For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David.
1 Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
3 I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without reason
outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are my enemies without cause,
those who seek to destroy me.
I am forced to restore
what I did not steal.
5 You know my folly, O God;
my guilt is not hidden from you.
6 May those who hope in you
not be disgraced because of me,
O Lord, the LORD Almighty;
may those who seek you
not be put to shame because of me,
O God of Israel.
7 For I endure scorn for your sake,
and shame covers my face.
8 I am a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother’s sons;
9 for zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10 When I weep and fast,
I must endure scorn;
11 when I put on sackcloth,
people make sport of me.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.
13 But I pray to you, O LORD,
in the time of your favor;
in your great love, O God,
answer me with your sure salvation.
14 Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
18 Come near and rescue me;
redeem me because of my foes…
29 I am in pain and distress;
may your salvation, O God, protect me.
30 I will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the LORD more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.
32 The poor will see and be glad—
you who seek God, may your hearts live!
33 The LORD hears the needy
and does not despise his captive people.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and all that move in them,
35 for God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will settle there and possess it;
36 the children of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will dwell there.
My Understanding: Both this psalm, and the song, “He Keeps Me Singing,” speak of “deep waters.” “Deep water” is a phrase meaning despair, or finding oneself in some kind of trouble or difficulty that seems overwhelming. David was overwhelmed by the attacks of his enemies. They hated him without reason. His enemies sought to destroy him. They tried to get him to pay, i.e. to make restitution for a crime he did not commit. They hated, scorned, insulted, made sport of, and mocked him. They gave him bitterness of spirit and severity of treatment as his “food and drink.” And, he was overwrought with pain and agony because of his enemies and their fierce attacks against him, even to the point of despair.
In his despair, David called out to God in prayer for God to save him. Yet, this was not the first time he called on God for help, because he stated that he was worn out calling for help. He did not see God at work in his circumstances, because he had not yet been rescued from his physical enemies. Because of his enemies’ attacks against him, he was a stranger and an alien even to the members of his own family. He asked God that those whose hope is in the Lord not be put to shame and disgrace because of David’s situation, so he showed concern for how his situation was affecting others, too. He committed himself to God who knows his heart and knows what sins he has committed, yet there is not a sense here that David was holding any sin in his heart, but that he was in a right relationship with God.
Passion for the house of the Lord consumed David. His mind and his attention were given fully over to the Lord and to his eternal kingdom. Because of his zeal for the Lord, “the insults of those who insult you fall on me,” he said to God in prayer. Basically he was saying that he was being insulted because of his fear, honor, respect and obedience to God, and that the insults he was receiving really were directed at God himself. By David following the Lord his God, he was being treated the same by God’s enemies as they were treating God. The apostle Paul quoted this about Jesus Christ when he said in Romans 15:1-3:
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
As well, when Jesus Christ cleared the temple of those who were turning the Lord’s house into a marketplace, the disciples remembered that it was written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” And, Jesus Christ, on the cross, was offered vinegar to drink. So, much of this psalm, though certainly about David, was fulfilled in Jesus Christ’s life, ministry, and death. Jesus Christ bore the pain of unjust suffering for us so that we could be free from the ultimate penalty of sin (eternal punishment in hell), and so we could be free from the control of sin over our daily lives. He died on the cross for our sins, taking upon himself the penalty of our sin so that we could go free. We, outside of Christ, are enemies of God and of the cross, so the insults against God are our sins, and our sins fell upon Jesus Christ.
Yet, Jesus Christ was not saved from death at the hand of his physical enemies. He was not saved from unjust suffering and persecution. He endured all that he suffered for you and for me so that we could go free. His death on the cross had all the appearance of defeat and a victory for Satan, but that was not the case. Jesus Christ conquered death, hell, Satan and sin on the cross in his death, and in his bodily resurrection back to life. And, he did this so that we can be conquerors over our enemy, Satan, and so we can live victoriously over sin, and so that we can live with God/Jesus Christ for eternity. And, that is where the true victory takes place. We may not see God’s justice in this life. He may or may not rescue us from our physical enemies while we are still on the face of this earth. But what he does promise us is victory over our true enemy, Satan, victory over sin, and eternity with God.
So, even though we may be going through deep waters right now, or we may have deep waters coming to us in the near future, we can still have hope, even in the midst of great trials and suffering. We don’t have to fear man or what man might do to us, because, for those of us who are truly in Christ Jesus by God’s grace and through faith (repentance and obedience), we can have the assurance that God is with us and that he will give us the strength and endurance we need to bear up under the pain of unjust suffering, and to be joyful, even in the midst of great difficulties. As well, we need to accept the sovereignty of God in our lives and in our circumstances, and see his footprints all the way. He has not abandoned us. He did not look the other way when these difficulties came upon us. They did not take him by surprise, though they may have taken us by surprise. He is with us, and he will give us all we need to go through these deep waters of our lives. He will provide!
We need to remember what the scriptures teach, too, with regard to our enemies. Jesus taught us that we are to love our enemies by 1) Praying for those who mistreat us, 2) Saying kind things about those who curse us, and 3) Doing good to those who hate us. As well, we need to also remember that our true enemies are Satan and his evil spirits, i.e. this is a spiritual battle that must be fought and won on a spiritual level with spiritual weapons of warfare (see Ephesians 6:10-20). When we have the right attitude and thinking with regard to our enemies, and when we apply these scriptural truths with regard to our enemies to our own lives, then truly we can be joyful and sing even in deep waters.
He Keeps Me Singing / Luther B. Bridgers
There’s within my heart a melody
Jesus whispers sweet and low,
“Fear not, I am with thee, peace be still,”
In all of life’s ebb and flow.
All my life was wrecked by sin and strife,
Discord filled my heart with pain;
Jesus swept across the broken strings,
Stirred the slumbering chords again.
Feasting on the riches of His grace,
Resting ‘neath His sheltering wing,
Always looking on His smiling face –
That is why I shout and sing.
Though sometimes He leads through waters deep,
Trials fall across the way,
Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep
See His foot-prints all the way.
Soon He’s coming back to welcome me
Far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to world’s unknown,
I shall reign with Him on high.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus –
Sweetest name I know,
Fills my every longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.
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