Month: May 2021

Psalm 86:11

When we feel in some way in particular need or estranged from God it can be difficult to order our thoughts and prayer. We are in those moments particularly prone to be governed by our feelings as opposed to the nature and person of God. We have then centred our thoughts on ourselves and not on him. In David we have a guide who has experienced the highs and lows of spiritual life. Some of his actions have been catastrophic at other times he has lived closely unified with God. He has experienced the intimate love and blessing of God and also God’s discipline when he has gone directly against God’s ways. David like modern Christians was a flawed but loved servant to the living God. David’s prayer in psalm 86 provides us with a framework for prayer in times of urgent need. We however have the additional benefit of knowing how God has fulfilled his plans through Jesus and so are in an even more fortunate position than David.

David bases his prayer on his knowledge of God as forgiving, good and loving. v5 When we approach God because he is good we know he only wants what is good for us. Because we live in the New Testament age we know that God expressed his good, forgiving and loving nature perfectly in Jesus’ death and resurrection and as believers we are enabled by him to abide in his love. ‘So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.’ 1 John 4:16 It is God who stirred up that love in us, ‘We love because he first loved us.’ 1 John 4:19 We need not have any fear when approaching God because Jesus has already taken our righteous judgment upon himself through his wrath bearing sacrifice. ‘In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.’ 1 John 4:10

Whoever we are and wherever we come from it is right for us to be able to approach God as Lord and give him praise for the ‘great and wondrous things he alone has done.’ vv 9-10 John confirms this confidence in Revelation 15:4, ‘Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.’

Frequently when approaching God people try to make God confirm to their desires, in effect attempting to create God in their own image. It is not enough to intellectually accept the presence of God, it is when we want to be united with God so that we conform to his desires that we have made the step into being a Christian. Which is why the ESV translation of verse 11 is so helpful using the phrase ‘unite my heart’ because it is when our desires are aligned with his that we will pray and live aright. ‘Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.’ v11

The Lord knows our frailty and tendency to divert from his ways which is why we need to restore our ongoing relationship with him through confessing to him our weaknesses and sin. We can do so in confidence because his love for us is unchanging. We do not fall in and out of being a child of God but just as a child may spoil their ongoing relationship with a parent so through sin we can spoil our relationship with God. Therefore, David is able to pray, ‘But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant.’ vv 15-16

Do we want God to be in our image or do we want to conform to him?

Undivided (acoustic) // Emu Music

Psalm 86:2a

‘Guard my life, for I am faithful to you’

How do you cope and how do you pray in times of trouble? Let us not minimize the amount and level of trouble Christians experience across the world and in their everyday lives in our country. I am not disregarding troubles faced by those who do not share faith in Jesus but the Psalm is specifically that of a servant and faithful follower of God, King David. Although the psalm opens with a general cry for help vv1-3 he becomes more specific later, ‘Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God; ruthless people are trying to kill – they have no regard for you.’ v14 This then is a psalm with direct application to very many followers of Jesus. It is also an experience shared by Jesus throughout his life, from his attempted murder in infancy by Herod the Great until the eventual successful conspiracy between the religious leaders and another Herod brought about his crucifixion. There are millions of Christians who live at constant risk of violent attack and so this psalm has particular relevance to them. (See Open Doors and Barnabas Aid websites.) However, significant troubles are faced on a daily basis by Christians in all settings over a wide range of issues. It can be unjust treatment at work, abuse at home and in other settings, being a victim of bullying, suffering crimes against the person or property and although it is a different type of focus experiencing serious health issues or the effects of natural disasters or suffering the multiple consequences of poverty.

What then can we learn from David’s prayer? Firstly, he comes to God with a simple confession of helplessness and need. ‘Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. v1 At the same time he recognizes and address God as his Lord. In the psalm he uses two titles for God both translated Lord in the NIV. Four times he uses God’s personal, covenantal name, Yahweh or the Lord. (vv 1,6,11,17) In doing so he is affirming God’s sovereignty, holiness and greatness. He is also placing himself within the covenant that God has made with his people and asking God to keep those covenantal promises. Followers of Jesus now are included in the new covenant made by God through the death and resurrection of Jesus and may with humility and confidence call upon God to keep them.

