Quick Note – Psalm 69:13 – Deliverance at an Acceptable Time

Psalm 69:13 – But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

I must admit that I am pretty weak.  When troubles or hardships come into my life, I tend to fold fairly easily.  And I, most certainly, can’t live with pain.  If my head even feels a tinge of aching, I immediately take an Advil or Excedrin.  If not, within a few hours, that headache becomes a full-blown migraine.  So I know that when it comes to difficulties, I don’t have much perseverance.  I cave in quickly.  This is why I was impressed when I read Psalm 69. 

In this psalm, David described the trouble that he was in.  In the first few verses, he says that he was sinking in the mire, that the floods were sweeping over him, and that he was weary with crying out (vs. 1-3).  He said that the enemies that surrounded him were as many as the hairs on his head, and not only were they abundant but they were also mighty (vs. 4).  He mentioned how he had borne so much reproach that even his brothers considered him a stranger because of shame (vs. 7-8).  People mocked him (vs. 12); people slandered him (vs. 4); and people were looking to bring him down (vs. 21).  And he suffered all this not because of his own sin or foolishness but because of his love and faith in God (vs.7, 9).  He said it was his zeal for God’s house that this was happening.  He was suffering the reproaches of those who reproached God.  He was dishonored and reproached for God’s sake (vs. 7).  He didn’t deserve this hardship, but it still came. 

This is why I was surprised that David could still say in vs 13, “But as for me, my prayer it to you, O LORD.  At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.”  I’m not surprised that David called out to God for mercy and grace and love, because God is certainly the One we should turn to when we are in trouble.  But I am surprised that David could say, “At an acceptable time.”  David could wait for God’s deliverance in God’s time.  Although he was tired of crying out in pain, although he was suffering in despair, David could still say, “God, save me, when it is the right time to do so in your eyes.”  He trusted that God’s love, God’s faithfulness would come through at the right time.  He didn’t doubt God.  He didn’t fear that God would not be faithful.  He trusted Him completely.  That is why David could end the psalm by telling the earth to praise the God who deserved it.  That is why David could confidently say that the LORD hears the needy and does not despise His people.  David was delivered by God from trouble many times in his life, and he knew that his God was faithful. 

When we are suffering, it can be hard to wait on God.  It is easy to question why God doesn’t deliver you from the trouble immediately.  But like David, we must continue to pray and to trust that God will deliver us at an acceptable time.  We must only wait for Him.  When the Israelites were running away from Egypt and were trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army, they were told to simply stand still and see the salvation of God (Exodus 14:13).  They needed to wait.  When Joseph was suffering through slavery and wrongful imprisonment, he needed to faithfully follow God until he was put in Pharaoh’s good graces.  He needed to wait.  God will work in our lives in His time.  So wait for God’s deliverance.  He will deliver you at an acceptable time.

Victory in Despair

Esther 9:1 – Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred:  the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.”

We can all surely remember the numerous cartoons we used to watch every Saturday morning.  In many of these cartoons, there was a hero that usually encountered some sort of problem where all hope seemed to be lost.  Right when the dire situation gets worse though, the show then cuts to a commercial break.   But suddenly right after the commercial break, we find that everything has suddenly changed.  What seemed to be a hopeless situation is now an opportunity for the hero to shine and save the day.  For me, this scene repeated over and over again as I watched the Power Rangers every day.  They always seemed to be losing as the bad guy got stronger, then all of a sudden the tides changed, and they came out victorious.

This scene can also be found in the Bible in the book of Esther.  This whole book tells the story of the deliverance of the Jewish people from destruction due to the God’s working through the life of Esther, a woman who became the Queen of Persia.  Although the word God is not mentioned even once in the whole book, His hand can be seen throughout the whole story.  To summarize the book, what happened was an evil and narcissistic man named Haman sought the destruction of the Jewish people because one Jewish man, Mordecai, refused to bow to him, for he was Jewish.  (He probably refused to bow down because he saw bowing down to Haman as a form of worship, and the Jews were to worship only the Lord their God, just as we Christians should only serve one Master, Jesus Christ.)  Since Haman was a man of high position in the court of the king, he sought the king’s support to destroy these people, to which he was given the king’s approval.  When the word went out that on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, all the enemies to the Jews were to annihilate the Jewish people throughout all 127 provinces of the Persian empire, the Jews began to weep for all they could see was despair – their destruction was imminent, for the law of the king could not be overturned.  Fortunately, for the Jews, they had an inside “man” or should I say woman, Esther, Mordecai’s cousin and the current Queen of Persia.  Esther then went to plead for the life of her people, to which, she was granted her request by the king.  When the king found out what Haman had done, though unintentionally, for Haman did not know Queen Esther was also a Jew, Haman was hanged and killed.  Unfortunately, law was still law, and the thirteenth day of Adar was still assigned as a day for the enemies of the Jews to kill the Jewish people; therefore, a new law was instated which allowed the Jewish people to fight back against their enemies.  Due to this new law, that thirteenth day of Adar was no longer a day of despair for the Jewish people, but a day of victory, for all who opposed the Jews were smitten and killed to the point where 75,000 enemies were killed in one day.  A day of despair became a day of victory.  A day that was supposed to be rejoicing for the enemies became a day of rejoicing for God’s people.  God had worked all things out for good for His people.  The people then used the next days to celebrate what the Lord had done for them, establishing the holiday of Purim for future generations to observe, reminding them of this deliverance.

This story is actually a wonderful reminder for us as Christians of what happened on that Good Friday, where Christ died for our sins.  On that day, when Christ was beaten to near death, nailed to the cross, and crucified, left to encounter shame, pain, and ridicule, all hope seemed lost.  It was at that moment that evil appeared to have won.  The Devil and his minions were clearly rejoicing thinking that they had gotten the last word.   They had finally beaten God.  They had finally shut Him down.  Yet in the midst of all this pain, suffering, and evil, we find that it was not a moment of despair but of victory for the Lord, for although He was suffering, He opened the door of salvation for all those who would believe on His name.  It was at that moment that we were all given new life through His shed blood.  It was at that moment we were given forgiveness and justification for our sins.  It was at that moment we were given victory over death.  Just like the Jewish people, we as Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ should take the time to reflect and remember what Christ had done for us.  Instead of just remembering this just once a year like the annual Purim, let us take the time every day to reflect on the sacrifice of Christ and the victory He brought on that day.  No longer need we be in despair, for Christ has gotten us the victory.