LifeWay Bible Studies for Life Series for March 11: I call on you

LifeWay Bible Studies for Life Series for March 11: I call on you focuses on Psalm 86:1-17.

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Throughout the life of David, whether as a teenager taking care of sheep or as an adult serving as the king of Israel, he frequently is found praying.

His prayers vary as the circumstances surrounding his life alter. At times, we find David asking God for protection from those who were seeking to destroy him (Psalm 54 and Psalm 56). In Psalm 19:14, David prays for God to exercise control over his words and his thoughts. Psalm 51 records the very personal prayer of confession and desire for forgiveness following David’s infidelity with Bathsheba.

We all would agree that prayer has a strategic role in both private and corporate worship. While we hold to that truth, it seems our prayers often are repetitive, prescribed or routine.  Is there a specific purpose in mind as we approach God in prayer?  

The prayers we have recorded of David in the Psalms indicate purpose and focus. Psalm 86 is one of David’s written prayers.  The first portion of this Psalm centers upon David’s desire for God to hear his prayer. There is little doubt that being heard by God is one of David’s distinct purposes in this particular prayer.  

But David is very open before God in stating why it is imperative that God listen to his prayer:  “… for I am poor and needy” (Psalm 86:1). David is not seeking a financial handout (“poor and needy”) but rather is confessing to God he is incapable of handling the situation before him. The shepherd boy who killed Goliath the giant and the king who would strengthen Israel and lay the plans for Solomon’s building of the temple was not able to deal with the distress in his life. David acknowledges a great confidence in God to hear and answer his prayer, while also placing his limitations before God.

For thought: When we pray, do we pray simply to tip our hats to God, or do we pray with the realization that without him, we are weak and helpless? I wonder how often we have failed to see God do great and wondrous things in our lives because we believed we could handle the situation without him.

Besides being heard by God, David wrote this prayer because he wanted God to teach him.  David’s purpose in being taught was so that he might walk or live in God’s truth (v. 11). Just as David desired to live his life by God’s ways, so the Apostle Paul told the believers at Ephesus to be imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1). David understood his natural instincts were not synchronized with God’s actions. He had a need to learn from God himself.

At various times in our lives, we all have desired to be like someone else. That desire may have been based on their appearance, intelligence, abilities or accomplishments. Occasionally, we may even have asked someone we admired to coach us or to mentor us in the hope of becoming more like them.

In the latter portion of Psalm 86:11, David asks God to give him an undivided mind. He desired his life and focus be modeled after God alone.  


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For thought: When we have prayed to God as individuals or even as the corporate body of Christ seeking to become more like him, do we mean “all the time” or just in religious settings? Is the Lord our standard for our life while on our jobs as well as when we are at church? Do we live with an undivided mind?

David has prayed with the purposes of being heard by God and being taught by God in mind. He concludes his prayer with a need for God to help him. Psalm 86:16 records David’s plea for God to help him by turning to him and providing strength. One of the strong character traits of David is his willingness to seek help. This concluding request relates back to David’s opening words of this psalm. David never has lost his focus that God is able to provide answers and help that no man is capable of providing.

For thought: In the 1980s television program “The Bill Cosby Show,”  a particular episode featured Cosby as Cliff Huxtable asking his children to whom they would go for help if they were in trouble. His son Theo replied that he would go to his friend “Cockroach.” Cliff almost shouted:  “You would go to Cockroach who knows less than you do instead of coming to your parents for help!” That was television, but to whom do you turn for help?

The purposes of prayer are not limited to the three we find in Psalm 86. The reasons to pray are many. If there is not a shortage of reasons to pray, then I wonder why we pray so infrequently. If God already knows our every thought and action, I wonder why we are not more open with him when we pray. Finally, I wonder if we are so upset about where we have been restricted from praying, why do we not pray more often in those settings where we have no restrictions.  

Prayer is more than a standardized opening or closing for a meeting; it is more than a transition from one aspect of a worship to another aspect. Whether private or public, prayer is worship.


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