(upbeat music)
- Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you
to Drive Time Devotions and our look today at Psalm 86.
This is a great prayer of David.
And in this prayer, he talks about our need
to begin prayer by admitting our need.
We need to begin our prayer by admitting our need.
In the beginning verse of Psalm 86,
David essentially says, "Answer me, God,
"I'm turning to you, for I am poor and needy."
And in the ending verse of Psalm 86, he says,
"For you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me."
So my question is, what happened in between?
What happened in between verse one,
I am poor and needy, and the last verse,
you have helped and comforted me.
And that's what we're gonna look at today.
How do you talk to God about your needs when you pray?
Well, what happened to really change David's heart
during this prayer?
What can change our hearts when we pray?
Number one, he's able to be honest about his real needs.
Verses one to six, he says, "Hear, O Lord, and answer me,
"for I am poor and needy.
"Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.
"You are my God.
"Save your servant who trusts in you.
"Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.
"Bring joy to your servant.
"For to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
"You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
"abounding in love to all who call on you.
"Hear my prayer, O Lord, listen to my cry for mercy.
"In the day of my trouble, I will call to you,
"for you will answer me."
So he starts out by saying, "Turn to me, answer me.
"I am poor and needy."
In prayer, you start by recognizing your need before God.
There's no prayer that God answers more quickly
than the prayer that expresses to God
how deeply we need him.
Sometimes we have to act like we have it all together
in life, and sometimes even we act like we have it
all together in our prayers.
We go to God with big words,
and we go to God with high sounding praise.
Instead of just saying, "God, I need you,"
crying out to God for help.
Now, David, as he prays, he's able to take this,
in a sense, one step deeper.
He's able to look below the surface of the immediate need.
"God, I need you 'cause I need money right now.
"I need a job right now.
"I need a date right now.
"I need whatever it is right now."
And God will hear that prayer,
but David's able to take it a step deeper
and see his real need.
So in these verses, you see that he prays,
"Guard my life, that's what I really need.
"Have mercy on me.
"That's what I really need.
"Bring joy into my life.
"That's what I really need."
So as you pray for what you need,
yes, ask God for the things, the blessings,
that you're looking for him to give into your life.
But I want to encourage you to also pray this deeper prayer,
because our deepest needs are not that next new thing
that I need, or even the date,
or the marriage that I'm hoping for.
That will not meet your deepest needs.
God guarding your life, knowing you're protected by him,
no matter what, pray for that need to be met.
God having mercy on you, knowing that you're forgiven by him,
no matter what you have done,
pray for that need to be met.
Bring joy into my life,
knowing that Jesus wants to give into your life
a kind of joy that's there regardless of the circumstances.
Pray for that need to be met.
He's able to be honest about his real needs,
even the deeper needs.
There's a second thing that happens with David
in this prayer.
He's able to be clear about God's uniqueness,
about who God really is.
In verses eight to 10, he says,
"Among the gods, little G,
"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.
"For you are great and do marvelous deeds.
"You alone are God."
And then in verses 14 and 15, he says,
"The arrogant are attacking me, O God.
"A band of ruthless men seeks my life.
"Men without regard for you.
"But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
"slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."
So as David prays, he says,
"God, there's only one you.
"There's only one God.
"There's only one creator.
"You alone are God."
Now, that may seem too obvious even to need to say it,
but one of the healthy things sometimes
we can do in our prayers is restate the obvious.
'Cause I need to hear it again and again and again.
Because the truth is there are many people
and many things that are crying out every day
to be God in my life and in your life too.
Crying out to get my greatest attention.
Crying out to get your greatest attention,
your greatest priority.
Crying out to be God.
Some of them are good things.
Your work, your family, some of them are bad things.
Money or position or selfish pleasure.
They're all crying out to be God in your life.
The truth is, as David prays,
he recognizes none of those things or people
can meet my deepest needs.
You alone are God.
It's not like there are multiple options out there
for getting your deepest needs met.
Well, I could choose this one today
or I could choose this one today.
There is only one God.
