#DailyDevotion A Prayer Of Jesus In Suffering For Us
Psalm 69 Save Me, O God, the waters come up to My neck. 2I’m sunk in deep mud where there’s nothing to stand on. I have come into deep water where streams sweep Me away. 3I’m tired of calling, My throat is hoarse. My eyes are bleary looking for My God.
We don’t know when David composed this. It could be when Saul was pursuing him. It also could be when his son Absalom was rebelling against him. But as we can see in the psalm, things have gotten pretty bad for him. He has become a type for Jesus and His innocent suffering and death. Yes, here we see David prophetically praying the prayer of Jesus in the Garden and throughout His passion. The translator here makes this manifest with all the capitalized pronouns when referring to the person praying who is suffering here. Here, we hear Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane with sweat like drops of blood while His disciples wearily fall asleep. He knows the suffering and pain that is about to come upon Him as His Father places our sins upon Him and He makes atonement for our sins. He will experience what we deserve for our sins.
4Those who hate Me without a reason are more than the hairs on My head. Those who are out to destroy Me are mighty. They have no real reason to be My enemies. I have to pay back what I didn’t rob.
The Pharisees, the Scribes and the Sadducees conspire together to put an end to Jesus. Even Pilate saw they did this to Jesus because they were jealous of Him. They did not like the people looking to Him for salvation. They were worried they were going to lose their power and influence because of Jesus. Yet Jesus came to save them. He was not their enemy. Had they turned to Him, they could have been His teachers in Israel. Jesus is called upon by the Father to pay back for the sins of those who persecuted Him. He has become our sacrifice to make all things right.
5O God, You know My foolishness; My guilt isn’t hidden from You. 6Don’t let those who look to You for help be disgraced because of Me, O Lord, the LORD of armies. Don’t let those who eagerly come to You be put to shame for My sake. O God of Israel. 7Yes, for You I took insults and blushed with shame; 8I’ve become a stranger to My brothers and a foreigner to My mother’s sons.
Paul says the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. (1 Cor. 1) It may seem foolish for God to become Man, to suffer, the innocent for the guilty. But here Jesus is doing just that. He has taken on our guilt and made it His own. It is not hidden from God. David also speaks of his own guilt here. David and Jesus do not want those who look to the Father to be disgraced because of Him. He does not want them to be brought to shame. Of course, when we experience such things for the name of Jesus, we like Peter in his last hour do not find ourselves worthy to suffer with and for the name of Jesus. We now consider it an honor to participate in the sufferings of Jesus, to suffer with and for Him.
There is a pile up of the names of God here. They are appeals to God’s honor. Elohim, Adonai, YHWH Sabbaoth, and Elohi Israel are the names called upon in His time of need. The names God Himself as saving names come forth from His lips. When we use the names of God, when we address the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ, we give Him honor and glory. We see the suffering of Jesus here as He takes insults and blushes with shame for our sake and for the Father. His own family, His brothers abandon Him. His disciples are scattered. All this for our sake and for our salvation.
Heavenly Father, as we pray this prayer, help us to understand and appreciate the suffering of our LORD Jesus Christ for our salvation and may it give us patience in our own suffering knowing we are participating in His suffering. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.