*This Advent season of 2023, my family will go through the Psalms. It is our hope that this Advent series will center around the themes of Longing, Deliverance and Hope. We will see the beauty of Christ and God’s sovereign plan in the birth and salvation of Christ. I invite you to join us this Christmas.
Advent is a time of anticipation. The Israelites are awaiting the coming of their Messiah. They are in constant hope of the one who brings eternal peace. We, too, live in constant anticipation. We live for the return of the Messiah to offer eternal peace.
We lost a friend this week. He was the best man at our wedding. He was the type of guy that when he smiled, he lit up the entire room. I always viewed him as a teddy bear with the kindest heart.
But more importantly, he made my husband laugh…really laugh. If I am honest, I am not sure he has laughed in the same way with anyone else. Like the kind of laughing where he couldn’t catch his breath, the kind that comes from years of history… I can still see them playing video games on the couch just cracking up at something Nicky said. I miss that. I miss being young and all the cares of this world seem to be non-existent when you are hanging with your friends.
Nicky was so encouraging to us at a time when very few people were in our lives. I wish I had a cell phone back then instead of our cheesy pagers. Then you could see how amazing his toast was during our wedding. You could see the pics in my mind of him hanging with a multitude of friends-being the life of the party. My time with him was so short and we lost touch over the years with him. I think that might be the hardest thing to type. Life is so short and there are a million excuses when you are in the chaos of life, but mainly-we weren’t there and we were not the best of friends to him. If only we could do things differently…
Today, we are going to look at Psalm 69. It spoke to my heart. Many theologians believe Christ, himself, spoke this prayer. It was quoted a multitude of times in the New Testament. We can see that suffering is part of this world, but one day Christ will return once again and give us the peace we long for and anticipate.
Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.
More in number than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?
O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
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.
For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons.
For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
Deliver me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Hide not your face from your servant,
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!
You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
Let their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
For the Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.- Psalm 69
Praise God that one day we should dwell alongside him! Praise God that he hears the needy! Praise God that he sent Jesus to answer this prayer! Praise God that in the midst of loss, we can be glad that Jesus came to earth, died on a cross and was resurrected to prepare a place for all of us!
“Remember this is the fourth Psalm which declares at length the passion and resurrection of our Lord. Through the whole Psalm Christ speaks in person. He prays for deliverance by the Father, because he has suffered by the Jews, without cause, many afflictions and persecutions. He supplicates on behalf of his members, that the hope of the faithful, resting on his resurrection, may not be disappointed. By the power of his prescience he declares the future events which should occur to his enemies.” —Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus, circa 468-560
“The clearest anticipation of future glory must not shut out the conviction, that it is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom.” —Woodrow Wilson
Rest in Peace Nicky. I look forward to hearing my husband laugh with you again!
