Episode Details

Psalm 69: The Waters Have Come In

"Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul." There is no gradual descent in this psalm — David is already drowning when the first line begins. Deep mire, no standing, floods overflowing, throat dried from crying, eyes failing. This is not a man asking for help before the storm; this is a man going under. And what makes it worse is the loneliness: "I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none." Instead they gave him gall for his meat and vinegar for his thirst — details that would echo centuries later on a hill outside Jerusalem. Yet the psalm does not end in the water. It ends with a song. "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving." How does a drowning man sing? Perhaps only a drowning man can sing this particular song — the one that rises not from comfort but from the absolute bottom, where the only direction left is up. "The Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners." If you have ever felt the waters closing over you, this psalm was written in your language.

00:00 The Waters Are Come In
01:00 For Thy Sake I Have Borne Reproach
02:00 Let Me Not Sink
03:00 Reproach Hath Broken My Heart
04:00 I Will Praise the Name of God