In verses 1–2, David begins with a metaphor, an image he wants to us have in our minds. The image is a drowning man: helplessness, fear, dread of what one knows is coming. This is a powerful image to convey his emotions. We don’t know the specifics yet, but we do learn the response in verse 3: weariness, weeping, and waiting.
God is not intervening, not throwing a life line, not—it seems—present at all. And then in verse 4 we get the specifics: hate, attacks, lies, false accusations, from more enemies that he can count. Thus the simple cry in verse 1: Save me, O God.
Now we do not, nor should we, attempt an exact one-to-one correspondence between David’s situation and Jesus’ situation. Nevertheless, as I said earlier, what is true about David as God’s anointed points to what is true about Jesus as God’s anointed. While David uses the metaphor of a drowning man to convey his feelings in the face of his enemies. Jesus, in the garden before facing his enemies, was distressed and troubled, sorrowful to the point of death. The writer of Hebrews captures this idea this way: Jesus sympathizes with our weakness. He knows what it’s like to have enemies, to have fears, to feel that one is drowning. He knows.
Verse five is one of those places where there is no one-to-one correspondence. Jesus has no folly to confess or repent of, but he certainly cares for those who will suffer for his name’s sake. And just like David’s allies will need protection, so too will those who remain loyal to Jesus.
So this is the call for help and the complaint. In verses 7–12, we see four reasons why God should spare David’s allies from suffering shame. First, all that David has done, he has done for God. He’s been acting on God’s behalf. Second, from verse 8, he’s chosen God over family. Being estranged from one’s family is never easy, but being estranged for following God seems like a slap in the face. “God, I’ve put you first, and now I’m a stranger to those I love.” The fact that Peter quotes from Psalm 69 in the upper room, as we’ll see next week, conveys a pretty powerful message about Jesus’ mission and purpose. And we know that Jesus’ family, at least at one point, thought he was crazy. And yet he remained faithful to what God called him to.
Third, from verse 9, he’s chosen God’s house, that is, worship of God and God’s centrality in all things over acceptance, despite the reproaches of others. He has sided with God even if God’s side is currently not very popular. This verse is quoted in the gospels when Jesus runs the money changers out of the court of the Gentiles.
Fourth, he chose humility even though it’s led to more reproach. Seeking to do the right thing has not produced an easy life. All of these things are the reason for David’s request back in verse 6: protect those who identify with David. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 also asks for protection for those who identify with Jesus.
We serve a Savior who is fully devoted to his love for his people, and no scheme of man or pull of the crowd or reproach from family or friends or the powerful in society causes him to veer from his faithfulness: “Not my will but yours be done,” Jesus said in the garden before his crucifixion.
Verses 13–18 brings us to another request, which is broken into two parts. In verse 13, David reminds God of his character, taken from Exodus 34, and then David seems to show great patience: he wants God to act at an “acceptable time.” David is going to repeat this reminder of God’s character and speak of time down at the end of this section, but in the middle is the request: deliverance, protection from the flood. But notice the change at the end. He still quotes from Exodus 34, but now instead of “when it seems good to you, God,” it’s “Hurry please.”
This is actually encouraging to me. For I think I’m much more of a “hurry please” kind of guy than an “acceptable time” kind of guy, and Psalm 69 gives us the wording to express our feelings when we’re overwhelmed. I have permission to feel that waiting is hard.
Verses 19–21 return to the idea of reproach that came up earlier, and David just seems to be saying that God is aware of all this. He’s aware of the lack of pity and comfort and his feeling of aloneness. And we think of Jesus on the cross, abandoned by friends, reproached by those who were supposed to accept him, the sour wine offered on a sponge on a stick is all the comfort he received.
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