Psalm 69:1-12
Short informational item – one of my Study Bibles reports that no psalm other than Psalm 22 is quoted more often in the New Testament than today’s Psalm 69.
So today it seems we have a leader who is actively seeking to follow the Lord (v. 9), but acknowledges his own sin (v. 5), has a group of faithful followers (v. 6), has a group of friends who have turned away from him (v. 8), and has enemies unknown to him (v. 12) who are wrongly charging him (v. 4). Frankly, sadly, that sounds like any church pastor – any church, any denomination.
Verse 6 struck me: Let not those who hope in You be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek You be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. As Christians we have an image that we portray to everyone around us. And sadly, in this verse we see that other Christians are affected by how an outside world views us. How often have we heard the charge that Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites? An entire body of Christians get judged because of the actions of a few. The Apostle Peter offers good advice to counter these accusations: Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God on the day of visitation. (I Peter 2:12, NASB)