Psalm 69.13 [ESV]


Yes, I know. I’m supposed to be preaching through Exodus. And I planned to
do that. I had a text all picked out and had started to develop some ideas.
But then the Spirit put His two cents in. In my Bible readings last
Wednesday I came upon this Psalm, and there were parts of it that stood out
to me – like the verse that is our text. Then, the thought came to me
whether I should preach on it. The Spirit has done that sort of thing
before. So, even though it seemed a little late to change the text for
Sunday I prayed about it, and it seemed the right thing to do. And here we
are. Evidently, the Spirit thinks that you need a sermon on prayer.

Let me give you a little context. David is facing a hard situation. He is
being attacked and that with some success. Let me read just a few verses
from the Psalm to give you a taste of what’s going on. ‘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.’ [Psalm 69:1-4] David is in serious trouble. How will
he respond? There are several alternatives. He could respond by lashing out.
He could retaliate. It wouldn’t be hard to justify this, especially to
himself. After all, they started it. Or David could turn inward and become
despondent. He could give in to the onslaught and tell himself that it’s
just too much to handle. In this, he could allow himself to be overwhelmed.
Or David could look up. And that’s what he did. David prayed. ‘But as for
me…’ David understands the alternatives. He sees how his enemies are arrayed
against him. But he neither lashes out as they would nor does he turn inward
as others have. ‘But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Yahweh.’ David
provides for us the example of a Godly man. If we are going to be able to
deal well with life in this fallen world – and by that I mean serve Christ
faithfully in a very sinful situation – then we will need to be continually
developing our skill when it comes to prayer. That’s not, first of all, a
matter of knowing how to pray. Before anything else, it is knowing our
desperate need of prayer so that we choose to pray instead of the many other
alternatives presented to us. I hope that this is something that you are not
only working on for yourself but that it is also something that you are
teaching your children by your example as well as by your instruction. There
may be other things that are as important as faithful prayer but there is
nothing more important when it comes to being a loyal and useful disciple in
this evil world.

Now, let’s look at the second sentence in our text. The basic thought here
is simple. David prays, ‘answer me.’ What make that basic thought striking
are the three phrases that he attaches to it. Let’s look at each one,
starting with the last: ‘… answer me in Your saving faithfulness.’ ‘Save’ is
a church word, a word we often use without really understanding it. Its
basic meaning isn’t anything special. It’s not even anything especially
religious. It means to rescue or deliver from danger. A fireman saves
people. Close to the heart of the Scriptures is its teaching about salvation
or rescue. In its broadest sense, no one has been saved yet. We are fully
saved only after Jesus returns. It’s at that point that we are fully rescued
from sin and death and Satan and all the rest. There is another, more
limited sense of ‘saved’. When a person is converted he has been saved. He
has been rescued from the power and the penalty of sin. But there is an even
more limited sense of ‘saved’. And that is what David is pointing to here.
David appeals to his God to save him from the difficult situation
confronting him. ‘Lord, save me from this.’ That is, ‘… answer me in Your
saving faithfulness’. Scripture’s teaching on salvation applies to the day
to day issues of life. David knows that and cries out to His God. And David
can cry out in this way because of God’s promise. God has promised to save
him, to rescue him. David expects his God to keep that promise, to be
faithful to His word. David expects to be rescued out of this problem. ‘…
answer me in Your saving faithfulness’. His appeal to God’s saving
faithfulness is a basis for his hope. What we have here is David saying,
‘You promised. Please, keep your promise. Rescue me.’

Now, there will be those who will say, ‘Does God need to be reminded of His
promises? Of course not! He’s God. He can’t forget. We shouldn’t remind God
of His promises in our prayers.’ This kind of person approaches the
Christian walk as a philosopher instead of as a disciple. David is here
being presented to us by the Spirit as an example. In doing so, the Spirit
is telling us, ‘This is how to pray.’ And so, reminding God to keep His
promises must be okay. And that makes sense when you understand that David
doesn’t have a relationship with some religious principles about life. David
enjoys a relationship with His God. This is person to person. And so, he
speaks to God as a person. Unless you speak with God as one person to
another your prayers will be rote, formal and dead. You will not be praying
as a disciple. Reminding God like this fits because it is the fruit of our
own reflections on the situation. David must have been talking to himself [a
skill, by the way, that is well worth developing]. Confronted by his
enemies, David must have told himself something like, ‘God has promised to
save me. And I know that He always keeps His promises. So, I can appeal to
Him on that basis.’ And so, out comes, ‘… answer me in Your saving
faithfulness.’ That’s the prayer of a thinking disciple who, first of all,
reminds himself who his God is to him and how that speaks to the situation
staring him in the face. So, you see, in your prayers you not only remind
God, but you also remind yourself, ‘God is faithful. He will rescue me.’

All of this is based on the first phrase, ‘… in the abundance of Your
steadfast love answer me…’ What is translated here as ‘steadfast love’ is
actually a rather technical term related to covenant relations. It is a key
to understanding David’s relationship with God. Consider the ways some view
their relationship with God. For some it actually boils down to a business
relationship with a contract instead of a covenant. ‘God, you keep your end
of the deal, and I’ll keep mine.’ Others develop this a little. For a
Pharisee it was a matter of the rules of religion. ‘I’ve fulfilled the rules
You set out, God. Now, You are obligated to bless me.’ But what David enjoys
can be reduced to neither of these. David’s relationship with His God is
neither a business arrangement nor a matter of religious rule-keeping. David
loves God. And he loves God because he knows that God loves David. And that
changes everything. If a bond between people is a business contract or
religious rule-keeping with a view to extricating blessings, it cannot help
but poison the relationship. David doesn’t appeal to God as a business
partner or an obligated dispenser of blessings. He appeals to God based on
this simple fact, ‘I know that You love me. So, "in the abundance of your
steadfast love, answer me…" ’

We’ve looked at ‘in your saving faithfulness’ and ‘in the abundance of your
steadfast love’. The last phrase that David includes here is, ‘At an
acceptable time, O God, … answer me…’ It was actually this part of the verse
that most stood out to me when I read it on Wednesday. Life is hard for
David. There are all these people who are out to get him. And it appears
that the situation is actually getting worse. But David prays, ‘At an
acceptable time, O God, … answer me…’ Do you understand what that means?
‘Lord, answer me whenever You think it’s best.’ What a great memory verse
for impatient people! Now, please remember the situation. It’s hard. David
is really feeling it. And he really is eager for God to act. You can see
that in other parts of the Psalm. And yet, his eager desires are held in
check. ‘At an acceptable time…’ Once again, we see how David’s love
relationship with Yahweh affects his life and his prayers. ‘Lord, I know
that You love me. I know that. So, I’ll trust You to pick the best time to
act.’ Based on other parts of the Psalm, it’s clear that there’s a part of
David that’s screaming, ‘Lord, hurry! Act now! Do something – quickly!’ And
yet, because of the love that is between them, David can pray, ‘At an
acceptable time…’ David is willing to endure the waiting – and thus the
suffering – because he is confident, ‘My God, who loves me, will act at the
perfect time. He knows what He is doing with my life – even if I don’t.’ As
a result, David is able to end his prayer with these words. ‘I will praise
the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will
please Yahweh 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 Yahweh hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are
prisoners.’

The Spirit has spoken. Hear Him. He has displayed the Gospel before your
eyes once again. Believe it. Embrace it. Enjoy it.