Psalms 86

1 Bend an ear, God; answer me. I'm one miserable wretch!

2 Keep me safe - haven't I lived a good life? Help your servant - I'm depending on you!

3 You're my God; have mercy on me. I count on you from morning to night.

4 Give your servant a happy life; I put myself in your hands!

5 You're well-known as good and forgiving, bighearted to all who ask for help.

6 Pay attention, God, to my prayer; bend down and listen to my cry for help.

7 Every time I'm in trouble I call on you, confident that you'll answer.

8 There's no one quite like you among the gods, O Lord, and nothing to compare with your works.

9 All the nations you made are on their way, ready to give honor to you, O Lord, Ready to put your beauty on display,

10 parading your greatness, And the great things you do - God, you're the one, there's no one but you!

11 Train me, God, to walk straight; then I'll follow your true path. Put me together, one heart and mind; then, undivided, I'll worship in joyful fear.

12 From the bottom of my heart I thank you, dear Lord; I've never kept secret what you're up to.

13 You've always been great toward me - what love! You snatched me from the brink of disaster!

14 God, these bullies have reared their heads! A gang of thugs is after me - and they don't care a thing about you.

15 But you, O God, are both tender and kind, not easily angered, immense in love, and you never, never quit.

16 So look me in the eye and show kindness, give your servant the strength to go on, save your dear, dear child!

17 Make a show of how much you love me so the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed, As you, God, gently and powerfully put me back on my feet.

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.