to Peace in a World That Steals Our Sanity.