Psalm 69 ~ the talk

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni created his David statue when he was 26 years old. It took him 2 years. Commissioned as one of a series of statues positioned along the roof line of the east end of the Florence Cathedral, the statue was instead placed in public, outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of government for Florence. David symbolized to them the defense of their civil liberties, a city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states.

What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed? ~ Michelangelo

Do you know that women who are chaste remain much fresher than those who are not? ~ Michelangelo

Psalm 69

Listen - click for new tab, this is a good Scripture to listen to.

1 Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck [Or waters threaten my life ].
2 I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.

4 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?
5 O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

6 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.
7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother's sons.

9 For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and humbled [Hebrew lacks and humbled ] my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.

13 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.
14 Deliver me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
15 Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Hide not your face from your servant;
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!

19 You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
20 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.
21 They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

22 Let their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap .
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
27 Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you [may they not come into your righteousness].
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

29 But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

30 I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them. 35 For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it; 36 the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

When David spoke with the Lord, what did the Lord God Almighty see?

1 Samuel 16:12-14
And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him, for this is he."


1 Samuel 17:42
And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.


David didn't pretend to be holier than he actually was. One of the qualities the LORD loved about David.

1 Samuel 16: 7
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

David sounds like we all do in the midst of bitterness. David was a warrior and completely capable of damage done in revenge. Instead David doesn't hide from the Lord, as Adam and Eve did in the garden of Eden; David believes His Father has a plan and His Father will deal with evil and evil doers as He sees fit.

David releases his bitterness to God so completely, David then moves into Praise. I believe if we were to see David head into our worship services on Sunday, as an analogy, he wouldn't be consumed throughout the whole service with David: David's problems, David's anger, David's bitterness. We would see David come into the Sanctuary a few minutes early. See him in intense prayer and then he would release his difficulties to God, just like Noah released the dove. Like Paul, who said he became content to see what God would do to bring events to glorify Him.

1 Samuel 18:5-7
And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as they celebrated,

"Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands."

1 Samuel 18:14
And David had success in all his undertakings, for the LORD was with him.

1 Samuel 19:5
For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel.

1 Samuel 27:12
And Achish trusted David, thinking, "He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant."

(The Lord was in charge of giving David a path, when David was excluded from Israel.)

1 Samuel 30:6
And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.


1 Samuel 28:16-18
And Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy? 17The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me, for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day.


Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.

¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;


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