“I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, the drunkards make songs about me”–Psalm 69:12
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ our Lord,
No one enjoys being on the receiving end of jokes, taunts, or slanderous verbal darts that pierce our hearts and bring a measure of shame to us. We’ve all been there. It may have been experienced first on the playground at school when some fellow-student ridiculed you for that new haircut, or your shoes or clothing, or even some unalterable physical feature that you are powerless to change.
As I write this, I suddenly recall something that was said about me twenty years ago by one of our pastoral interns at our Church in Florida. One Thursday (my day off back then) I stopped by our Church wearing shorts and a tee shirt. I had to gather some books from my study, and intended just to quickly pop in and pop out unnoticed by the other pastors and assistants. As I walked into the outer office area, to my shock everyone– pastors, interns, secretaries, and even the cleaning staff–was gathered there engaged in a discussion about the day’s news. With a great measure of embarrassment, I continued on to my study, retrieved the books I needed, and walked back through the group. As I headed out the door, one of the interns, scanning my choice of apparel and lack of musculature, said with a loud voice, ‘Hey Mike, in those shorts you look like a skinny-legged chicken riding a horse! Ha! Ha!’ As they say, with interns like that, who needs loud-mouthed drunken enemies!
In a much more serious vein, we’ve all experienced ridicule due to our commitment to our Savior. In Psalm 69 we learn that Israel’s great king David also suffered the taunts and slanderous words of his and his Lord’s adversaries.
At many places in this Psalm we see the devastating effects such verbal assaults had on him. For example, in verses 1-4 he admits to being drowned in the raging, loudly voiced adversity, and reduced to tears by the attacks of innumerable people who hated him with an unholy passion. In verse 20 he admits to a deeply broken heart and the feeling of total abandonment. All of this because at the “city gate” he was the punch-line of the jokes of his opponents who, like a drunken, mindless mob were singing tunes that blasphemed his God and called for the king’s personal destruction.
Not much has changed in the three-thousand years since David penned these inspired words!
Today, the “drunkards” still sit at the “city gate,” incessantly singing away as if no one will hold them accountable for their sins. Those who hate our Savior and His people occupy the citadels of earthly power and influence, our ‘city gates’ if you will. The movers and shakers of our nation and world have turned their intoxicated taunts towards our Lord’s precious Bride. We are the laughing stock of the world, the dregs of society, those on the wrong side of history, the Neanderthals who believe the Bible and speak of original sin, of salvation by a bloody cross, and of a Savior who rose from the dead and is the Lord and King of the universe!
As far as the world goes, the joke is on us. We are skinny-legged chickens who, according to our adversaries, have no standing in the world, no right to speak, and who must keep our religion to ourselves. It has always been this way.
While such a reality is deeply distressing, and even debilitating at times, there is great encouragement in this beloved Psalm for us on this new Monday.
In the very center of the Psalm, verse 19, David affirms a most empowering and liberating truth that we also need to discover and embrace:
“You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.”
As you read through the entire Psalm, you can’t help but notice that this chapter was especially significant in the life of our Lord Jesus. Verse 9, for example, came into the minds of the Disciples when He cleansed the temple in Jerusalem (John 2:17). And verse 21 takes us to the crucifixion scene where our gracious Redeemer was offered “sour wine” as He hung on the cross (Matthew 27:34, 48). This is what it means when David says that his Lord does, in fact, “know my reproach.” The drunkards also sang their perverted tunes of rejection and ridicule as Jesus ministered to the lost. They mocked and scorned Him as He preached and taught of an eternal Kingdom of Life that may only be accessed through faith in Him.
The spirit of these same drunkards is alive and well today, and we are where the Covenant people have always been, on the wrong end of their jokes. Yet, perhaps ironically, it is a most blessed confirmation that we belong to Him! What the devil and his chorus of spiritually inebriated minions have designed for our embarrassment and eventual destruction, our Sovereign Savior intends for our good! After all, Jesus said,
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:11-12).
When you hear those taunting songs coming from the power centers of our world, from the entertainment and information sectors, from academia, from the rich, the powerful, the famous, from apostate churches and their leaders, and even from your neighbor next door, remember your Savior! Remember His Kingdom! Remember His promise to you! Let them sing away. Soon enough their voices will fall silent, their songs will disappear. Our King will come. And the only voices heard on that Great Day will be those of the redeemed Bride of the Lamb, singing her songs of salvation and triumph!
I love you all with all my heart (chicken legs included!),
Mike
PS: As for that intern, well. . .
Next up Psalm 71