CRIES TO GOD FOR DELIVERANCE

“Save me, O God,
    for the waters have come up to my neck.

I sink in the miry depths,

    where there is no foothold.

I have come into the deep waters;

    the floods engulf me.

I am worn out calling for help;

    my throat is parched….

But I pray to You, LORD,

    in the time of Your favor;

in Your great love, O God,

    answer me with Your sure salvation.

Rescue me from the mire,

    do not let me sink;

    deliver me… from the deep waters.

Do not let the floodwaters engulf me

    or the depths swallow me up

    or the pit close its mouth over me.

Answer me, LORD, out of the goodness of Your love;

    in Your great mercy turn to me.

Do not hide Your face from Your servant;

    answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.”  (Psalm 69: 1-3, 13-17 NIV)

We usually think of Jesus in the upper room as calmly and patiently preparing His disciples for their coming crisis; only in the garden are we shown His deep anguish over what lies ahead for Himself.  But if this verse -- "They hated me without a cause." (Psalm 69:4) -- occurred to Jesus as describing His enemies, surely He was also identifying with the rest of [Psalm 69] with its vivid description of overwhelming troubles and importune cries to God for deliverance.  What in the upper room was still under the surface was openly expressed in the garden.

-- John R. Cogdell in "The Humanity of Jesus Christ, as Revealed in Certain Psalms" 

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