Psalms 86

A prayer of David.

1 Lord, hear me and answer me. I am poor and needy.

2 Keep my life safe. I am faithful to you. You are my God. Save me. I trust in you.

3 Lord, show me your favor. I call out to you all day long.

4 Bring joy to me. Lord, I worship you.

5 Lord, you are good. You are forgiving. You are full of love for all who call out to you.

6 Lord, hear my prayer. Listen to my cry for your favor.

7 When I'm in trouble, I will call out to you. And you will answer me.

8 Lord, there's no one like you among the gods. No one can do what you do.

9 Lord, all of the nations you have made will come and worship you. They will bring glory to you.

10 You are great. You do wonderful things. You alone are God.

11 Lord, teach me how you want me to live. Then I will follow your truth. Give me a heart that doesn't want anything more than to worship you.

12 Lord my God, I will praise you with all my heart. I will bring glory to you forever.

13 Great is your love for me. You have kept me from going down into the grave.

14 God, proud people are attacking me. A gang of mean people is trying to kill me. They don't care about you.

15 But Lord, you are a God who is tender and kind. You are gracious. You are slow to get angry. You are faithful and full of love.

16 Turn to me and show me your favor. Give me strength and save me.

17 Prove your goodness to me. Then my enemies will see it and be put to shame. Lord, you have helped me and given me comfort.

Psalms 86 Commentary

Chapter 86

The psalmist pleads his earnestness, and the mercy of God, as reasons why his prayer should be heard. (1-7) He renews his requests for help and comfort. (8-17)

Verses 1-7 Our poverty and wretchedness, when felt, powerfully plead in our behalf at the throne of grace. The best self-preservation is to commit ourselves to God's keeping. I am one whom thou favourest, hast set apart for thyself, and made partaker of sanctifying grace. It is a great encouragement to prayer, to feel that we have received the converting grace of God, have learned to trust in him, and to be his servants. We may expect comfort from God, when we keep up our communion with God. God's goodness appears in two things, in giving and forgiving. Whatever others do, let us call upon God, and commit our case to him; we shall not seek in vain.

Verses 8-17 Our God alone possesses almighty power and infinite love. Christ is the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth of God, in order to walk therein, than to be delivered out of earthly distress. Those who set not the Lord before them, seek after believers' souls; but the compassion, mercy, and truth of God, will be their refuge and consolation. And those whose parents were the servants of the Lord, may urge this as a plea why he should hear and help them. In considering David's experience, and that of the believer, we must not lose sight of Him, who though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 86

\\<>\\. The title is the same with the Seventeenth Psalm, and the subject of it is much alike: it was written by David, when in distress, and his life was sought after; very likely when he was persecuted by Saul, and fled from him; so Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi: and as he was a type of Christ in his afflictions, as well as in his exalted state, it may not be unfitly applied to him, as it is by some interpreters. The Syriac inscription of it is, ``for David, when he built an house for the Lord; and a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles; and moreover, a prayer of a peculiar righteous man.'' Theodoret thinks it predicts the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians, and Hezekiah's hope in God.