David also refers to God as ‘Adonai’ or Lord. This is a term considered somewhat less awesome and holy, more intimate, and so can be more easily uttered. Whilst it is difficult to directly translate the full intended meaning it is commonly compared to master. Three times David reinforces this relationship by calling himself servant. The basis of David’s approach then is one in a covenantal relationship with a totally reliable and all powerful God and yet this is not a remote depersonalized contractual relationship such as we might have with a powerful government or company. It is an intimate relationship in which David can bring his inner feelings and fears as he would to a loving master.

Even though David had one of the most privileged relationships with God in the bible, Christians now are in an even more privileged position. Through faith in Jesus Christians are granted new life and to become children of God. This is the new covenant relationship all followers of Jesus have with ‘Yaweh’ and are able to come to him with confidence. ‘But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,’ John 1.12 ‘See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.’ 1 John 3:1 ‘The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.’ Romans 8:16

Before we come to the Lord with our honest need and cry to, “Guard our life” we can be confident of our relationship with him.

Oh to see the Dawn – Getty / Townend

Psalm 85

The psalm’s opening position is one of spiritual barrenness. Have you experienced a time, even a long time, when God has seemed far off or you have separated yourself from God? Perhaps for a period you even rejoiced in the freedom of not being constrained by a relationship with God but now find it is not the satisfying freedom you once believed it to be? Something of a yearning for God in your life has started to emerge however vaguely formed. At such times, if we once called ourselves Christian it is possible we can dig back in our memory or in the case of a church it’s collective memory and consider a time when our relationship with God was satisfying.

Israel in the opening of this psalm is doing just that. We do not know the exact time the psalm was written but the nation had a repeated pattern of rejecting God, pursuing idols and accompanying corrupt lives causing God to withdraw his blessing. Now they appeal once again to the Lord to forgive, trusting to his unchanging character. vv 1-3 The process can apply equally to us as individuals or as a church. It does however require the painful step of being honest about our own “iniquity” v2 and humility to ask to be restored.

‘Restore to us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!’ v4 Through Jesus’ restoring sacrifice and resurrection God has promised he will forgive, restore and renew our lives in relationship with him. John writes, ‘If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’ 1 John 1:8-9

We can often feel stuck in our sin whether that is a specific repetitive thing that makes us feel bad or a general malaise. From that position it is easy to share the psalmist’s thoughts that God’s anger or disapproval will never go away. ‘Will you be angry with us forever? v5 We may feel there is an inevitable drift away from God and his ways that cannot be stopped and so the question is raised, ‘Will you prolong your anger to all generations?’ v5 Fortunately this is not the case. God stepped into the history of his people to answer the prayer of verse 8, ‘Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak to his people, to his saints’. He did so through the incarnation of Jesus, the Christ. Through Jesus alone God has both spoken peace and restored peace between himself and his people. Jesus fulfilled both the law and the prophets of which the psalmist knew. Jesus explained how this was so to the disciples on the Emmaus Road following his resurrection, ‘And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.’ Like 24:27

For those then who feel in some way separated and cut off from God through their lifestyle or barrenness of experience, now is surely the time to take the step toward Christ following the psalmist’s urging, ‘let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, and the glory may dwell in our land.’ vv 8-9 Fear need not be a terror but an awesome recognition of Jesus as the Son of God and glory being his wonderful presence in our life.

Verses 10-11 poetically expresses the nature of a living relationship with Jesus and verses 12-13 the promise from Jesus to those who trust in him.

If you feel separated from God are you ready to ask for restoration?

Do you desire the peace with God that comes through Jesus’ death and resurrection?

How Deep The Father’s Love For Us