Hurry, God!
The year is 1918. A regiment of the US Army’s 77th division has broken through enemy lines in the forest of Argonne, about 100 miles east of Paris. This quickly turned into a major problem as the unit had outrun the American front line and was promptly surrounded on all sides by the German army. Pinned down for days in the dense fog of the French forest, Major Charles Whittlesey and his men were taking fire and urgently calling for aid to their commander. In 1918, communication meant either laying telephone wire back through the thick woods, sending a soldier back with a message, or using one of their six Army-supplied carrier pigeons. And so they sent bird after bird with desperate messages for reinforcements or air support, but none of them reached command. On the third day, with enemy pressure escalating to include flamethrower assaults, they were down to just two birds. It was now or never. They released the pigeon. Along the route to headquarters, the pigeon was shot through the chest and blinded in one eye, but it kept flying and made it to headquarters. Their commander made plans to send reinforcements. And two days later, the Lost Battalion was rescued and went down in history.
In our text this morning, the Psalmist is pinned down by enemies seeking his life, and he calls for aid from his Heavenly Commander, and he asks Him to hurry up! Today we’ll walk through:
1) What the text says (David’s crisis)
2) How it points to Jesus
3) Why it matters for us
Before we dive in, let’s pray and ask for God’s help.
Father, I am poor and needy, but you are great. You are our help and our deliverer – do not delay this morning, we ask, but come now by your Spirit and give us a deeper gladness, a deeper rejoicing, a deeper love for your deliverance as we seek to know you through your Word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
What does the text say?
Let’s begin with what this text says. David is clearly on the run here.
“Make haste, O God, to deliver me! O Lord, make haste to help me!”
Literally it reads, “God, to deliver me; Lord, to my help, hurry!” In several key moments in David’s life, he was hiding out in caves and foxholes like a cornered animal with the might of the kingdom after him. Whether it was Saul and his army hunting David as a younger man, or later in life as David’s own son Absalom and the traitors sought to take the crown.
Either way, the theme here is speed. David needs help right now. Here they come, God! I need you, quick!! I don’t have time for 28 verses and 2 choruses on this one. There’s no ‘Selahs.’ We are punching out a telegram to the commanding officer because the enemy is literally at the gates. They are coming, and they are mocking and laughing as they aim to humiliate and kill me. The situation is dire.
Notice what David’s enemies want to do (verses 2-3). They are seeking his life, delighting in his hurt, and literally laughing at him, “Aha, aha!”
But note what David prays for. He doesn’t ask God to give him super strength so he can bust out of the cave like Clark Kent fresh out of the phone booth. He asks God to deliver him. Three times, David says, “let them…” He relies on God to deliver him from his plight. Let them be turned back. Translation, please turn them back, God! You have to do it! You be my help and deliver! Why? Because, I am poor and needy. I can’t do it.
But he also thinks beyond himself in this moment. Moving outward from himself (hurry God!), to his problems (deal with them, God!), he lands on his friends. Or more specifically, on those who seek God instead of seeking his life. In the foxhole, taking bullets from the enemy, David is praying for the deep joy and gladness of God’s people, leading to praise.
Look at the contrast between David’s enemies and David’s friends:
THEY seek my life (for death)… WE seek God (for life)
THEY delight in my harm… WE delight (rejoice) in love for God
THEY say “Ha-Ha!” in mockery… WE say “God is great!” in worship
Now speaking of going from enemies to friends, let’s look now at how this Psalm points us to the real hero, Jesus Christ. As we put on another set of glasses here, lets try to hear Jesus’ voice in this Psalm. Listen for it in these glimpses in the gospel accounts that echo Psalm 70.
How does this Psalm point us to Jesus?
Jesus was no stranger to enemies seeking his life. See Jesus, in the garden of Gethsemane, as soldiers and traitors stalk him in the night. Mark 14:33-36,
33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 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 that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Make haste God, to deliver me! I am poor and needy. But you are my help and my deliverer.
