The Zealous Sufferer Text: Psalm 69:5-12
Introduction: The Cost of a Godly Quarrel
We live in an age that prizes comfort above all things. Our therapeutic culture has taught us that the goal of life is to minimize friction, to avoid reproach, and to ensure that our path is as smooth as possible. Religion, if it is to be tolerated at all, must be a private, quiet affair, a sort of personal hobby that does not intrude upon the public peace. To be zealous for God, to have a hot heart for His honor, is considered unseemly, embarrassing, and more than a little fanatical.
But the Bible knows nothing of this kind of sterile, lukewarm religion. The faith of our fathers is a robust and muscular faith, a faith that picks quarrels with the world, the flesh, and the devil. And when you pick a quarrel with the prince of this world, you must not be surprised when he quarrels back. To stand for the truth in a world built on lies is to make yourself a target. To love the things God loves and hate the things God hates will inevitably bring you into conflict with those who have made their peace with evil.
Psalm 69 is one of the great Messianic psalms. It is a raw, honest cry from a man drowning in troubles, a man whose devotion to God has made him an outcast. The New Testament quotes this psalm repeatedly and applies it directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. In these verses, we see the perfect Sufferer, the one whose zeal for His Father's house was so all-consuming that it ultimately consumed Him. But in seeing Him, we also see the pattern for our own lives. To be a Christian is to be united to Christ, and that means sharing not only in His victory but also in His sufferings. If you bear His name, you will eventually bear His reproach. This psalm teaches us how to handle that reproach, how to process our own sin in the midst of it, and how to look to Christ as the ultimate example of faithful suffering.
This is not a psalm for the comfortable. It is a psalm for the faithful, for those who have counted the cost and have resolved to follow Christ, even when the path leads through the mire of public scorn and family rejection. It is a song for those who have learned that zeal for God's house is a costly fire, but one that is well worth the burning.
The Text
O God, it is You who knows my folly,
And all my guilt is not hidden from You.
May those who hope for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord Yahweh of hosts;
May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel,
Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;
Dishonor has covered my face.
I have become estranged from my brothers
And a foreigner to my mother’s sons.
For zeal for Your house has consumed me,
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
When I wept in my soul with fasting,
It became my reproach.
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
Those who dwell at the gate moan about me,
And I am the drunkards’ songs.
(Psalm 69:5-12 LSB)
Honest Confession Before a Knowing God (v. 5)
The psalmist, David, begins this section with a raw and necessary honesty.
"O God, it is You who knows my folly, And all my guilt is not hidden from You." (Psalm 69:5)
This is a crucial starting point. Before he defends his cause before men, he confesses his condition before God. He is suffering for righteousness' sake, as the following verses make plain, but this does not make him sinless. This is a profound theological balance that we often lose. We either think that our suffering makes us saints, or that our sin disqualifies us from service. David shows us a better way. He knows he is hated wrongfully by men, but he also knows he is not without fault before a holy God.
Notice the two words he uses: folly and guilt. Folly speaks to the foolishness of our sin, its sheer irrationality. Guilt speaks to its objective reality, the debt we have incurred. David is not making excuses. He is not hiding his sin behind the fig leaves of rationalization. He knows that God's omniscience is a settled fact. You cannot hide from the one who made your hiding places. To confess your sin to God is simply to agree with Him about what He already knows to be true. It is to get honest. Honesty before God is the ticket to fellowship with God.
Now, how does this apply to the Lord Jesus? We know that this is a Messianic psalm, yet Christ was without sin. He had no folly, no guilt of His own. This verse shows us the profound difference between the type (David) and the antitype (Christ). But it also shows us the glory of the substitution. On the cross, Jesus was "made to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21). In that moment, He could look to the Father and say, in effect, "O God, you know the folly of my people, which I now bear. All their guilt is not hidden from you, for it has been laid on me." Our folly became His burden, and our guilt became His condemnation. This verse, in David's mouth, is a confession of personal sin. In Christ's experience, it is a confession of our imputed sin.
A Concern for God's Reputation (v. 6-7)
Having acknowledged his own sin before God, David's immediate concern is for the honor of God and the faith of God's people.
"May those who hope for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord Yahweh of hosts; May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel, Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Dishonor has covered my face." (Psalm 69:6-7)
This is the prayer of a true leader. His concern is not primarily for his own comfort, but for the effect his suffering might have on the faith of others. He knows that when a visible servant of God is overwhelmed by trouble, it can become a stumbling block for weaker believers. They might begin to think, "If God doesn't deliver a man like David, what hope is there for me?" David is essentially praying, "Lord, my case is public. For the sake of your name and your people, vindicate me. Don't let my apparent defeat become a reason for others to doubt your goodness."
