10. The Praises of God’s Persecuted Psalm 69:30-36

Text: “I will praise the Name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.  This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.  The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.”

Psalm 69:30-32.

Good morning, undefeated Christian!  Praise God for that Christian that can overcome all fears, dreads, woes, depressions of spirit; and the most unbearable human and spiritual persecutions by the weapon of God-given praise and thanksgiving.  Hallelujah!  Our God reigneth forever!

“And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.  Blessed is that man/woman that maketh the Lord his/her trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.”  (Psalm 40:3-4)

The last thing that Satan or self, or the constant persecutors of Bible-believing Christians want to hear, or can even bear to hear – is the shout of instant and sincere praise from the lips of those under the pressures of diabolical persecution.  Let me hear it, brother?  Let me hear it, sister in Christ?  HALLELUJAH!  IN CHRIST WE ALWAYS HAVE THE VICTORY!  HALLELUJAH!    Praise the Lord, oh my soul!  Bless the Lord Jesus Christ!  Amen.

Psalm 69, this great imprecatory Psalm, has thus far evidenced how gross, how dark, how almost humanly unendurable persecutions the Psalmist was suffering at the time of his writing it.

 He was, without doubt, in the darkest place, feeling himself to be in the very mouth of the Dragon, Satan.  Yet, he ends this imprecatory Psalm with a shout of total victory – for He KNOWS and is ASSURED that his Eternal victory is promised by the ultimate Divine victory of the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour we have in Him!

“These things have I (the Lord Jesus Christ) spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”      (John 16:33)

Had Christ Jesus not come to us, sent by our Heavenly Father, in the incarnation (God in bodily form, God, in the form of a human being; the Creator Lord, in the body of one of His creatures.); we might have cause to doubt that He would not really be able to empathise with the sufferings, feelings, depressions, and deprivation pain that we mere humans can continually endure. 

However, He came to us as a weak and helpless babe; lived for over thirty-three years in human flesh; endured every single thing that each of us will ever endure - and that at a much more profound level, due to His being the all-Holy God the Son! 

Having suffered/endured ALL of what you and I can, or shall ever suffer and endure – we have a High Priest in the Heavens that KNOWS all about our sufferings and understands all our persecutions personally.  Therefore, He knows exactly what help we need at any given time, and supplies it in His love for us, ‘His people’.  Glory and praise to His Holy and all-caring Name!

“By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better Testament…But this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.  Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”  (Hebrews 7:22-25)

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.  For (a conclusion) we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Got a sore toe today?  Jesus, no doubt had a sore toe also.  Feeling uncared for and irrelevant, and ignored today?  Jesus felt all this, even within his own family, and certainly among the religious leaders of His time on earth.  Heart-broken over the loss of a loved one?  Jesus wept over the death of Lazarus, and over Jerusalem, when they would not hear and obey the Gospel call to Salvation.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!  Behold (look and fully understand), your house is left unto you desolate (empty).”  (Matthew 23:37)

“Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer.”  (Ezekiel 33:3)

Verse 29. “But I am poor and sorrowful.  No man was ever poorer or more sorrowful than Jesus of Nazareth, yet His cry out of the depths was heard, and He was uplifted to the highest glory.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 303)

I know of no one personally, who has ever been so deeply flung into grief that he or she sweat, as it were, drops of blood – but the Lord Jesus Christ did, upon just thinking that sin, your sin and mine, would be placed upon His absolute Holiness, as He suffered the penalty for us, on Calvary’s Cross.

“And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of Blood (hematidrosis) falling down to the ground.”  (Luke 22:44)

Verse 29. “Let Thy Salvation, O God, set me up on High.  O ye poor and sorrowful ones, lift up your heads, for as with your Lord, so shall it be with you.  You are trodden down today as the mire of the streets, but you shall ride upon the high places of the earth ere long; and even now ye are raised up together and made to sit together in the Heavenlies in Christ Jesus.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 303)

“The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.”  (Psalm 69:32)

Man’s sore persecutions of the Christian are doomed to failure, for God grants ‘His people’ sure praises in uncertain times – and reminds us constantly of His Victory over sin for us.  Persecutions only serve to give occasions for Christian praise.  Hallelujah!  Our God reigns!

Thought: “Let the Heaven and earth praise Him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.”  This is the victory praise for those Christ Jesus has redeemed in His own Blood.

9. God’s Imprecations on Persecutors Psalm 69:20-29

Text: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee: and curse them that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Genesis 12:1-3.

