The Emotions of Psalms, Part 5 – Psalm 69: Feeling Overwhelmed
Psalm 69 July 12, 2026
Introduction
- Pike’s Peak over 14k feet in Colorado, Barr Trail, 12-14 mile hike to the peak depending on where you start with an almost 8k elevation change, junior Olympic wrestling team, hot day in summer, climb the peak
- Start running hilly rocky terrain, but sticking together, heat pressing in but drinking the water, elevation increasing but keep a reasonable pace, temperature dropping but actually refreshing…About three hours in the team hits the end of the tree line and the heavy switchbacks up the miles of the climb….there’s no shade, so the sun is baking them – at the same time, the temperature is dropping fast so their bodies are weirdly dysregulated – and the wind picks up fighting them with each step. Additionally, they started running out of water – so dehydration starts setting in, and of course, with turn of the trail the elevation is increasing and it’s getting harder to breath – like trying to suck air through a straw when you’re out of breath.
- The athletes were overwhelmed, but none of them wanted to give up….they knew the coach was waiting to see who would fall out so he could scoop them up in their failure.
- As of studies done last year, over half of Americans report “significant” stress from political factors, over 60% over health, over 65% over finances, and over 75% for work related issues. – What the Latest Reports Say About Stress in America – The American Institute of Stress
- There are higher levels of stress reported by parents, by young people trying to find a career while having loads of debt, by single parents, by caretakers of their own parents, and by those who lack meaningful companionship – as you might imagine – there is a direct correlation between frequent use of social media and high degrees of stress
- All emotions have a trigger. Talked about how hurt is a common trigger that when we are saturated by it, will often turn to wrath and revenge….we seek to suppress it, will often turn to feeling overwhelmed and stressed as we internalize and hold it all in.
- 3 points today – Psalmist’s Pathos, Psalmist’s Processing, Psalmist’s Pointing
Psalmist’s Primary Pathos: Hurt leading to Stress
- Psalm 69
- 1 Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God. - 4 More in number than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?
5 O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you. - 6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.
7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons. - 9 For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and humbled[b] my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me. - 13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14 Deliver me
from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
15 Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me. - 16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Hide not your face from your servant,
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies! - 19 You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
20 Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink. - 22 Let their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.[c]
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
27 Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.[d]
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous. - 29 But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high! - 30 I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his own people who are prisoners. - 34 Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36 the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
- Spectrum of how hurt (especially from an injustice done to you) is expressed: Saturation to Suppression
- Saturation – (this Psalm is suppression) wrath (last sermon)
- Suppression –overwhelmed (today) and/or sadness/depression (Psalm 42) (future sermon)
Psalmist’s Processing
- V1-3 = emoting being overwhelmed and stressed (drowning, sinking, slipping, weary, failing)
- Eyes on self, but prayer
- V4-12 = how the overwhelmed sees the situation
- Eyes on situation – with view filled with lies
- (v4) more enemies than I can count, they are mighty (I am weak), I am not being treated fairly (“without cause”)
- John 15:25 “But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’”
- (v5) not repentance – just shame at my own folly (more on this next month with Psalm 51)
- (v6) I’m letting others down
- (v7) spiritual justification (self-righteous?)
- (v8) I’m alienated and alone
- (v9-12) I am misunderstood…no one can relate or understands what I’m going through….I’m a joke to them
- John 2:17 quotes v9 this when referring to Jesus driving money changes our of temple
- (v4) more enemies than I can count, they are mighty (I am weak), I am not being treated fairly (“without cause”)
- Eyes on situation – with view filled with lies
- V13-18 = turning to the Lord
- Eyes to the Lord
- (v13) I must turn to the Lord for his steadfast love and His imminent salvation
- (v14-15) He is bigger than all the situations I am facing
- Only He can bring steadfast love and mercy (v16) through His presence (v17-18)
- (v18) Redeem (as in kinsman redeemer) and ransom me (recognizing need for God to save)
- Eyes to the Lord
- V19-21 = recognition of own condition and brokenness
- Eyes back to me
- In my brokenness I came to despair…I sought pity (v20) and comfort (v20) from places other than the Lord, and instead I found poison (v21)
- Also messianic allusion here (John 19:29 vinegar and sour wine to Jesus on cross)
- In my brokenness I came to despair…I sought pity (v20) and comfort (v20) from places other than the Lord, and instead I found poison (v21)
- Eyes back to me
- V21-28 = Imprecation
- Eyes back to those hurting me
- Pronouncement of curses….even to the point of death (v28)
- Eyes back to those hurting me
- V29 = finally turning to the Lord for salvation
- Eyes off of offender and onto the Lord exclusively
- Key verse in entire Psalm – recognized sin before…now finally turns to the Lord for His forgiveness and salvation.
