An Ancient Prayer for Help

Transcription

1 An Ancient Prayer for Help Psalm 86 Pastor Aaron Brown October 1, 2017 I. His Situation: An Outward Focus A. David s Troubles Psalm 86:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Matthew 6:32 B. David s Requests Hebrews 4:16, Luke 18:41 1. God s Attention 2. God s Action 3. God s Affection II. His Soul: An Inward Focus Psalm 86:5, Psalm 86:3, Psalm 86:11-12 III. His Savior: An Upward Focus A. God s Attributes Psalm 86:5, Psalm 86:8-9, Psalm 86:15 B. God s Actions Psalm 86:13, Psalm 86:17

2 Printed Sermon October 1, 2017

3 Introduction: Arrogant, ruthless and godless. Not the kind of people you hope to run into. Imagine such people intentionally pursuing you in order to kill you! I have never had anyone seek to take my life, but for David this was not just a figure of speech. The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life--men without regard for you. Psalm 86:14 One of the things I appreciate about the prayers in the Psalms is that they come out of real life. These are prayers written from the sheltered life of the temple or ivory tower, but rather are the gutwrenching prayers from the trenches. Consider three focuses of this prayer I. His Situation: An Outward Focus A. David s Troubles David is one of the great heroes of the Bible. His life is full of great victories from defeating Goliath to becoming king. But his prayers reveal that it was not all victories. Like all the people in the Bible, and like our lives, his life was a mixture of triumphs and tragedies. We don t know the exact events that led to this prayer, because more than once David was pursued by ruthless men who wanted to kill him. Peggy shared with us last week, that we want our lives to smooth sailing Christ, but in reality it is like a roller coaster. David knew what to do in times of trouble: In the day of my trouble I will call to you V7 // I call to you all day long. V3 This was not just a one-time prayer, but rather something he did all day long. Calling to God became as natural as breathing. He practiced Paul s advice to Pray continually. It wasn t that God didn t know what was going on in David s life. David wasn t giving God any new information about those who wanted to kill him. In the same way, God knows what is going on with you and yet he calls us to talk to him about our situation. your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:32 B. David s Requests David makes 14 specific requests in this prayer. God s Attention: Hear me, Answer me, Listen to me, Turn to me. These are all asking God to pay attention to him. Do you ever feel that God is not paying attention to you? Your prayers seem to be bouncing off the ceiling. And you just want to cry like David, God, just listen to me! Yet David has confidence that God will answer. In the day of my trouble I will call to you. for you will answer me. V7 You can have confidence when you pray for you have God s attention every time you lift your voice. He hears your voice amidst all the other noises and voices in the world. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16 David reminds us why we can approach God w confidence

4 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. V 5 God s Action: Guard my life, Save me, Grant me your strength. These are all asking God to act on his behalf. It s OK to ask God to do something specific for you. Imagine Jesus asking you as he did a blind man: Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" Luke 18:41 Prayer exercise: respond to that question from Jesus. God s Affection: Have mercy, Bring joy, Give me a sign of your goodness. These are relational requests. David wants more than just God s attention and action, he wants God s affection. He wants to know God, so he shares his heart. II. His Soul: An Inward Focus Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Psalm 86:4 To lift up your situation is an outward focus in which you recount the facts. To lift up your soul is an inward focus in which you share how you feel about your situation. It is here that prayer becomes personal. Another thing I appreciate about the prayers in the Psalms is their passion. These are not sanitized religious sounding prayers. They are honest prayers full of emotions. At times expressing anger, doubt and fears. There are no religious masks in these prayers. What was David feeling in this Psalm? Poor and needy, joyless and maybe a bit afraid. The fact that he asks for mercy 3 times and also mentions God s forgiveness may imply that he was feeling guilty. But his feelings didn t change his faith. He knew that his relationship with God was secure. Hear his strong faith: I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you. V 3 Because he was devoted to God, he didn t let his situation override his soul. Rather he asked God to teach him and to give him an undivided heart so his devotion would not waver. Teach me your way, O LORD Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name v 11 If I was being pursued by arrogant ruthless godless men who wanted to kill me, I think my focus would be on fearing them, but David prays that he might fear God s name. Three times, he refers to himself as God s servant; therefore, he trusted in God. He knew God would take care of him. He chooses to do the things that will feed his soul rather than change his situation. He doesn t talk about strategies to avoid the enemy or to defeat them. These are his choices: I will walk in your truth v11 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart v 12 I will glorify your name God must be pleased when our prayers move beyond our situation and we focus on feeding our souls. That leads us to the highest focus of prayer. Bulk of prayer focuses on God.

5 III. His Savior: An Upward Focus A. God s Attributes Forgiving // Good // Abounding in love You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. V 5 Sovereign Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.v8-9 Great // Unique: For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Compassionate // Gracious // slow to anger // Abounding in Faithfulness But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. V 15 What would prayer be like if we prayed with a focus on these attributes? What does our situation look like when viewed through the lens of God s attributes? To focus on God s attributes is what we call praise. When you're up against a struggle that shatters all your dreams And your hopes have been cruelly crushed by Satan's manifested schemes And you feel the urge within you to submit to earthly fears Don't let the faith you're standing in seem to disappear Praise the Lord, He can work through those who praise Him Praise the Lord, for our God inhabits praise Praise the Lord, for the chains that seems to bind you Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you When you praise Him B. God s Actions You have made the nations // You do marvelous deeds You have delivered me from the depths of the grave You have helped me // You have comforted me As David remembers what God has done in the past, it must have stirred up faith within him to trust that God would act again. I wonder if David remembered a prophetic word given to him when he was still a young man. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my master will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 1 Samuel 25:29 We have an advantage over David for when we pray, for we can focus on the cross which is the greatest display of his attributes. Today we join with brothers and sisters around the world as we come to the table.