This psalm allows us the privilege of looking straight into the depth  of emotion that David experienced when he suffered tremendously under the oppression of those around him. We’ve seen that emotion in previous psalms, but this one has aspects we’ve never considered.

 Psalm 69 will take us back to the grief and anguish that we felt as we read and studied Psalm 22. Charles Spurgeon says: “Jesus’ footprints all through this sorrowful song have been pointed out by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.”  While we will see Jesus in this psalm, we will also see requests of David that don’t sound like Jesus at all.  The surprise in this psalm is the raw emotion and ANGER that David expressed to the Lord – his indignation and desire to see justice carried out against his enemies. Psalm 69 is one of the 3 most intense, extreme imprecatory psalms. There are at least 7 psalms that fall into this genre – with the top 3 being the most extreme: Psalms 35, 69 and 109.

Imprecations are ‘curses’ and seem to be prayers from David for evil to fall on his enemies.

So what a lesson we have before us! To see how this psalm was quoted and applied in the New Testament, and to understand how to handle the imprecatory sections of psalms. We will gain a renewed appreciation for the suffering that Jesus experienced on our behalf and gain an appropriate example of what to do with our own anger regarding evil and injustice.

At the end of my lecture, I’ll give a demonstration of what to do when we are ‘ragin’! See my props in the picture below!

wrath of God. Vengence is mine says the Lord. God’s justice. imprecatory psalms.