[Oe List ...] David Zollars

[James Wiegel]

Lois,
 
Someone "gave" Psalm 69 to David, probably in 1970 or 1971.  This would have been around the same time he asked if a steak, run through a blender, counted for a liquid fast. (I think it was David).  
 
Your message this morning reminded me and I found Psalm 69  in my worn red-covered New English Bible:
 
       Save me, O God;
  for the waters have risen up to my neck,
I sink in muddy depths and have no foothold;
I am swept into deep water, and the flood carries me away.
I am wearied with crying out, my throat is sore,
my eyes grow dim as I wait for God to help me.
       Those who have me without reason
   are more than the hairs of my head;
they outnumber my hairs, those who accuse me falsely.
How can I give back what I have not stolen?
O God, thou knowest how foolish I am,
   and my guilty deeds are not hidden from thee.
 
Let none of those who look to thee be shamed on my account,
       O Lord God of Hosts;
let none who seek thee be humbled through my fault,
       O God of Israel.
For in thy service I have suffered reproach;
I dare not show my face for shame.
I have become a stranger to my brothers,
   an alien to my own mother's sons;
bitter enemies of thy temple tear me into pieces;
those who reproach thee reproach me.
I have broken my spirit with fasting,
only to lay myself open to many reproaches.
I have made sackcloth my clothing
and have become a byword amon them.
those who sit by the town gate talk about me;
drunkards sing songs about me in their cups.
But I lift up this prayer to thee, O Lord:
accept me now in thy great love,
answer me with thy sure deliverance, O God.
Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; 
let me be rescured from the muddy depths,
    so that no flood may carry me away,
    no abyss swallow me up,
    no deep close over me.
 
Answer me, O Lord, in the goodness of  thy unfailing love,
turn towards me in thy great affection.
I am thy servant, do not hide thy face from me.
Make haste to answer me, for I am in distress.
Come near to me and redeem me;
    ransom me, for I have many enemies.
 
Thou knowest what reproaches I bear,
all my anguish is seen by thee.
Reproach has broken my heart,
my shame and my dishonour are past hope;
I look for consolation and receive none,
    for comfort and did not find any.
They put poison in my food
and gave me vinegar when I was thirsty.
 
May their own table be a snare to them
and their sacred feasts lure them to their ruin;
may their eyes be darkened so that they do not see,
let a continual ague shake their loins.
Pour out thin indignation upon them
    and let thy burning anger overtake them.
May their settlements be desolate,
and no one living in their tents;
for they pursue him whom thou hast struck down
and multipy the torments of those whom thou hast wounded.
Give them the punishment their sin deserves;
exclude them from thy righteous mercy;
let them be blotted out from the book of life
and not be enrolled among the righteous.
 
But by thy saving power, O God, lift me high
above my pain and my distress,
then I will praise God's name in song
   and glorify him with thanksgiving;
that will please the Lord more than the offering of a bull,
   a young bull with horn and cloven hoof.
 
See and rejoice, you humble folk,
take heart, you seekers after God;
for the Lord listens to the poor
and does not despise those bound to his service.
Let sky and earth praise him, 
the seas and all that move in them, 
for God will deliver Zion
    and rebuild the cities of Judah.
    His servants' children shall inherit them;
they shall dwell there in their own possession
  and all who love his name shall live in them.
 
 
Jim Wiegel
401 North Beverly Way 
Tolleson, Arizona 85353-2401



      
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