Psalm 86

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Well, good morning and welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It is Thursday morning, April 8th. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, this morning we are at Psalm 86. Psalm 86. Thanks so much for joining me this morning. Hey, Olivia, it's good to see you. I hope the kids are behaving for you at home.
Why don't we go ahead and we'll have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for what a rich blessing it is to come to your word. Father, we pray that as we read your word, you would bury these truths in our hearts, that you would make us understand and believe. In Jesus' name, amen.
Why don't we go ahead and turn over in our screen here to Psalm 86. Let's go ahead and turn there together, Psalm 86. A prayer for mercy. with meditation on the excellencies of the Lord. That's how the New King James puts the title there. This is a prayer of David. Bow down your ear, O Lord.
Hear me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am holy. You are my God. Save your servant who trusts in you. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I cry to you all day long. Rejoice the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble, I will call upon you, for you will answer me.
Among the gods, there is none like you, O Lord, nor are there any works like your works. All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name, for you are great and do wondrous things. You alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord.
I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify your name forevermore. For great is your mercy towards me, and you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. O God, the proud have risen against me. and a mob of violent men have sought my life, and have not set you before them. But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in mercy and truth.
O turn to me and have mercy on me, give me give your strength to your servant and save the son of your handmaid show me a sign for good that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed because you lord have helped me and comforted me oh what a beautiful passage to look at this morning we need to ask ourselves a what is this about b what's the best verse to summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to this so a what is this about well David looks to the Lord for strength. David looks to the Lord for mercy. David looks to the Lord for rescue.
And as we read through this, we see some great truths here. He calls down to God. I love this picture, right? It's almost like he knows that his Father in heaven hears him. He says, bow down and turn your ear to me, hear me. Have you ever seen a dad do this before? Get down on their knees go face to face, eye to eye with their child and pay special attention towards them as they look into their eyes and hear their words. That's what David is asking the Lord to do here.
You are my God. Preserve my life for I am holy. Does that mean that David is saying he's perfect? No, that word holy means for I am set apart for you. For you have set me apart for you. Lord, because of what you have done, because of who you have made me, preserve me. care for me, be merciful to me, O Lord, for I cry to you all day long." Right? He's looking to God. He's crying to God. And he says, for you are a God, for you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you.
I'm just going to go ahead and end my Bible. That is too good. That is too good not to underline. That's one of the things I'm going to highlight in my Bible here. This is just, the Lord is ready to forgive. The Lord is full of mercy, abounding in grace, and he is quick to forgive our transgressions. And he continues asking the Lord to hear his prayer. He's going to call upon him.
And then he says that there's no other God like the Lord. If you've ever read any of the mythologies before, I mean, it's always like, oh, there's the God of the sea, and there's the God of the sky, and there's this God of warfare, and this God of love, and all of them are really petty, and all of them are really shallow. But what does he say at the end?
You alone are God. You are great and do wondrous things. It is the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel, who alone made heaven and earth. It is He who has made all things. This is why we call Him our Master and our Maker. Teach me Your way, O Lord. I will walk in Your truth. Unite my heart to fear Your name. See, He's saying, I am holy. You've turned Your ear to me. I love You. You've been merciful to me. You've forgiven me. Turn my heart to You. Teach me to fear You. I will praise You, O Lord, my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forever.
This is the heart of the psalmist here. This is what David is getting at. And then he cries out in verses 14 and 15 against those who have sought his life. But he talks about the Lord there. But you, O Lord, are a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in mercy and truth. O turn to me and have mercy on me.
Give strength to your servant and save. the son of your major, and I'm just kind of going highlight happy, highlight crazy here. This is one of my favorite psalms. It's so beautiful. Go ahead and let me know down in the comments. What would you highlight as your favorite verses to summarize this passage? What are the best verses I get at the heart of the meaning here? Well, this is where we get to our last part, see calling. What are you called to do in response to this? There's a few of you here watching. Esther, it's good to see you. Mindy, it's good to see you. Olivia, kids, it's good to see you. What is God calling you to do in response to these?
Do you look to him for mercy and truth? Do you know that he is the one who is the only God, the one who made heavens and earth? When you say the Lord's Prayer, our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, Do you know that you're asking the Lord to stoop down and to hear you? Do you have confidence that he does hear your prayers, that he does forgive your transgressions, that he does give you your daily food? Do you cry to him to deliver you from temptation and to keep you from the evil one?
Well, I don't know how that's going to play out in your life today, but I pray that you focus. If you are one of God's holy ones, if you are one set apart for Him, if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you know that the Lord alone is God, then I pray that you are comforted by His mercy, His long-suffering, His quickness to forgive, in short, His grace that never ends.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day, and we thank you for the rich blessing it is to hear about who you are. Father, we pray that we would have such heartfelt prayers, that we would follow you all the days of our lives. In Jesus's name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you go with joy and peace as you walk, knowing the love of God has been poured out upon you in Jesus Christ. I'll see you tomorrow, bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.