Psalm Chapter 69 - To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David

Psalm 69: When the Waters Come In

"Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul." Some prayers do not bother with preamble. David is drowning, and he knows it — sunk in deep mire, throat dried from crying, eyes failing while he waits. He is not even sure he is innocent; he confesses his foolishness in the same breath as his lament. But he refuses to pretend, and that is the gift of this psalm. It gives voice to the prayer of the person who feels forsaken not only by God but by the ordinary comforts of human company: "I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none." And yet, astonishingly, somewhere in the rising water the psalm begins to sing. "I will praise the name of God with a song." Not after the rescue — during the drowning. That is faith stripped of everything but its sinews. The New Testament writers would later see the face of Christ in these verses, and they were right to; but before it became prophecy, it was simply the honest cry of a man going under who refused to stop talking to God on the way down.

00:00 The Waters Are Come In
00:30 Mine Eyes Fail While I Wait
01:00 The Zeal of Thine House
01:30 In the Multitude of Thy Mercy
02:00 Let Not the Pit Shut Her Mouth
02:30 They Gave Me Gall and Vinegar
03:00 Let Their Table Become a Snare
03:30 I Will Praise Him With a Song
04:00 The Lord Heareth the Poor