God alone helps and comforts
Psalm 86
A Prayer of David.
1 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; 3 be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all day long.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; listen to my cry of supplication.
7 In the day of my trouble I call on you, for you will answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made shall come
and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name for ever.
13 For great is your steadfast love towards me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
14 O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life,
and they do not set you before them.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant;
save the child of your serving-maid.
17 Show me a sign of your favour,
so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame,
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
A profoundly personal psalm – “I am poor and needy” (vs. 1), “to you do I cry” (vs. 3), “in the day of my trouble I will call on you” (vs. 7). The writer is broken, at the end of their rope, and they turn to the only place where hope can be found – God.
In the second paragraph the writer is reminding themselves of who God is – that there is no one else like God, that God is the maker of all nations and that in the end all nations will bow to God. God is to be thanked and praised – because God has “delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.” (vs. 13) “The depths of Sheol” would also be the “pit of despair”. God is the source of hope for the writer to keep on keeping on in the midst of despair. Not trusting in their own resources but resting in the truth that God alone is God who does “wondrous things”.
Then in the third paragraph, the writer takes this theological truth and tries to live by it. The cry is back, that God would help. But there is a certain confidence in the cry – a fledgling hope. The writer can end with the certainty that the Lord has “helped me and comforted me.”
We live at a time when it is easy to say “I am needy” – maybe not financially – but certainly emotionally and spiritually we feel the poverty of our souls. The world is in chaos, and we feel lost. But the psalm reminds us there is another story – one we can not see clearly but which is nonetheless true. The story of what God is doing and will do in the world. That story becomes the bedrock of our lives which gives us hope.
PRAYER:
We cry out to you, O Lord, for we are broken and hurting by all that is happening in our world. Thank you that you alone can be trusted to bring about the transformation of the world. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.