Rescue Me

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, October 24, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Psalm 69:1-18.

            When we think of the psalms, we tend to think of things like the twenty-third psalm.  We think of something nice, something peaceful.  We think of something comfortable.  We think of something that talks about God’s protection, about God’s love.  Something that says everything’s all right, everything’s fine.  No worries.

            And there’s nothing wrong with that.  That’s a message we need to hear sometimes.  We need to know about God’s protection, God’s peace, God’s love.  We need to know that, in the end, God will make everything all right, and that we don’t need to constantly worry about things.

            But you know, that’s not the only message we need to hear.  Because life is not always nice.  Life is not always peaceful.  And sometimes it does not seem like everything’s all right at all.  In fact, sometimes, it seems like everything is all wrong.

            And the psalms recognize that.  Our psalm for today, psalm sixty-nine, recognizes that.  The person who wrote this psalm is not peaceful at all.  He’s in trouble.  Big trouble.

            We’re not told what the trouble is.  And I think that’s deliberate.  The author of the psalm does not want us to focus on the specific trouble.  He wants us to focus on his prayer to God.

            Look at how the author of the psalm describes his situation.  He is literally drowning in his troubles.  He says, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold.  I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.”

            Have you ever felt like that? Like your troubles are about to overwhelm you?  Like you’re going to drown in them.  Like if something or someone does not save you, you’re going to be swallowed up by your problems?

            I’m sure that some of us have.  I don’t know exactly who, and I don’t exactly what the problems were, but I know there are some of us who have felt that way.  Maybe there’s someone here who’s feeling that way now.  

And by the way, that feeling has nothing to do with the strength of our faith.  Even if we have a strong faith, even if we firmly believe in God and believe in Jesus as the Savior, we can still feel like our problems are overwhelming us.  So if you do feel that way, please don’t feel like there’s something wrong with you or that your faith is not strong enough.  Don’t add guilt to all the other things you’re feeling.  It won’t help, and I don’t think God wants you to do that to yourself.

            And sometimes that feeling can last for a long time.  It did for the author of the psalm.  He says he has been crying out for help for so long that he is worn out.  His throat is parched.  Think about that--calling for help for so long that you’ve literally given yourself a sore throat doing it.  Then he says that he’s been looking so hard for God that his eyes are beginning to fail.  And still, he cannot find God.  He cannot see God, and he does not hear God answering his cries for help.

            Again, I am sure that there are at least some people here who have felt that way.  And again, maybe you feel that way now.  Like you’ve been crying out to God, like you’ve been looking all over for God, and--no God.  No God anywhere.  You cannot hear Him, you cannot see Him.  It seems like God is nowhere to be found.

            It’s a bad feeling.  It’s a helpless feeling.  And again, it’s not a matter of faith being weak.  You still believe in God.  You still believe in Jesus as the Savior.  It’s just that--you feel cut off.  You know God is there--somewhere--but where?  Where?  And why can you not feel God there?  You know God would never abandon you, but--why is God not responding to you?  Why is God not helping?  Why does God not seem to be doing anything?  God has to see what’s going on.  And you know God has to care, but--it does not feel like God cares.  You know God loves you, but--you feel cut off from God’s love.

            So the question is:  what can we do?  What can we do when we feel this way?  What can we do when we feel like we’re drowning in our troubles, and we’ve asked God to save us, and it does not feel like God is doing anything.

            Well, let’s look at what the author of the psalm did.  First, he acknowledges that this is, at least to some extent, his own fault.  He says, “You, God, know my folly; my guilt is not hidden from you.”

            It’s important that we recognize that.  Not in a way of making ourselves feel guilty about it.  Again, we don’t need to add guilt to all the things we’re already going through.  But sometimes, when things are going badly, we’re tempted to play the victim.  We’re tempted to feel sorry for ourselves, to blame fate or bad luck or even God for what’s happened.  And there are times when bad things happen through no fault of our own.  But most of the time, we had something to do with the problems we have.  Even if we did not initially create them, there’s usually something we did to make them worse. And it’s important that we recognize that and confess it to God.  If we want God to rescue us from our situation, we need to acknowledge that we had something to do with making the situation what it is.

            The next thing the author of the psalm did is go to God humbly.  He says, “I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face.”  “I weep and fast.”  “I put on sackcloth.”  Weeping and fasting and wearing sackcloth were signs of humility and mourning.  The author of this psalm is going to God in complete humility.  He does not make demands of God.  He does not act like God owes him anything.  He is making it clear that he does not have a right to God’s favor or God’s love.  He does not have a right to expect God to help him.  But he is asking for God’s help anyway.

            He is asking for God to help him.  More than that, he is begging for God to help him.  Not because of who he is, but because of who God is.  Listen to what he says, “I pray to you, Lord, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.  Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink...Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me.”

            The author of the psalm is not relying on his own goodness.  He is not relying on anything about himself.  He is not asking for help based on who he is.  He is asking for help based on who God is.  He is trusting in God’s love and God’s mercy.  He asks for God’s help because he trusts that God is love.

            And notice, the author of the psalm does not say specifically what he wants God to do.  Rescue him, yes, but not rescue him in any specific way.  He does not tell God what God should do to solve his problems.  In fact, he really does not even ask God to solve his problems at all.  He just asks God to rescue him.  Keep him from being overwhelmed.  Keep him from drowning in his problems.  He leaves it up to God how to do that.  Whatever way God uses will be fine with him.  Just rescue me.  Somehow.  In some way.  Keep me from being overwhelmed.  Rescue me.

            I know that some of us have been through what the author of this psalm is going through.  Some of us may be going through it now.  And some of us may go through it at some point in the future.  Again, not because we don’t have faith, but because life can be hard.  Things can go wrong.  Sometimes really wrong.  Sometimes, so wrong that we don’t see how they’re going to be right again.

            When that happens, know that God understands.  And remember the words of this psalm.  Do what the author of the psalm does.  Go to God.  And in going to God, acknowledge that at least part of what’s going on here is because of the things we, ourselves, have done--not to make ourselves feel guilty, but because we need to recognize our own responsibility.

            And when we go to God, we need to go to God humbly.  We don’t go to God because God owes it to us to help us.  We go to God, not trusting in our goodness, but trusting in God’s goodness.  We go to God, not asking God to do anything specific, but just asking God to do something to rescue us.  Not necessarily to solve all of our problems, but just to somehow, in some way, keep us from being overwhelmed by them.

            Life can be hard sometimes.  But God is good all the time.  While we’re in this world, we will have trouble.  But if we go to God humbly when the trouble comes, God will keep us from being overwhelmed by our trouble.  No matter how bad things seem, we can always rely on God.