March 21stPsalm 69: 16-36
All We Need
In this psalm God seems to be in hiding. There are more than a dozen cries for help, but there seems to be no answer. The psalmist’s urgent cry comes to sharp expression in verse 17:
Do not hide your face from your servant,
for I am in distress — make haste to answer me.
Our Psalmist is a representative figure, both in his condition of affliction and in being saved by God (v.29, 32-33).
For Christians, the life and death of Christ fits the pattern powerfully. Like the psalmist Jesus was being persecuted for being faithful to God:
John 2.17 - His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ (v.9)
John 15.25 - It was to fulfil the word that is written in their law, “They hated me without a cause.” (v.4)
Matthew 27.34 - They offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. (v.21)
Luke 23.36 - The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine….
But, after a strong plea for deliverance, the psalmist offers (vs. 30-36) a vow of praise and thanksgiving because God has heard the prayer. This is confident expectation of God’s help for a destroyed Jerusalem and exiled people.
It is evident that with its portrayal of a servant of God who is suffering, this prayer is a word of Good News: we can be confident not only of our heavenly Father’s care (Matthew 10:29) but also that our names are written in “the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:27 drawing on Psalm 69:28).
The English spiritual writer, Evelyn Underhill, describes authentic prayer in this way:
”Such prayer places our souls at the disposal of the ever-present Spirit. In other words, it promotes abandonment to God…in order that we may more and more be invaded, transfigured, and at last superseded by the unmeasured Divine action….Maturity of soul is to be gauged by the extent in which the Spirit ‘prays in us.’” [Dana Green – Evelyn Underhill: Artist of the Infinite Life, 84-85]
Such prayer remembers and trusts that God has quite a good track record of putting our doubts and securities to good use.
PRAYER: Loving God, you are all we need. Day by day your tender hand guides us in the way of truth. Help us to rest in your love and your power this day and always. Amen.