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!