And what is the basis of this prayer? "Because for Your sake I have borne reproach." He is not suffering because of some personal scandal or foolish decision. He is in the mire because he has been faithful. The dishonor that covers his face is a direct result of his stand for God's honor. This is the central issue. The world hates him because he loves God. The reproach he bears is, at bottom, aimed at God Himself. This is why Paul would later say, "If we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:17). When we are insulted for the name of Christ, we are blessed, because we are identifying with our King.
The Pain of Alienation (v. 8-9)
The reproach David bears is not just from public enemies; it cuts closer to home, creating a painful isolation.
"I have become estranged from my brothers And a foreigner to my mother’s sons. For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me." (Psalm 69:8-9)
This is a particularly sharp sorrow. To be mocked by drunkards at the city gate is one thing; to be treated like a stranger by your own family is another. This was fulfilled literally in the life of Christ. John's gospel tells us plainly, "For not even His brothers were believing in Him" (John 7:5). They thought He was out of His mind. His passion, His single-minded devotion to the Father's will, was an embarrassment to them.
And verse 9 gives the reason for all of it. "For zeal for Your house has consumed me." This is the verse the disciples remembered when Jesus cleansed the temple (John 2:17). Zeal is a hot, burning love for God's honor and a hot, burning hatred for anything that dishonors Him. This zeal is what drove David, and it is what drove the Lord Jesus. It was a holy fire that burned up all lesser loyalties. When you are on fire for God, those who are lukewarm will think you are crazy. They will back away slowly. Your zeal exposes their compromise, and they resent you for it.
Notice the second half of the verse: "And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me." Paul quotes this in Romans 15:3 to show how Christ did not please Himself. The insults that sinners aim at a holy God were intercepted by Christ. He stepped in front of them and took the blows Himself. Every blasphemy, every sneer, every act of rebellion against the Father landed on the Son. This is what it means to stand in the gap. And this is our calling as well. When we stand for God's truth, we become the lightning rod for the world's hatred of God.
The World's Contempt for Piety (v. 10-12)
In the final verses, David details the specific ways his devotion has been turned into a public spectacle of mockery.
"When I wept in my soul with fasting, It became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. Those who dwell at the gate moan about me, And I am the drunkards’ songs." (Psalm 69:10-12)
Here we see the upside-down values of the world in sharp relief. David's acts of humble piety, his spiritual disciplines of fasting and mourning over sin, are not respected. They are ridiculed. His weeping is seen as weakness. His sackcloth, a sign of repentance, is treated as a joke. What is holy to him is hilarious to them. His most sincere acts of devotion become fodder for the gossip of the city leaders ("those who dwell at thegate") and the slurred lyrics of the town drunks.
This is the world's consistent reaction to true godliness. The world does not mind a tame, civil religion. But it cannot stand a broken and contrite heart. It cannot stand genuine repentance. Why? Because such things are a standing rebuke to their pride. A man in sackcloth is a walking sermon against their self-sufficiency. A man fasting for his sins is a silent judgment on their self-indulgence. And so they must mock it, trivialize it, and turn it into a joke to soothe their own guilty consciences.
This was the Lord's portion. He was called a glutton and a drunkard. He was mocked as a king with a crown of thorns. His thirst on the cross was met with sour wine. His earnest prayers were the subject of derision. The world will always mock what it does not understand and cannot control. Let us not be surprised, then, when our own feeble attempts at godliness are met with the same contempt. The servant is not greater than his master.
Conclusion: The Consuming Fire
So what do we take from this? We are called to be a people of zeal. We are called to have a holy fire in our bones for the honor of God's name, the truth of His Word, and the purity of His church. But we must understand that this fire has a cost. It will make you a stranger to your own family. It will make your piety a punchline for the profane. It will put you on the receiving end of the reproaches that are meant for God.
But we do not bear this reproach alone. We bear it with Christ, and more than that, He bore it for us. He absorbed the full, unmitigated fury of the world's hatred for God so that we might be reconciled to God. His zeal for the Father's house led Him to the cross, where He was utterly consumed. But that was not the end. On the third day, He was raised in glory, and that same consuming fire of His Spirit now dwells in us.
Therefore, let us not be ashamed. Let us not seek the world's approval or fear its scorn. Let us confess our own folly and guilt before God, and then, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, let us stand for His sake. Let us be zealous for His house. Let the world sing its drunken songs. We have a better song to sing, a song of redemption, purchased by the zealous Sufferer who endured the reproach for the joy that was set before Him. And that joy is us. That joy is His church, His house, for which He was consumed.