“Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.”
The plea that those who seek God not be put to shame because of the psalmist indicates concern for the broader community. The psalmist's suffering threatens to become a scandal that damages faith in God; if the righteous suffer unjustly without divine response, it could lead others to lose faith. This verse articulates the communal implications of personal suffering: what happens to the individual reflects on the faith community.
Church Fathers on Psalms 69:6
1. We have been born into this world, and added to the people of God, at that period wherein already the herb from a grain of mustard seed has spread out its branches; wherein already the leaven, which at first was contemptible, has leavened three measures, that is, the whole round world repeopled by the three sons of Noe: Genesis 9:19 for from East and West and North and South shall come they that shall sit down with the Patriarchs, Matthew 8:11 while those shall have been…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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