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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comTreasury of David - Psalms 69:13 - 69:13
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
13 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
16 Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
17 And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.
Psa 69:13
“But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord.” He turned to Jehovah in prayer as being the most natural things for the godly to do in their distress. To whom should a child turn but to his father. He did not answer them; like a sheep before her shearers he was dumb to them, but he opened his mouth unto the Lord his God, for he would hear and deliver. Prayer is never out of season, it stands us in good stead in every evil day. “In an acceptable time.” It was a time of rejection with man, but of acceptance with God. Sin ruled on earth, but grace reigned in heaven. There is to each of us an accepted time, and woe be to us if we suffer it to glide away unimproved. God's time must be our time, or it will come to pass that, when time closes, we shall look in vain for space for repentance, Our Lord's prayers were well-timed, and always met with acceptance. “O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me.” Even the perfect one makes his appeal to the rich mercy of God, much more should we. To misery no attribute is more sweet than mercy, and when sorrows multiply, the multitude of mercy is much prized. When enemies are more than the hairs of our head, they are yet to be numbered, but God's mercies are altogether innumerable, and let it never be forgotten that: every one of them is an available and powerful argument in the hand of faith. “In the truth of thy salvation.” Jehovah's faithfulness is a further mighty plea. His salvation is no fiction, no mockery, no changeable thing, therefore he is asked to manifest it, and make all men see his fidelity to his promise. Our Lord teaches us here the sacred art of wrestling in prayer, and ordering our cause with arguments; and he also indicates to us that the nature of God is the great treasury of strong reasons, which shall be to us most prevalent in supplication.
Psa 69:14
“Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink.” He turns into prayer the very words of his complaint; and it is well, if, when we complain, we neither feel nor say anything which we should fear to utter before the Lord as a prayer. We are allowed to ask for deliverance from trouble as well as for support under it; both petitions are here combined. How strange it seems to hear such language from the Lord of glory. “Let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.” Both from his foes, and the griefs which they caused him, he seeks a rescue. God can help us in all ways, and we may, therefore, put up a variety of requests without fear of exceeding our liberty to ask, or his ability to answer.
Psa 69:15
“Let not the waterflood overflow me.” He continues to recapitulate the terms of his lament. He is willing to bear suffering, but entreats grace that it may not get the victory over him. He was heard in that he feared. “Neither let the deep swallow me up.” As Jonah came forth again, so let me also arise from the abyss of woe: here also our Lord was heard, and so shall we be. Death itself must disgorge us. “Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.” When a great stone was rolled over the Well, or pit, used as a dungeon, the prisoner was altogether enclosed, and forgotten like one in the oubliettes of the Bastille; this is an apt picture of the state of a man buried alive in grief and left without remedy; against this the great sufferer pleaded and was heard. He was baptised in agony but not drowned in it; the grave, enclosed him, but before she could close her mouth he had burst his prison. It is said that truth lies in a well, but it is assuredly an open well, for it walks abroad in power; and so our great Substitute in the pit of woe and death was yet the Conqueror of death and hell. How appropriately may many of us use this prayer. We deserve to be swept away as with a flood, to be drowned in our sins, to be shut up in hell; let us, then, plead the merits of our Saviour, lest these things happen unto us.
Psa 69:16
“Hear me, O Lord.” Do not refuse thy suppliant Son. It is to the covenant God, the ever-living Jehovah, that he appeals with strong cryings. “For thy loving-kindness is good.” By the greatness of thy love have pity upon thine afflicted. It is always a stay to the soul to dwell upon the pre-eminence and excellence of the Lord's mercy. It has furnished sad souls much good cheer to take to pieces that grand old Saxon word, which is here used in our version, “lovingkindness.” Its composition is of two most sweet and fragrant things, fitted to inspire strength into the fainting, and make desolate hearts sing for joy. “Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.” If the Lord do but turn the eye of pity, and the hand of power, the mourner's Spirit revives. It is the gall of bitterness to be without the comfortable smile of God; in our Lord's case his grief culminated in “Lama Sabachthani,” and his bitterest cry was that in which he mourned an absent God. Observe how he dwells anew upon divine tenderness, and touches again that note of abundance, “The multitude of thy compassions.”
Psa 69:17
“And hide not thy face from thy servant.” A good servant desires the light of his master's countenance; that servus servorum, who was also rex regium, could not bear to lose the presence of his God. The more he loved his Father, the more severely he felt the hiding of his face. “For I am in trouble.” Stay thy rough wind in the day of thine east wind; do not add sorrow upon sorrow. If ever a man needs the comforting presence of God it is when he is in distress; and, being in distress, it is a reason to be pleaded with a merciful God why he should not desert us. We may pray that our flight be not in the winter, and that God will not add spiritual desertion to all our other tribulations. “Hear me, speedily.” The case was urgent, delay was dangerous, nay deadly. Our Lord was the perfection of patience, yet he cried urgently for speedy mercy; and therein he gives us liberty to do the same, so long as we add, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
Psa 69:18
“Draw nigh unto my soul.” The near approach of God is all the sufferer needs; one smile of heaven will still the rage of hell. “And redeem it.” It shall be redemption to me if thou wilt appear to comfort me. This is a deeply spiritual prayer, and one very suitable for a deserted soul. It is in renewed communion that we shall find redemption realised. “Deliver me because of mine enemies,” lest they should, in their vaunting, blaspheme thy name, and boast that thou art not able to rescue those who put their trust in thee. Jesus, in condescending to use such supplications, fulfils the request of his disciples: “Lord, teach us to pray.”