Life’s Sorrows

 Temple Baptist Church - 11-26-2023

Psalm 69:1-15

 

Introduction:

 

A.  Psalm 69 is both Davidic and Messianic. 

 

1.  Davidic. David, a man after God’s own heart, lived a hard life and we can both see it and feel it in this Psalm. 

 

Psalm 69:1 “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.”

 

2.  Messianic.  This Psalm can also be tied to John 17, the Lord’s Prayer.  Our Lord, the Son of God, lived a hard life also and we can see it in Mark 14:32-36:

 

“ And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.  (33)  And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;  (34)  And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.  (35)  And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.  (36)  And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

 

B.  I want to divide this Psalm into two parts.

 

1.  Life’s Sorrows – Verses 1-15

 

2.  Life’s Solutions – Verses 16-36.

 

C.  I continually say that life is hard and when you know that you can make it! 

 

1.  A lot of “Rose Garden” preaching is one of the causes of discouragement.  “Something good is going to happen to you today!”  Though that is a good thing, it carries the believer upon a “wave” of unrealistic hope down the road to disappointment, dissatisfaction, and discouragement.

 

2.  We are to rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice in Philippians 4:4, but we also live in days of heaviness—manifold temptations—along with the trial of our faith in 1 Peter 1:6-7.

 

3.  As long as the believer thinks that salvation did away with trials and sorrows in this life, they are continually disappointed, dissatisfied, and discouraged.  One of the greatest enemies that we face is that of discouragement.  One must realize that the road to discouragement is a sinful process of disappointment and dissatisfaction!

 

D.  There are times when we just have to “suck it up and go on”!  I do not want this to be a message of discouragement to you because this Psalm is just the opposite of that, but I do want to be realistic because we live in a real world.

 

1.  Verses 1-3.  I call this the Popeye Syndrome.  “I’ve had all I can stand, and I can’t stands anymore.” 

 

a.  Verse 1.  David’s soul is drowning, and he is struggling.  There are and will be times when we, as God’s children, struggle to some degree.  Such was this time in life for a man of war, a man after God’s own heart.  If David struggled, and he did, it is alright for you and to struggle at times.

 

b.  Verse 2.  David’s standing is quicksand, and he is continuing to sink down.  His spiritual feet were mired down so that he could neither move nor climb out.  Impossibility with man is possibility with God.

 

c.  Verse 3.  David’s supplication is waning.  Tired, speechless, and spiritually blinded.  David had come to the point that he was beginning to be unable to pray.

 

d.  This is actually the end of David’s supplication, not the beginning of it.  It is the culmination of “When it rains, it pours”!  David was at the “end of his rope”, yet he was still on the rope!  He is writing this Palm and is still alive.

 

Psalms 34:19  Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

 

e.  There will come a time in our lives when we are overwhelmed to the point of despair, but God will hold our hand and be there with and for us.

 

2.  Verse 4.  David faced enemies that could not be bought off.  “without a cause … wrongfully … restored … took not away” 

 

a.  David’s innocence.  He had evidently done nothing to be hated or destroyed for but his enemies persisted.

 

b.  David’s inability.  David tried to restore that which he had not taken.  There have been times in the ministry when someone accused Barbaras or I of something that we did not do and demanded an apology.  Needless to say, no apology was given.  If we had been in the wrong, we would have gone to that person’s home and apologized.

 

c.  There will come a time in our lives when we are in a “lose lose” situation.  Where more damage will be done through acquiescing to the enemy’s demands than we be done by affirming innocence.

 

3.  Verses 5-7.  David’s appeal to as omniscience God.

 

a.  Verse 5.  If David had done wrong, God would have known.

 

b.  David did not want to be ashamed, and his expectation quenched before the eyes of those around him.

 

c.  There may come a time when you ask God to vindicate you for the sake of those who look on.  People see bad things happen to you with nothing seemingly resolved and they ask, “Why?”

 

d.  I do not ever want to be ashamed because the truth is never manifested.

 

4.  Verses 8-12.  David’s enemy was often from within. 

 

a.  Absolom.  Matthew 10:34-36  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.  (35)  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.  (36)  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

 

b.  Ahithophel.  Psalms 41:9  Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

 

Psalms 55:12-14  For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:  (13)  But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.  (14)  We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

 

c.  There may come a time when your greatest enemy will be from within.  Someone that you loved, trusted, spent time with, and worshipped with.  Possibly the greatest hurt of all!

 

5.  Verses 13-15.  David’s resolve restored.

 

a.  Verse 13.  David ’s Prayer.

 

b.  Verse 14.  David’s Plight.

 

c.  Verse 15.  David’s Plea.

 

Conclusion:  Isaiah 43:1-2  But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.  (2)  When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.