Good morning, God-blessed Christian!  If the Creator Lord God, Jehovah – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – has promised to bless you, then you and I can rest in all confidence and assurance that He shall bless us; and, indeed, He has done so!  We have His own God-breathed Word on this vital matter, and God is not a mere man that He should ever lie to us, ‘His people’.  Amen.

“God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent (say, and not do!): hath He said, and shall He not do it?  Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?  Behold (look, and fully understand), I have received commandment to bless: and He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.”              (Numbers 23:19-20)

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a Son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call his Name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:21)

In Christ Jesus, and through His full Atonement Sacrifice on Calvary’s Cross, the Lord God Almighty has truly and thoroughly, and Eternally blessed us, His people.  Praise and thanks to His Name!

Those Blessed:  God’s Word has also given a sure promise to all who might seek to BE a blessing unto us, His people: “He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he/she that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.  He that receiveth (receives, and continues to receive) a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he/she that receiveth a righteous man (made righteous in Christ) in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.  And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily (truly) I say unto you, he/she shall in no wise lose his/her reward.”  (Matthew 10:40-42)

God’s Word is filled with chapter and verse Divine Authority for teaching this concept: God has promised to thoroughly bless all who seek to be a blessing to those for whom Christ Jesus suffered and died on that cruel Roman Cross.  This is a Biblical FACT.

“Give and it shall be given unto you; god measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall MEN give into your bosom.  For (a conclusion) with the same measure (weights/portions) that ye mete (weigh out/measure) withal it shall be measured to you again.”  (Luke 6:38)

The old adage is: We can never out give the Lord God Almighty: giver of all good things.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from Above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness (unchanging), neither shadow of turning.  Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.” (James 1:17-18)

Those Cursed:  Psalm 69, like some other Psalms, is an Imprecatory Psalm – a Psalm containing a prayer for Divine curse upon the believer’s enemies and persecutors.

Dictionary Definition: Imprecate – (verb transitive) to call down by prayer (especially something evil); to invoke evil upon, to put a curse on; to curse or blaspheme. (The Chambers Dictionary, page 807)

Other imprecatory Psalms are Psalm 35; Psalm 58; Psalm 83; Psalm 109; and Psalm 137 – and of course, Psalm 69 which we are examining in this series now. All of these Psalms may be utilised in prayer by the Christian being severely persecuted by the world, the flesh, and the Devil.  Christians are NOT POWERLESS, but POWERFUL.

Psalm 35: “Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.  (Psalm 35:8)

Psalm 58: “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.  Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.”  (Psalm 58:6-7)

Verse 23. “Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not.  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, Treasury of David, page 302)

Verse 27. “Add iniquity unto their iniquity.  Unbelievers will add sin to sin and so, punishment to punishment.  This is the severest imprecation or prophecy of all.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 302)

People today need to be informed that SIN - their personal sin, and the sin of Governments and Leaders of nations international – is a very dangerous activity to be involved in.  Sin is a most SERIOUS disobedience to our Holy Lord God, and He will not have mercy on the reprobate, ever.  Persecuting God’s chosen and Blood-bought children is an Eternally dangerous sin.

Verse 27.  “And let them not come into Thy righteousness.  Those who choose evil shall have their choice.  Men who hate Divine mercy shall not have it forced upon them.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 302)

Verse 28. “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.  So, that to be blotted out of that book, it is, indeed, never o be written there.  To be wiped out in the end is but a declaration that such were not written in the beginning.”  (Thomas Adams, 1614)

Thought: “Verse 29. But I am poor and sorrowful. No man was ever poorer or more sorrowful than Jesus of Nazareth, yet His cry out of the depths was heard, and He was uplifted to the Highest Glory.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 303) Pray on, friend.

8. The Satanic Depths of Persecution Psalm 69:15-19

Text: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”                                            Jeremiah 17:9.

          “When I (Jesus Christ) was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against Me: but THIS is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

Luke 22:53.

Good morning, deeply discerning Christian!  Many say you have been blessed by the Lord God with an acute discernment of God’s Word, the things of God taught in the Word of God; and with profound insights of the heart of mankind all around you, and what he/she is capable of doing, when once Satan rules his/her life. 

It is then that your blessed gift can soon become a terrible burden to your mind, as you more clearly, perhaps, understand how dark and evil unregenerate hearts worldwide can become – when they are under the ‘power of darkness’!