He alone is God.
Only he can meet your deepest needs.
He is the one that you and I need to go to.
Now, as David prays in this prayer
and his heart has changed,
a third thing happens with David.
The third thing that happens is this.
He reaffirms his commitment to follow God's way.
In verses 11 to 13, "Teach me your way, O Lord,
"and I will walk in your truth.
"Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name.
"I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart.
"I will glorify your name forever,
"for great is your love toward me.
"You have delivered me from the depths of the grave."
As David reaffirms his commitment to follow God's way
in this Psalm, he gives us some training
about how to do that.
There's some great prayers to pray
when you're in great need.
And one of the great prayers
is reaffirming your commitment to God.
And you see two specific prayers that are behind that
in these verses 11 to 13 we just looked at.
There's a third we're gonna look at in just a minute.
The first two things he prays
as he reaffirms his commitment to God
is he prays, "Teach me your way
"and give me an undivided heart."
Those are great prayers that David teaches us to pray.
When I'm in need, I say, "God, teach me your way.
"Not just show me the way out, teach me your way.
"Show me your way through.
"Show me your way in the midst.
"Teach me your way.
"Teach me that you're with me no matter what.
"And then, God, give me an undivided heart.
"My heart, your heart."
It gets divided by so many things in this world.
So we ask God in prayer, "Give me an undivided heart.
"A heart that's focused on who you are.
"A heart that is focused on following you."
And then he prays the third thing.
The third thing he prays is,
"God, give me a sign of your goodness."
Verse 17, "Give me a sign of your goodness
"that my enemies may see it and be put to shame.
"For you, O Lord, have helped and comforted me."
God, show me how good you are.
I'm in need, I need to be reminded of how good you are.
So would you do something in my heart?
Would you do something in my circumstances?
Would you do something through something I read today
or hear today or something somebody says to me today?
Would you do something that reminds me,
gives me a sign of your goodness?
For me, personally, that sign is often come in worship
through a song, through a sermon.
There's some phrase in that message.
There's something that happens in that song
where God reminds me that no matter what I'm going through,
no matter how deep my need is right now, he's a good God.
I can trust in him.
And in essence, David is praying for his soul here,
that his soul would be taught the way of God,
would be undivided,
that his soul would be focused on God's goodness.
It's not a bad thing to pray for your soul,
for the health of your soul.
So today, as we pray,
we're gonna pray some of these things that David prayed
into our souls, into our lives,
asking God to do this for us.
Let's take a few minutes to talk to God about this.
Oh, Father, we come to you and we pray
that you would guard our soul as David taught us to pray.
Guard our life.
Guard our life from temptation.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
And guard us from selfishness.
Guard us from the enemies in this world
that would cause us to think that somehow
you don't love us today,
that you don't care about us today,
because you are there.
You do love us.
So guard our lives, we pray today.
And Father, we pray that you'd have mercy on us today.
You have shown us that mercy on the cross.
You helped us to see in Jesus
in a way that David didn't even know,
the depth of your mercy.
We know that that prayer is answered.
You have shown us your mercy.
We are able to be confident in your mercy.
So I pray that we would live in that confidence.
Not confidence in our goodness,
but confidence in your mercy.
Lord, you do good things in our lives.
And we do good things because of your mercy.
But our confidence isn't there.
Our confidence is in the cross.
Our confidence is in your mercy.
So we call on your mercy today to help us
to express and experience
all of who you are in our lives through the day to day.
And then God, we pray for our soul
and we pray that you would bring joy to our souls,
joy to our hearts today.
We lift up our souls to you in this moment right now.
And we ask you, fill our souls with joy.
Not the happiness of our circumstances
that goes up and down.
We ask for something deeper.
We need something deeper
and you've given us something deeper.
We need what you've given us, the joy of knowing you.
The security of knowing that you'll be there
no matter what.
The joy of knowing that you are holding on to us.
Fill our hearts with that joy right now, we pray.
And we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.
Well, join us tomorrow.
We're gonna look at Psalm 87 together.
(upbeat music)