#817 The Insolent

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my life, for I am godly;

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 the day.

4 Gladden the soul of your servant,

for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,

abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;

listen to my plea for grace.

7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you,

for you 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 worship 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;

unite my heart to fear your name.

12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,

and I will glorify your name forever.

13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;

you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me;

a band of ruthless men 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,

and save the son of your maidservant.

17 Show me a sign of your favor,

that those who hate me may see and be put to shame

because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. Psalm 86 ESV

A Psalm, Tephillah (prayer) of David.

For I am poor and needy - What's in it for us as we approach the poor and needy? They don't have money, the sick don't have health or strength to offer, but God is need of nothing. If you have come to God by way of any other argument than mercy to your dying self, desperation over your sin and tainted works, then you have not come to God. Have mercy on me, a sinner. I am weak and cannot come up to you. I am poor and cannot pay the debt I owe. Please come down here and pick me up.

ii. “To confess that we are poor and needy seems demeaning. To be a servant seems unworthy. We want to be people who deserve something from God because of who we are.” (Boice)

For I am godly - This is not a self righteous claim in view of the sentence before, but rather that of being chosen and set apart. I am not Your child by way of my own righteousness, but I am Yours by that which You have imputed to me. As our Lord said,

…15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit— fruit that will remain— so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 17 This is My command to you: Love one another.… John 15: 15-17

You are my God - I identify with You and no other. This is God, the One true God, Who is holy and just. 

Be gracious to me - He does not ask upon merit or what is owed to him, but rather rests his earnest plea upon the grace of God. God has heard him in time past, and he has forgiven him before, rescued him before, spared him, I will ask again and again. 

…3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now the wages of the worker are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.… Romans 4: 3-5

Are good and forgiving - 

ii. “We are blinded by sin, and cannot believe that God is ready to forgive. We think that we must induce Him to forgive, by tears, promises of amendment, religious observances… Oh, clasp this word to your heart! Say it over and over again – ‘Ready to forgive, ready to forgive!’” (Meyer)

ii. You will answer me: “Our experience confirms us in the belief that Jehovah the living God really does aid those who call upon him, and therefore we pray and mean to pray, not because we are so fascinated by prayer that for its own sake we would continue in it if it proved to be mere folly and superstition, as vain philosophers assert; but because we really, indeed, and of a truth, find it to be a practical and effectual means of obtaining help from God in the hour of need.” (Spurgeon)

Nor are there any works like Yours - Idols are made, held in the hands of men, but it is the Creator of the universe who David speaks to, for all other works are after His, done with what He has already made. You build a house out of wood, God made the living trees. You make an idol out of gold, God made the gold, and it all belongs to Him. 

Teach me Your way, O Lord - I am now astounded by the ways of God, His ability to save, to save the wretched, the poor, those that have fallen down and walked the wrong way. Teach me that I may walk in Your path, follow Your steps, acknowledge You in all that I do.

iv. “Most of us, when we pray, are concerned about deliverance and help and guidance and such things. But we are not nearly as concerned to be taught God’s way and to be helped to serve him with an undivided heart.” (Boice)

Unite my heart to fear Your name -

…18 When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.… Ezekiel 11: 18-20

I will glorify Your name forever - Men that think they have nothing to praise God for must certainly be unaware of His mercy, His grace, His steadfast love. The Psalmist is amazed, and after this will come a plea based upon his circumstances, and so it is even in the midst of his trials that he finds reason to glorify God. Because of what God has done in the past, what He has forgiven David of and kept him through, there is reason to hope for deliverance again. Note also, that those who have been saved always have reason to be content in whatever state they may find themselves within this life. It is not a matter of faking it, denying infirmity, or turning a blind eye to the condition of others, but let us take all these cares to God in light of the cross.

Insolent men have risen up against me - He does not say who these men are, and during David's life there were many, but it does not matter who, for this may be an encouragement to pray to any who have been oppressed. The Messiah's life is echoed here as well, for His own did not receive Him, the religious proud, Pharisees and Sadducees, brothers. There is a meekness in that which is incomprehensible to us, that Someone does for you what you cannot do for yourself, yet you will not accept Him because He does not honor your ego. He healed and they accused. He corrected their misunderstanding of the Word of God and they sought to kill Him. He did not look like a king, He came to serve.

The greatest sign of God's favor toward us is that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. His favor as a sign to the rest of the world that we are His, is that we bear much fruit, that we have an answer for the hope that is in us. Why hide the joy of our salvation?