Jesus, in the hands of the soldiers. Matthew 27:27-31,
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
They seek my life. They delight in my hurt. They laugh at me and mock me.
Even in the midst of this, at the worst moment, Jesus has the same turn of mind as David. On the cross itself. Luke 23:34,
34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
So David prayed that God would deal with with enemies. Jesus goes a head-whirling step further. He prays that God would deal with his enemies by forgiving them, even as they actively humiliated him. This is mercy that blows our minds and cannot be anything but wholly other, coming from outside of our broken world to heal it, and to heal us. But we also see Jesus love his friends during his great moment of need. John 19:26-27,
26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
In all of his troubles, Jesus looked to his Father, his Deliverer.
1 Peter 2:21-24,
21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Jesus suffered for you, bearing your sins, my sins, in his body on the tree, healing us with his very wounds, so that we might die to sin, die to living like an enemy of God, and live to righteousness, live to seek our joy and gladness and help in God alone. But Peter says also that Jesus left us an example, that we might follow in his steps. So let’s close by considering why this Psalm matters for us.
Why this Psalm matters for us
There are several applications we could take from this text. Let me suggest four.
First, ask yourself, how do you respond to highly stressful problems in your life? When it feels like you are likely to be overcome and overwhelmed? In his excellent devotional on the Psalms, Pastor Dane Ortlund says,
“There are two and only two basic approaches to life. We can attempt to handle life’s adversities through self-resourced deliverance or through looking outside ourselves for deliverance. We can look in, or we can look out… On what do you rely moment by moment?”
Psalm 70 teaches us to rely on God alone for deliverance in every circumstance. “Hurry, God, please help me!”
Second, we can learn not to take vengeance against our enemies into our own hands. Rather, we stop, and ask God to deal with them. In fact, we can follow Jesus’ example by going one step further to pray for them… “Father, stop them. Show them their shame. But forgive them, they don’t even know what they are doing.”
To the extent that you are persecuted or oppressed, harassed or discriminated against as a Christian, let’s remember that we are not lone wolves, solo holy warriors. We are sheep, and we need a shepherd. If there is a war for culture, our fighting should not look at all like the fighting of the world - we can call for Heavenly Aid.
Third, when you are stuck, remember others and actively think and pray for them. You want to get out of a pit? The self-focused pity party pouting session will only drop you deeper. But instead of thinking ourselves in circles, we can go to God, trust His timing and his methods, and then pray for your brothers and sisters. Pray Psalm 70 for them. Pray for their joy and gladness in our happy God! “May all who seek you, rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, God is great!” Pray that your life group, your community group, your roommate, your spouse, your children, your parents would see Jesus, love his Rescue, and praise Him saying forever, “God is great!”
Lastly, we should press into the tension between verses 4 and 5. God is great. I am poor and needy. The less we see the distance between those two statements, the more pride and self sufficiency will be our primary mode, and we won’t pray. But reading the Bible shows us this great chasm between our poverty and God’s greatness in explicit detail. On one side we see humanity – in our smallness, failures, ugliness, and corruption. Coming down from heaven, we glimpse the glory, excellence, beauty, and justice of God our King seen most clearly in the face of Jesus Christ.
The Table
It can be easy for us to slip into becoming like the church of Laodicia in Revelation 3:17, we can think “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Our true state before God is complete and utter helplessness.
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
And this leads us to the Table, where we remember that Jesus made haste to deliver us at the cross. He hurried to our rescue. At the proper time, Christ died for the ungodly like you and me. He himself was put to Shame and Confusion. He laid down his life amidst mockery and laughter, so that we could laugh in the face of death itself. Where, O Death, is your Sting?!
Remember, God answered this prayer of David and delivered him to the throne of Israel, and he answered Jesus’ prayer. Our worst enemies, sin, death, and the devil were ultimately humiliated and ashamed as Jesus rose in victory. And so we continue to pray, come quickly Lord Jesus.