The Lord and a Mere Child – Psalm 86:11-17

A text – Psalm 86:11-17

¹¹ Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name.
¹² I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.
¹³ For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

¹⁴ O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.
¹⁵ But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your maidservant.
¹⁷ Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

A reflection:

The psalm section we have this week begins with a series of requests and thanks from someone who we can tell has been rescued by God before, someone who wants to be a faithful follower. Who among us cannot relate at least a little to those things?

Then the psalmist describes some peril he or she is currently experiencing. People who do not fear or revere God have risen up against the psalmist and seek his or her life. Desperate circumstances. But, luckily for the writer, the Lord has such a faithful and true character that, if the Lord so chooses, all will turn out well for the writer. Help comes from the Lord, help, saving, and favored-by-the-Lord status. And, incidentally in verse 17, maybe some shame will come to the wicked ones for causing so much grief.

I have tried to restructure my prayer life this year, and these verses are helping me to recognize what has happened as a result. First, I take time for prayer during my own best time of day, early morning, rather than when I am either nearly comatose from fatigue at night or else plagued by images that won’t leave me (acquired from conversations I have had that day or scenes I have witnessed in movies or TV during my evening entertainment time). Through spending time over the years in the psalms for this scripture blog, I have noted the wisdom of coming before God noting God’s generosity and bounty and goodness before saying anything else. It places me clearly as the receiver of all that goodness, before I pray for God to help me or my friends and family. It’s hard to get my selfish self out of the prayers I make, just as it was hard for the psalmist to resist wishing shame upon those who were rising up with evil intent. But mostly, every morning I first reinforce my own place with God, a beloved child but still a mere child, not the co-equal of God asking for some favor or another. When I begin as a mere child, then later if I lapse a little into wanting some revenge, I believe God can turn me around and help me to let that go.

For this desperate psalmist, maybe the only outcome of this psalm was some calming down and some remembering that the Lord is our strength no matter what. That outcome would be enough. Even if the enemies still were active enemies, the writer would have been reminded that the Lord will win in the end, and we, along with the Lord, as long as we belong to the Lord.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for the many psalms that teach us how to pray. Help us to remember that you are the Lord and we are your children, blessed and small, who can always come to you asking for your help. Amen.