Psalm 86 comments

 

Psalm 86:1 ¶  «A Prayer of David.» Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. 2  Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. 3  Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. 4  Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5  For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. 6  Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. 7  In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

 

This may have been when David was hunted by Saul or an expression of his weakness during the civil war with his son. But it is a prayer we can all cling to in desperate times. We are poor and needy before God and in terrible circumstances of sickness, bankruptcy, or grief.

 

Psalm 55:17  Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

 

David here expresses trust in God and praises Him for His willingness to bestow mercy on all that call on Him. David calls upon God and is confident that God will respond. It doesn’t have to be in an audible voice but in circumstances that we can see God’s answer to our prayers of distress.

 

David’s appeal to God’s mercy, His confidence in God, and His expectation continue. How often do we expect something from God when we pray or read the Bible? I’m not saying that we must demand a favorable response but to see something and to understand that is from God. When I speak to someone, asking a question, I expect a response. It can come in several different ways from words to an action or actions. When we pray we should not just mouth words but expect to see or hear or feel some kind of response because, if we are His, God will respond, and even if we are not He typically makes something plain for us to see. Are we looking? Or are we like the person who asks a question and then doesn’t wait for a response but keeps talking. We all have known people like that.

 

Psalm 86:8 ¶  Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. 9  All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. 10  For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. 11  Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. 12  I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. 13  For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. 14  O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. 15  But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. 16  O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. 17  Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

 

There is no one on heaven or earth like the Lord God. There are no human rulers nor are there any of the mythological gods of the heathen like God the Creator. He was not born in some primordial time issuing from something that went before Him. There is nothing to compare to God, not the lightning wielding, thunderbolt shooting myth of popular imagination or the Odin of the ancient Vikings.

 

One day, at the end of human-centered history, all nations remaining will come before Him to worship Him and glorify His name.

 

Zechariah 8:23  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

 

Revelation 21:24  And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

 

There is nothing to compare to the works He does. Not only does He cause things to happen that we see but every cell function, every beat of our hearts, the faraway activity in distant space, or the remote jungles of Borneo is by His hand. He created all that is, was, or ever shall be. He created Israel out of the Gentiles of Ancient Mesopotamia. He gave the Bible by inspiration. He gave His people His own mind when they believed and the Holy Ghost came to dwell with them as the Spirit of God.

 

The Psalms asked God to lead and to teach. For example;

 

Psalm 119:33 ¶  HE. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.

 

There was a promise that this teaching would be followed.

 

Psalm 119:11  Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

 

And that God would be praised.

 

Psalm 34:1b ¶  …I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

 

Then comes an acknowledgement of God’s great mercy in a verse that shows how foolish it would be to translate Sheol as grave when the deliverance here is from the lowest Hell. How would the lowest grave make any sense of that verse?

 

The Psalmist is in danger from proud men who have no thought of God. Yet, he is confident of God’s character traits of being full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. How we need to contemplate and pray about God’s character! Without those traits of God we would not even exist or our suffering would be unbearable.

 

So, he looks for mercy, and that for something that his enemies would see, that they would know that it is God who delivers him. David, like ourselves, faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles and unstoppable enemies even if our enemies are not physical but of a spiritual nature. We can confidently pray this prayer, ask for these mercies, and be confident that God will deliver. These three things are important in our prayer life. Lay out what is happening that overwhelms us, pray for God’s merciful deliverance, and then feel confident that He is able to deliver.

 Holpen is an archaic past tense of help.