Verse 15.  “Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.   Many today can often be successfully described as being a ‘…tad over the top…’ when describing how deep their day to day troubles are, or how much they feel under varying Spiritual, social, and personal family pressures.

However, the Psalmist here in Psalm 69, is describing the most horrible persecution pressures and his very real fears of being overwhelmed by them.

Real fear can be imagined, when once we think about being killed by drowning – water flooding into our lungs, and choking off the very breath that is necessary for life.  It is a horrible fear for one’s lungs to be suddenly filled with liquid.

Fear of being buried alive in the earth, is again, one that not only concerns our not being able to breathe air into our lungs, but also the thought of being buried alive, out of sight of help from others; earth clogging up our very nostrils and plunging us into the darkness of the earth.

A healthy fear of the torments of Hell itself, should give some unsaved souls nightmares, and all saved souls a relief in knowing that, because of Christ’s full Atonement Sacrifice on the cruel Cross at Calvary, we who are redeemed by His sinless Blood shall not be going there!

 But these three very real causes of  fear are featured in this one verse of Psalm 69, revealing the Psalmist David’s gift of clear discernment of such matters – and thus, his urgent cry for God’s help.

Verse 16. “Hear me, O Lord, for Thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Again, we see how David, the Psalmist, is using his past deep discernment of the tender mercies of the Lord God to inform the thrust of his present prayers: what he has personally experienced of God’s wonderful mercies has caused an increase in his faith in obtaining God’s present and future mercies right now.

Verse 17.  “And hide not Thy face from Thy servant; for I am in trouble.  David knows that if the Lord God hides His face from hearing and answering his urgent prayers, he is absolutely SUNK.  He has no hope of deliverance outside the Almighty’s Divine help.

“I am the Vine ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me (Jesus Christ), and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING.”  (John 15:5)

Verse 17.  “Hear me speedily.  Our Lord was the perfection of patience, yet He cried urgently for speedy mercy; and therein He gives us liberty to do the same, so along as we pray, ‘Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.’”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 301)

It was not merely for an urgent answer to his prayer that David cried, it was for to be heard and answered ‘speedily’, such was the depth of his need.

If you and I are seeking to faithfully serve the risen Christ Jesus, we too shall know such serious times of urgent need.  Satan only attacks genuine Christians!

Today,  when written in 2021, Christian people who refuse the Covid vaccine are being looked at in this same manner as the Jewish people were in 1933.  It is time for serious and persevering prayer!  Satan’s ‘power of darkness’ could well be in cruel operation right now!

“In 1933, the Roman Catholic Church signed a concordat or agreement with the new Nazi government, recognizing the legitimacy of the Third Reich. The Protestant Church was united into a single Reich Church under one bishop. In September 1933, Martin Niemöller, a pastor of a fashionable church in Berlin, set up a Pastors' Emergency League which led to the formation of the anti-Nazi Confessional Church. This church wrote a memorandum to Hitler attacking the government's anti-Christian campaign, policies of anti-Semitism, and terrorizing tactics. Hitler responded with a crackdown on members of the Confessional Church. Hundreds of dissenting clergy were arrested, many were imprisoned, and also executed.”  (A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust, online)

“In 1934, forced sterilization programs sterilized 300,000 - 400,000 people, mainly those in mental hospitals and other institutions. Propaganda was distributed which helped build public support for these government policies. Persons who were mentally ill or physically disabled were stigmatized, while the costs of care were emphasized in propaganda campaigns.  In 1939, a Nazi "euthanasia DEFN program" began. This term is used as a euphemism for the Nazi plan to murder those with physical or mental defects. Unlike the sterilization program, the "euthanasia" program was conducted in secrecy. "Operation T4" was the code term used to designate this killing project. As word leaked out about the "euthanasia" program, some church leaders, parents of victims, physicians, and judges protested the killings. Hitler ordered the end of Operation T4 in August 1941. However, the murders continued in a decentralized manner.  Doctors were encouraged to kill patients with disabilities by starvation, poisoning, or injection.” (A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust, online)

Thought: When the Darkness started, no one spoke out.  When it ended, there was no one left to speak out.  Old and infirm today.  You and I tomorrow?  Pray hard, discerning Christian!

7. The Perseverance of the Persecuted Psalm 69:13-14

Text: “But as for me, my prayer is unto Thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of Thy mercy hear me, in the truth of Thy Salvation.  Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.”

   Psalm 69:13-14.

