Psalm 86 – Pray and connect with God

There are in total five prayer Psalms. They are Psalms 17, 86, 90, 102 and 142. David wrote three of them: Psalms 17, 86 and 142. Moses wrote Psalm 90. The author of Psalm 102 is anonymous. Psalm 86 shows us all the elements of a prayer. We find David skilfully interwoven praise, adoration and thanksgiving into his petition to God. He only made a brief mention of his enemies in verse 14.

David began with seeking God not only to hear him in verse 1, he also asked Him to preserve his soul and save him in verse 2. Knowing that God is merciful, he asked for mercy to be shown to him in verse 3. In verses 4-5, he asked God to cause him to rejoice. He plainly requested that God would hear his prayer in verses 6-10, and then asked to be taught in verse 11. In verses 11b-13, David petitioned God to give him ability in heart, soul and will to fear His name. Then he asked for mercy, and strength in verses 14-16 before he sought to be given a sign of God’s favor in verse 17.

Looking over the petitions that David had made in this Psalm, there are things that we can emulate when we approach God in prayer. Like him, we need to come humbly, relying on God’s goodness. Be confident that He will not bypass one who’s poor and needy. In saying that he is a godly man, David based on the fact that he was one of God’s covenant children and a favored one. Like him we are godly because of our righteous status in Christ. Our godliness is in the positional status made by Christ who had imputed His righteousness on us. However, this privilege comes with a responsibility. We must constantly seek to do what is pleasing to God by being godly in our conduct and practices in life.

Again like David we need to simply believe that God will help us. We must remain assured that there’s none like Him in compassion, graciousness or mercy. Let us be encouraged to come to God in prayer, even more so when we are in difficult moments. And our primary reason in seeking for God’s intervention is so that He will be glorified, and not so much for our selfish interest of self-comfort. While we are praying and seeking answers from God, we should also generously offer our praise, adoration and thanksgiving. In our routine activities, let us not seek to live in vain. Let us remember to make it a priority to call upon God and to commit ourselves to Him. And remember to praise Him!