- “set on high” (Heb. Sagav) – set out of reach of harm – the enemy cannot even touch you – eternal security in Christ
- No flood could take him, no mire drown him, no strength of his need deliver him…the Lord has done it!
- No situation or circumstance is greater than our salvation. Nothing can take away our future hope in Him.
- Hebrews 6:18-20 “…we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
- Romans 5:3-5 “3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
- “set on high” (Heb. Sagav) – set out of reach of harm – the enemy cannot even touch you – eternal security in Christ
- V30-36 = praising the Lord
- No more mention of situation – only praises of God as we are “humble” and “seek” (v32) Him
Psalmist’s Pointing to Jesus
- Psalm 69 has the distinction of being the third most quoted psalm in the New Testament – usually in relation to Jesus – why? He was pretty regularly hated and overwhelmed. (And there are messianic allusions, like in Psalm 22)
- Mark 6 (overwhelmed by various circumstances)
- Rejected by his hometown, responsible to train his disciples, reeling from death of his friend/cousin, relied on for food and healing, reigning over the storm
- Matthew 14:30 – Pater cries out “save me” just like David in this Psalm
- Sought to pray (v30-32, v46)
- Mark 14:34-35 “34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed…”
- “very sorrowful” (Gk. Perilypos) = overcome or overwhelmed (with sorrow)
- Sought the presence of His Father – rested in His relationship with Him….His “salvation” from the brokenness of this world – His joy in His eternity with the Father.
- Mark 14:34-35 “34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed…”
- Rejected by his hometown, responsible to train his disciples, reeling from death of his friend/cousin, relied on for food and healing, reigning over the storm
Conclusion
- The team of world class wrestlers continued to strain their way to the top of Pike’s Peak and no one wanted to quit. But the temperature was crazy, the dehydration was real, the wind was in their faces, they had no idea how much further they had to go and hardest of all, they could barely breath.
- One by one they started falling out – overwhelmed by the obstacles of the mountain. It started with the heavyweights and slowly, man by man, made its way to the little guys. After several hours…all but two of them had dropped out.
- My friend would go about 50 feet with his teammate and then they would have to rest. Then they would push to the next rock or the next bend in the trail, and take another rest. Slowly, they were pushing themselves through, urging each other on, but the mountain was too much. When they reached a corner of a bend that they thought was the last before the summit, they could finally see ahead and all they saw was more trail, more mountain.
- Exhausted, dehydrated, freezing, and choking for air they both collapsed on the rocky path and looked at each other for permission to quit. They both agreed they would rather die than give up, but their bodies could not go a step further.
- And then they heard it, steps coming up the path behind them. A momentary fear took them – was this the coach coming to collect them in their failure? No, they both saw a calm, steady, little old lady – walking all by herself up the mountain without any strain in her step. As she approached, she looked down at them with a smile and compassionate eyes and said, “don’t give up boys, you’re almost to the top just a little farther to go.” As she kept on walking right by them.
- My friend was relieved to hear that they were almost there – but more than that he was motivated by this little old lady who was kicking their butts. These two world class athletes were being left in the dust by a grandma. They pulled themselves up to their feet and instead of looking at the mountain, or thinking about their thirst, or choking on the lack of oxygen, they just watched the back of granny. She was blazing the trail, she was leading the way. And step by step, they encouraged each other to not lose her trail and they made it to the top.
- Jesus has blazed the trail – He has made the way, and He walks ahead of us on the water, through the storm so that we can join Him in victory. When we take out eyes off Him and put them onto all of the obstacles we are facing – the wind and the waves – we will drown, we will be overwhelmed.
- But as we learn to trust Jesus, as we learn to let Him be in charge of the result, as the gospel transforms our hearts and our minds to follow Him and rely on the strength He provides and not our own, we will walk in victory and be overcomers together with Jesus.
- Romans 8:35-37 “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
- Amen. Amen.
- Prayer through Psalm.