Day 10: Psalm 86
The Passage for the Day
A prayer of David.
1 Hear me, LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; 3 have mercy on me, Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
for I put my trust in you.
5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, LORD;
listen to my cry for mercy.
7 When I am in distress, I call to you,
because you answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;
no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
will come and worship before you, Lord;
they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, LORD,
that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths,
from the realm of the dead.
14 Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God;
a band of ruthless people seeks my life—
they have no regard for you.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;
show your strength in behalf of your servant
and save the son of a woman
who served you before me.
17 Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
Points of interest:
· ‘Among the gods there is none like you’—in yesterday’s psalm, the psalmist compared God to kings or judges. Unlike many of the human kings and judges with whom the psalmist is familiar, God judges without bias and rules without favoritism. In today’s psalm, David compares the Lord to other gods. The difference between the Lord and other gods, at least in David’s experience, is that the Lord has a way of responding when he’s in trouble.
· ‘All the nations you have made’—it’s not just that the Lord compares favorably with other gods. He is, in fact, the true God of every nation. He made them, after all.
· ‘give me an undivided heart’—I’m encouraged by the fact that in the same song in which David speaks of his faithfulness and trust he also admits that he has a divided heart. Apparently, he has a hard time completely believing that God does indeed hear and act. He does, however, trust God enough to admit his weakness and to ask God for help in overcoming it.
· ‘you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead’—like in Psalm 22 from last week, David is trusting God with his very life. The neediness and dependence David expresses here is ultimately a need we all share: we can’t save our own lives. Maybe that’s why David is so confident that ultimately all nations will turn to God. God is the only one who can help us with our biggest problem.
Taking it home:
· For you: You might not wake up each morning feeling, ‘I am poor and needy’, but pretend for a second you are. Our society places high value on self-sufficiency, and we can live much of our lives without feeling like we need a single soul. God actually welcomes our sense of need. Try telling God that you want to rely on him and ask him to come through for you in an area where you really need it.
· For your six: Ask God to protect your six from anyone who is making their lives difficult. Pray that any plans for their harm would come to nothing.
· For America: Thank God for all the different nations he has made. Ask him that all the nations of the world that are represented here in America would prosper and thrive. Pray that America would be a place where people from all the many different nations of the world would be able to connect with and find God in a way that makes sense and honors the nations they come from.