2014 Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Reverend Wayne Palmer "A Lowly Worm" Wednesday, 19 March 2014 - Read Psalm 69

2014 Lenten Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Reverend Wayne Palmer "A Lowly Worm" Wednesday, 19 March 2014 - Read Psalm 69: For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David.
1 Save me, God,
    for the waters have come up to my neck!
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold.
    I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary with my crying.
    My throat is dry.
    My eyes fail, looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.
    Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.
    I have to restore what I didn’t take away.
5 God, you know my foolishness.
    My sins aren’t hidden from you.
6 Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies.
    Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.
7 Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.
    Shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
    an alien to my mother’s children.
9 For the zeal of your house consumes me.
    The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and I fasted,
    that was to my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing,
    I became a byword to them.
12 Those who sit in the gate talk about me.
    I am the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time.
    God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink.
    Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15 Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me,
    neither let the deep swallow me up.
    Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.
16 Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good.
    According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.
17 Don’t hide your face from your servant,
    for I am in distress.
    Answer me speedily!
18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it.
    Ransom me because of my enemies.
19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor.
    My adversaries are all before you.
20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.
    I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
    for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me gall for my food.
    In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table before them become a snare.
    May it become a retribution and a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see.
    Let their backs be continually bent.
24 Pour out your indignation on them.
    Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.
25 Let their habitation be desolate.
    Let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have wounded.
    They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
27 Charge them with crime upon crime.
    Don’t let them come into your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of life,
    and not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am in pain and distress.
    Let your salvation, God, protect me.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song,
    and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 It will please Yahweh better than an ox,
    or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
32 The humble have seen it, and are glad.
    You who seek after God, let your heart live.
33 For Yahweh hears the needy,
    and doesn’t despise his captive people.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him;
    the seas, and everything that moves therein!
35 For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah.
    They shall settle there, and own it.
36 The children also of his servants shall inherit it.
    Those who love his name shall dwell therein.
TEXT: But I am a worm and not a man (see Psalm 22:6).
Psalm 22 is a fascinating prayer. Our Lord Jesus Christ keeps going back and forth in His prayer. First, He's sharing His troubles with God; then He's listening as God speaks to Him through His word, the Bible. First, Jesus spoke about being forsaken and God did no listening; then He recalled the times God faithfully delivered the people of Israel who called upon Him in their need. Now Jesus goes back to sharing His pain and sufferings with His God.
In these verses we see the incredible accuracy of this psalm as detail after detail of Jesus' crucifixion unfolds, beginning with Jesus calling Himself a worm and not a man. If you were to stand and watch a person hanging from a cross you would be reminded of a worm wriggling and writhing in pain. The crucified victim twists and turns His body seeking some relief from the excruciating agony.
Yet the prophecy goes far deeper than Jesus' physical sufferings. It speaks how His enemies think of Him. They refuse to treat Him with the common decency and dignity any human deserves, treating Him instead as though He was a contemptible worm to be crushed underfoot.
When the mighty Son of God became man He was already taking an incredible step down. But when He surrendered Himself to arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, He stepped even lower-exposing Himself to mockery, scorn, torment, torture, even crucifixion itself.
He humbled Himself in loving obedience to His Father's will, and in an undying concern for your salvation. 
THE PRAYER: Lord Jesus Christ, You are Lord and God of all. Yet, You humbled Yourself as though You were a worm, not even a man. Receive my humble gratitude and praise. Amen.
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