#DailyDevotion The Basis Upon Which We Pray
Psalm 86 Listen, O LORD, and answer me, for I am miserable and poor.
Listen and answer go together. If the LORD listens to your prayers, He also answers them. David wants the LORD to do both. The basis for his prayer is simply great. It is not because David is so wonderful or has done great things or has been such a good boy. The basis of his prayer is he is poor and miserable. This is probably a good place to start in our own prayers—humbly coming before God our Father.
2Protect me for I am one You love. My God, save Your servant who is trusting You. 3Have mercy on me, O Lord, because I call You all day long.
Here David reminds the LORD of his relationship to God. As a descendant of Abraham, he is also a child of God. He is in a covenant relationship with the LORD. So he is one whom the LORD loves. David prays God would protect and save him based on this. God’s love for David gives him faith to trust in the LORD. He cries all day long for the LORD to have mercy on him. No doubt, those Jews in the Gospels followed David’s example as they cried out LORD Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us.
When we are baptized and have faith in Jesus we too know the LORD loves us. We have the promise from Jesus that when we come to the Father in the name of Jesus, He loves us. We can seek His protection and salvation. In the Church service we cry out with David and those Gospel saints, “Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.” Indeed this should be our cry throughout the day as we see our own weakness and troubles and as we see people around us in need of the LORD’s mercy and kindness, i.e. when we police, firemen, and ambulances passing by with flashing lights. When we see them, we know someone is in need of the LORD’s mercy. We see disasters on TV during the news and those affected by them. We cry out to the LORD to have mercy on them. Perhaps we just see someone down and out. We pray, “LORD have mercy on them,” particularly when we cannot be the mercy of God for them.
4Give Your servant joy, because I lift up my heart to You;
David would like to have the joy of the LORD. He recognizes he is only the LORD’s servant. We too are only the LORD’s servants. Joy is not the same as happiness. Happiness happens and is fleeting depending on the circumstances. Joy in an inward abiding sense we are in possession of the LORD and He is in possession of us. It is an abiding sense that everything is going to be ok. In the midst of trials and tribulations is an abiding sense of well being because we belong to the LORD.
This occurs when we lift up our hearts to the LORD. To lift up our hearts is to put our trust solely in the Father of lights. To lift up our hearts to the LORD is to believe through Jesus Christ’s name we have access to boldly come into the throne-room of the Almighty and place our request before Him. It is to put our whole lives and everything concerning it into God’s loving hands trusting He is going to take care of us. If we believe the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are truly God, then we place our hope in God’s promises that He cares for us and will take care of us. We abandon our own machinations and trust in the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Heavenly Father, we place ourselves, our families, and our lives in Your capable and loving hands. For the sake of You Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy upon us and give us joy and peace beyond all comprehension. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.