Good morning, persevering Christian!  Under general persecutions of the world, the flesh, and the Devil – you are found persevering in prayer to our ever-listening Lord God. 

Under group persecutions, as a regenerate member of Christ’s genuine Bible-believing Church – you are found still persevering in prayer and worship to and of our wonderful Living Lord God.

Under very personal, individual persecutions - persecutions aimed solely at you – you are found persevering in prayer and praise to the Living Lord God, Jehovah, from Whom you know, by God-given faith, you shall receive help, answers, and personal victories.

Praise God for truly persevering Christians!  You are the salt of the earth!  Glory thanksgiving and praise unto the Living Lord God!  Worthy is the Lamb!  Amen.

Verse 13.  “…O God, in the multitude of Thy mercy hear me. To misery, no attribute is more sweet than mercy, and when sorrows multiply, the multitude of mercy is much prized.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 301)

As we see here, the Psalmist is using his faith in God, and in knowing that the Lord God Jehovah is a God of multitudinous mercies, inspires him, assures him, that the Lord shall not only hear his prayers for help and strength, and victory, but will surely answer them by the manifestation of His Almighty power, wisdom, and strength.  Hallelujah!  The Christian cannot be brought down for too long, if that Christian is a persevering in prayer Christian!

“Rejoice evermore.  Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Militant Christians, Christians that are seriously seeking to serve the Christ of God daily, shall suffer much trouble and serious hindrance to their service to Christ Jesus and to the proclamation of the glorious Gospel of Christ and Him Crucified for sinners.

Such servants of the Most High God know the desperate need for persevering prayer to God for His necessary help and protection.

“For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock.  And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore (a conclusion) will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.  Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.”                   (Psalm 27:5-6)

Verse 13.  “In the truth of Thy Salvation. David, the Psalmist, again, uses his theology, his knowledge of God, to give power to his persevering prayers in times of trouble. 

He KNOWS God’s Salvation is true, and has known that truth since a his youth as a boy shepherd.  That same boy shepherd who was Divinely helped and used of God to slay Goliath of Gath, the giant Philistine who was blaspheming the Name of the God of Israel many years before! 

He is, therefore, praying to God: ‘I know the truth of Thy Salvation, Lord God, and so in that reality of sheer truth, please hear my prayer for help.’ 

His past deep experience with God, and knowledge of God’s Almighty power in the past, encourages him to seek further help for the present, and continual help from God for all troubles encountered in future times.  Praise God for the Word of His truth!  Hallelujah!

Verse 14.  “Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink.  Note, it is not a cry to be delivered and stay in the mire!  No!  It is a prayer to be delivered from out of the mire, lest, if left in his present state, he might well sink down into it and be lost! 

We only pray for deliverance from personal sin and the mire it creates in our lives, IF we are willing to be delivered out of it, not to return into it again once helped, like a dog returning to its vomit.

“For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”                     (2 Peter 2:21-22)

Verse 14.  “…Let me be delivered from them that hate me. This cry of the persevering Christian servant is no ‘pity-party pleading’!  No!  This person is being persecuted by reprobates that actually HATE him/her!  This is not a cry against being disliked a little by detractors, this is a prayer for help against those that really HATE the believer deeply, and seek to seriously hurt him/her!

“And ye shall be hated of all men for My Name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you.  Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” (Matthew 10:22-23)

“At first, the Nazis boycotted Jewish businesses for one day in April 1933. Then legislation excluded Jews from certain professions. The Nuremberg Laws created very detailed Nazi definitions of who was Jewish. Many people who never considered themselves Jewish suddenly became targets of Nazi persecution.

“The world accessible to German Jews narrowed. Jews were no longer allowed to enter cinemas, theatres, swimming pools, and resorts. The publishing of Jewish newspapers was suspended. Jews were required to carry identification cards and to wear Star of David badges. On one night, Nazis burned synagogues and vandalized Jewish businesses. The arrests and murders that followed intensified the fear Jews felt. Next, Jewish children were barred from schools. Curfews restricted Jews' time of travel and Jews were banned from public places. Germany began to expel Jews from within its borders…Approximately 11 million people were killed because of Nazi genocidal policy.” ('A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust', online)

Today (written in 2021) Bible-believing Christian people who refuse the Covid 'vaccines' are being looked at in this same manner as the Jewish people were in 1933.  It is time for serious and persevering prayer!  (Exodus 12:13)  Stand fast, persevering Christian!

Thought: Hatred brings persecution. Persecution pain.  Pain creates serious prayer.