TUESDAY 2nd
Psalm 86
NIV (v15) – ‘But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.’
ESV (v15) – ‘But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.’
I wonder if you felt a personal application of the psalm as you used it as a prayer yesterday, maybe there were certain phrases that were more relevant to your own circumstances or situation.
The psalmist seemed to cover a lot of bases, from being poor and needy (that is spiritually speaking) it reminds us of Matthew 5:3 where Jesus speaking says, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. And there is a sense in which we should always be aware of our spiritual poverty outside of Christ and our need of his daily grace and provision in our lives. He felt at risk as far as his life was concerned, this reminds us of our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith, and should inspire us to pray for them, he wanted to be gladdened in his soul, and especially after the long period of pandemic that we have been through, and are still going through, we could all do with being gladdened in our spirit, and as we come before God, he gives us joy in our hearts enabling us to rejoice in the Lord, as Paul says in Philippians 4, ‘always’. In the prayer we are reminded that the Lord is a good God and a forgiving God and abounding in his steadfast love and faithfulness. Even when we are in trouble, he comes to our aid, he comes to assist us.
Surely, we can only respond in the same way as the psalmist did, ‘There is none like you among the gods, O LORD, nor are there any works like yours.’ (v8) And as the psalmist continues ‘All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O LORD, and shall glorify your name.’ (v9) So we can say, ‘I will come and worship before you, O LORD, and I will glorify your name.’ and ‘I give thanks to you, O LORD my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.’ (v12)
God is so good, as verse 15 says which I have already quoted, ‘But you, O LORD, are a God, merciful and gracious. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.’ He is our God, all the other gods of this world are but idols, they have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear, mouths but cannot speak, but our God, he is the One who has created all things, he is the One who sustains all things, he is the One who has reached down to sinful humanity with love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness, he is the One to whom we turn to and make our requests with thanksgiving in our hearts. ‘O taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD , you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.’ (Psalm 34:8-10)