Introduction

God will lift you up.  The other day, I was moved in my spirit, to share a message about being lifted up.  So many of us are living in a world that is seemingly becoming more and more unbearable.  With all that we have gone through this year, not even including the election, it has been… a lot.  On one hand it is COVID-19 and on the other hand it is the unbearable fuss of politics that seems to be driving our everyday lives.  

With all that we have faced and in all that we go through, it seemed necessary to share this message with you.  I don’t know if you have been down in your spirit, but if so, this message is for you today.  This is a very simple, yet timely message to you – God will lift you up!

David’s Prayer While Distressed

I want to share with you today a psalm of David’s that got quoted quite a bit in New Testament writing.  This is a psalm that while it portrays a part of David’s life, you will also see Christ portrayed as well.  I also chose this psalm because it is also a psalm in which you and I will be able to see ourselves.  So, let’s take a look at Psalm 69 – An Urgent Plea for Help in Trouble – and see if you can see yourself in this psalm.

David’s distress

In the very first verse of this psalm, David says, “Save me”  Any time someone is crying out to be saved, it usually means they are in a great deal of trouble!  We are going to see in this psalm that David was feeling incredibly distressed.  He goes on to say that he needs to be saved from the waters, for the waters had come up to his neck (Psalm 69:1).  Now, let’s understand that David was not talking literally here.  

David was in so much distress that he felt that he was about to drown in his troubles! Question:  have you ever been so distressed, so bothered, so down on life, that you felt like you were nearly about to drown from it all?  I believe that many of us are very familiar with the feeling of nearly drowning.  

David did not stop there with expressing his distress so I want to continue looking at it for a moment.  He says in the second verse of this psalm, “I sink in deep mire (deep mud), where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me (Psalm 69:2).”  In his trouble, David tells us that he is struggling to stand on his own two feet!  It appears that he is in great despair, in that he says the floods “overflow” him.  To be in despair:  an utter loss of hope.

David, in this situation, had become utterly hopeless.  We know this because the first words of his prayer is, “save me”.  When you feel like you can get out of a situation, you don’t typically ask for anybody to save you!  David was sinking, again, not literally, but it is clear that he was in need of being lifted up.  Again, I ask you the question:  have you ever been so distressed that you felt you were unable to stand on your own two feet?

How great was David’s distress?  In the next couple of verses, David tells us that he was so weary (exhausted) from shedding tears that his eyes were failing him while he waited on God (Psalm 69:3)!  Yes, his despair was great, but let’s make an important note:  David was hopeless in what he could do, but he had not given up his hope in God!  How many of us are feeling like David right now?

Down on Life

I would say that as of late, many of us – both believer and non-believer – have probably felt like we were standing in deep waters.  Many of us, I imagine, probably feel like we are sinking in the mire with a crisis that seems to be never ending.  With more and more anger and frustration filling our nation – from either politics and just the stuff that happens here – it is understandable for people to be struggling with dealing with it all.

I spoke recently with a nurse acquaintance the other day to see how she was ‘holding up’, and she responded with much frustration.  She was understandably hurt by what she witnesses everyday.  Others, in recent weeks, have mentioned to me how sad they are at how humans are treating other humans.  We see the awful treatment of others on our TVs or in our Facebook and Twitter feeds.  Again, I ask you, are you feeling like David today – do you feel utterly hopeless?  Do you feel like you are about to drown in this sea of madness that is our world right now?

Coping with hopelessness

Personally, I am not much of a swimmer.  Like my dad used to say, I do very well in water that I can stand up in.  Yet, you put me into the deep end of the pool and I’ll flail away and sink.  It would be best for me to have on a safety vest if I ever ended up in deep water!  Have you been trying to survive in the deep this whole time without a safety vest and you don’t know how to swim?

What I mean by this is that many of us try to cope with our feelings of hopelessness and great sorrow by trying to mask those feelings.  We will wear a smile on our face, laugh, and joke all the while hurting on the inside.  To lift ourselves up from being so down, some of us turn to the world to lift us back up.  We turn to things like drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping sprees, etc – whatever can make us happy or be able to deal with what’s going on.  The question must be asked:  what is turning to the things of the world, the flesh, going to help resolve?  Not much at all.

It is commonplace for many true and genuine believers to hurt from the suffering of others.  Many of us are starting to have a feeling of hopelessness in this crisis today.  You may be losing hope in people, possibly losing hope in your situation, or even in yourself, but I say to you today, don’t ever lose hope in God!

Hope in God

If you are in deep waters or in the mire, and you’re starting to feel hopeless, it is not too late to call out, “save me” to the Lord!  David said that his enemy surrounded him and hated him without cause to the point he felt they wanted to kill him (Ps. 69:4).  Jesus quoted this psalm when He spoke of the world’s hatred that was directed at Him (John 15:18-25).  We are surrounded by hate and many things that will get us down in our spirit, but God says to us that there is a lifeline for us when we are broken-hearted and sorrowful.

In my key verse for today, we see David further calling out to the lifeline all of us should be calling out to at this time.  David said, “my prayer is to You, O Lord, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy […] Deliver me out of the mire, And let me not sink.”

13 But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, And let me not sink; Let me be delivered from those who hate me, And out of the deep waters

KEY VERSE – Psalm 69:13-14 NKJV

Now is the acceptable time

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul quoted what God said in the book of Isaiah, when he said, “In an acceptable time I (God) have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you (Is. 49:8).”  Paul then said to the Corinthians, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).”  Now is that acceptable time to call out to God for your lifeline!

Through the life of Christ, we have an open door of access to the Lord!  Through His death and resurrection, we have an open line of communication with God!  I tell you that with so many of us in neck high waters, today is that acceptable day to trust in the salvation of God!  Now is the time for us to turn to Him.  We should all call out for His lifeline and when God throws us the rope, we should draw near to the Lord.

Let us trust in God to deliver us from those deep waters!  Trust that God will lift you out of the mire!  Now is the time to have faith that God is going to deliver you.  Do not simply let yourself sink in the mire and stop flailing in the deep waters when God says now is the time that having faith in Him will deliver you!

God will lift you up

I know many of us are doing our very best to fight what we are now facing mentally and spiritually.  Many of us have to take breaks just to handle all that we face and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  In fact, I would certainly encourage having some alone time with yourself.  However, I would also encourage you that in your alone time, you spend it with the Lord as well.  You are never truly alone, especially when you are a child of God.

Have you ever been in the flood waters or in that pit of mire, but somehow you made it through?  If you genuinely believe in the Lord, then you know that it was God that lifted you up.  If you are lacking in faith, I tell you that God has also lifted you up out of the mire and the deep waters, and that He will also do it again for you today!  Turn to the Lord and let Him reach down and bring you out of that pit!

If you are in those places right now, if you are in a place where you are so down that you want to quit, I say to you, again, do not give up on God!  If you have never put your faith in the Lord, now is the time to put your faith in Him!  God will make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert (Is. 43:19).  I quote the apostle John today when I say, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).”

Do not be overcome by the floodwaters and the mire when God will make a way out of no way.  Be encouraged!  Hang in there!  Be steadfast and unmovable by all that is going on around you.  Have faith in the Lord and put your trust only in Him.

Tags:

Thank You For Visiting New Found Faith

Sign up to our newsletter today so that you can stay up to date with New Found Faith