¹ Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
² I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me.
³ I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
⁴ Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal.
⁵ You know my folly, O God; my guilt is not hidden from you.
⁶ May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the LORD Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O God of Israel.
⁷ For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face.
⁸ I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother’s sons;
⁹ for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
¹⁰ When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn;
¹¹ when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me.
¹² Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards.
¹³ But I pray to you, O LORD, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.
¹⁴ Rescue me from the mire, do not let me sink; deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep waters.
¹⁵ Do not let the floodwaters engulf me or the depths swallow me up or the pit close its mouth over me.
¹⁶ Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me.
¹⁷ Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.
¹⁸ Come near and rescue me; redeem me because of my foes.
¹⁹ You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed; all my enemies are before you.
²⁰ Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.
²¹ They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.
²² May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap.
²³ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.
²⁴ Pour out your wrath on them; let your fierce anger overtake them.
²⁵ May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
²⁶ For they persecute those you wound and talk about the pain of those you hurt.
²⁷ Charge them with crime upon crime; do not let them share in your salvation.
²⁸ May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous.
²⁹ I am in pain and distress; may your salvation, O God, protect me.
³⁰ I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.
³¹ This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.
³² The poor will see and be glad you who seek God, may your hearts live!
³³ The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people.
³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them,
³⁵ for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it;
³⁶ the children of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell there.

As I read this psalm it points me to the suffering of Christ on the last day of his ministry on this earth. So many of these verses are tied to the New Testament account of this day. My I be like the poor in verse thirty-two and be glad. As Christ stated in Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” is alluded to here in verse thirty-six “those who love his name will dwell there”. So as you read this psalm reflect back on the cross, and then focus you praise to the one who is now seated on the right hand of God in heaven.

As I review this psalm this week the more it points me to the direction of the cross.  I wondered what Jesus thought of this verse as he would read it during the early days of His ministry.  Reading these words is nothing like living through the actual event.  There was an event in my life that was very dark.  I called it my Gethsemane moment.  It was a time in my life that I could literally feel the pain from the tightness of my heart.  No words could express this pain.  So as you read these words thank God for the sacrifice that Christ paid for the sins of the world, because we can never realize the true pain he suffered on the cross.