Psalm 86

Psalm Category: Song of Lament

Central Thought: When you are in trouble call upon the Lord, who is faithful to deliver His people.

The Bible’s prayers are always personal, pointed, and practical in applying God’s will to our consciences. They address the real challenges and joys of daily life, contrasting starkly with the deadly and empty recitations that pass for prayer in our world today. We are not told what troubled David when he wrote this psalm. Was he was on the run from Saul? Whatever the case, the result is a remarkable model for prayer that we will do well to emulate when we are embattled by the challenges of trying times. Its logic unfolds in three sections—two prayers of seven verses each fore and aft of a central mast to which the psalmist, in three verses, nails his confession of faith in the one and only living God.

You always need some kind of help (vv. 1-7). Prayer itself presupposes a felt need of supernatural help. David offers four reasons for so doing. First, he needs the Lord Himself to minister to him, since he is so “poor and needy” (v. 1). Second, he needs deliverance from troubles and argues his personal covenant relationship with the Lord (v. 2). Third, he desperately needs the Lord’s mercy and compassion (v. 3). Fourth, he needs spiritual comfort, and lifts up his soul to God in clear expectation of an answer (v. 4; 25:1).

To this, David adds two motives for his prayer. One is that he knows God is good, forgiving and “abundant in mercy” (v. 5; cf. Ex. 34:6-7). The other is that God has a track record of answering prayer and the psalmist is confident of an answer (vv. 6-7). When Jesus gives us His model prayer, He warns against praying like hypocrites, to be “seen by men,” and like “the heathen,” with their “vain repetitions.” He reminds us, “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matt. 6:8). Therefore, let us lift up our souls to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

You can always count on the Lord (vv. 8-10). Job’s wife told her husband to “curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). Many do curse God. They are not counting on Him. David, however, shows us why we can trust Him.

1. God is unique in Himself as the Creator (v. 8). He really exists. He “made the heavens” (Ps. 96:5). All other gods are idolatrous illusions.

2. God is unique in His lordship over all nations (v. 9). He is no tribal god. This is a distinctly messianic note (see Ps. 22:29; Zech. 14:9,16). He who will gather the nations is able to deliver his people!

3. God is unique in His acts in human history and experience (v. 10). It takes spiritual discernment to admit this. It takes love for Christ to experience his grace. “You alone are God” is the conclusion of both revealed truth and Christian experience. You can count on the Lord!

You need to know what you really need (vv. 11-17). David now turns to the practice of prayer. Where do we start?

1. Pray about your inner spiritual life (vv. 11-13). Why? Because it is too easy to reel off a list of external needs. Prayer is not grocery shopping. It is communion with God. David makes two requests directed to two purposes. “Teach me Your way” so that “I will walk in Your truth,” and “unite my heart” so that I “fear Your name” (v. 11). Notice how, respectively, sound doctrine leads to sound practice, and singlemindedness in this makes for unmixed love for the Lord. Before you can walk in the truth, you need to know the truth.

The next step is to commit to action (vv. 12-13). Here are three choices you can make, God helping you: Commit to a life of wholehearted praise to the Lord (v. 12a); commit to a lifelong celebration of God’s great name (v. 12b); and commit to an unreserved confession of God’s free grace (v. 13). We would perhaps prefer to be given rules to order our day, perhaps about personal devotions, modest dress or a healthy diet. In fact, praise, celebration and confessing faith are the engine of the triumph of grace in our thinking and wisdom in all of our choices in the details of discipleship.

2. Now you are ready to pray about the outward challenges in your life (vv. 14-17). The reality of spiritual warfare is identified. We might think of this like a boxing ring. In the red corner is the opponent, who is proud, violent, and godless (v. 14). In the blue corner is the Lord, who is full of compassion, gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in mercy and truth (v. 15). The problems we face are not merely matters of economics, politics, persuasion, popularity or personality. Evil is at work, and our Father–God is intimately involved in the fight.

Prayer requests are now taken to the fighter in the blue corner—the Lord (vv. 16-17). “Turn…have mercy on me…give strength…save the son of your maidservant…show me a token for good”—all for the humbling of my enemies and the encouragement of my soul. The progression is: Come to me, strengthen me, save me, and vindicate me. This is where prayer as a means of grace comes into its own; for even before it is finished, the psalmist is filled with a sense that the Lord has already answered: “Lord, You have helped me.” This is a prayer for hard times in life. It calls you to Jesus Christ, to be “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).