SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 – REPROACH, SHAME, AND DISGRACE

READ: Ps. 69:1–36 : … Deliver me, O God … My sins are not hidden from You … Zeal for Your house has eaten me up … I have become a byword … Reproach has broken my heart … For God will save Zion …

This is a Messianic psalm in which stark complaints are heard together with a prayer for deliverance. David reveals himself here as a type of Christ. Not everything in this psalm refers to Christ, such as verse 5, where David confesses his foolishness and his sins, which can cast a stain upon other believers. As with Psalm 22, we must consider, in explaining the verses, what applies directly to David, what at the same time points forward to his great Son, and what lesson it contains for us.

David’s complaint concerns the almost unbearable suffering and injustice that he endures at the hands of men (vv.2–4). It also points forward to the suffering of Jesus (cf. v.4 and John 15:25; see also Isa. 53:3).

David pleads with the LORD to deliver him from this, whereas Jesus actually endured it, even unto death, although He prayed to His Father in the garden of Gethsemane to allow the cup to pass from Him.

Heb. 5:7–10 says: “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears … and was heard because of His godly fear. Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” Let us also never forget to pray to the Lord God when we experience hatred and injustice.

In verses 7–12 David once again brings his deep misery and shameful reproach before the LORD. This passage, too, is recognizable in the suffering of Jesus. It even contains a direct quotation of verse 9 in John 2:17 “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” and in Rom. 15:3 “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me”.

But then David again appeals to the LORD, asking whether in His great lovingkindness and faithfulness He will deliver him, while describing the severity of his distress (vv.13–21).

Here again there is a direct reference to the suffering of Jesus (v.21). David then asks that God, who has seen everything, will also repay his enemies. He concludes with full confidence in the certain expectation of deliverance and with a call to praise the LORD.

What lesson does this psalm contain for us?

Sing: Ps. 69:2,5,11