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#ThursdayDevotion: Psalm 86

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Date: 17th December 2020

How do you see God in times of trouble? In this Psalm, we see David praying to God with a proper perspective. David cries out a number of requests to God and you can sense from this Psalm that David is in a place of great need and urgency. Despite being in a difficult situation, you also can sense from this Psalm just how much David trust and has confidence in our Almighty God. God is the only one who has control over our world.

When life gets tough, the human tendency is to solve the problem by their own ways and when all else fails, they will turn to God. God is the furthest thing from our minds when we are in difficulty. Oswald Chambers said this:

“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.

Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in sync with ours.”

The goal of prayer is not to get God to do what we want but to bring our concerns to Him and trusting that He will answer in His own way and time. Waiting on the Lord is not easy. We often want God to be like our fast food, we want God to answer our prayer in 10 mins. We are impatient people. When God does not answer, we start to doubt and find fault with God.

Psalm 86 provides a helpful lesson on prayer. Throughout the entirety of Psalm 86, David gives glory to God. He praises Him throughout the prayer in the most humble and reverent adoration. He recounts that God is gracious, God is good, God is forgiving and abdundant in lovingkindness to all who call on him. Knowing who God is enables us to trust Him through whatever circumstances we are in.

Reflection:

In times of trouble, do you focus on your struggles or do you focus on God?

Is turning to God in prayer the first thing you do or is it our last resort?

Prayer

Father, you are my refuge and strength and ever-present help in times of trouble. Teach us to trust you and surrender to your will. Teach me to see difficulties in my life from Your perspective. I know You will never leave me nor forsake me. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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