Psalm 31:9 ¶ Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. 10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. 11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. 12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. 13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. 14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. 15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake. 17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
David cries for mercy in heartfelt grief. I have done the same. We
pray to for mercy and deliverance and that we are secure in God’s promises.
Proverbs 18:10 ¶ The name
of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Here also is a type of Christ in His betrayal and suffering at the
hands of the people He came to save.
David can’t see for his tears.
Psalm 6:7 Mine eye is
consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
Psalm 88:9 Mine eye
mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have
stretched out my hands unto thee.
Job 17:7 Mine eye also is
dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
David is being crushed under the weight of his sorrow as verse 10
shows. There are too many Psalms to reference here that reflect a depth of
grief and suffering but here in Psalm 102 we see this expressed;
Psalm 102:1 ¶ «A Prayer of
the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the
LORD.» Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. 2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I
am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me
speedily. 3 For my days are consumed
like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. 4 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass;
so that I forget to eat my bread. 5 By
reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. 6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am
like an owl of the desert. 7 I watch,
and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. 8
Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me
are sworn against me. 9 For I have eaten
ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, 10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath:
for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. 11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and
I am withered like grass.
12 ¶ But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and
thy remembrance unto all generations. 13
Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her,
yea, the set time, is come. 14 For thy
servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. 15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the
LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. 16 When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall
appear in his glory. 17 He will regard
the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. 18 This shall be written for the generation to
come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. 19 For he hath looked down from the height of
his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to
loose those that are appointed to death; 21
To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
22 When the people are gathered
together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23 ¶ He weakened my strength in the way; he
shortened my days. 24 I said, O my God,
take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all
generations. 25 Of old hast thou laid
the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. 26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea,
all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them,
and they shall be changed: 27 But thou
art the same, and thy years shall have no end. 28 The children of thy servants shall continue,
and their seed shall be established before thee.
David’s lamentation in verse 11 also suggests Christ’s rejection
by His own people.
John 1:11 He came unto his
own, and his own received him not.
And the all too human sorrow at that rejection is spoken of by
Isaiah in the great passage on the Messiah to come. See the context of the
following verse;
Isaiah 53:3 He is despised
and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as
it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Christ’s human body was certainly a broken vessel as David cries
in verse 12 for himself.
Psalm 88:4 I am counted
with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
5 Free among the dead, like the slain
that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from
thy hand.
Verse 15 is where it deviates from any thought of Christ. Christ,
in His humanity, did ask God the Father to keep the cup of suffering from Him
but then acknowledged that what was important was that God’s will be done.
Matthew 26:42 He went away
again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not
pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
In some respects, some lamentations of David remind me of Job
although David doesn’t accuse God of being cruel or picking on him.
See this cross-reference that reminds me of verse 18.
Proverbs 12:19 ¶ The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment