Psalm 86 | “Help for the Day of Trouble, Part Two”

Importance of Lament in the Life of the Church

Our text this morning is Psalm 86.  It can be found on page 462 in the pew Bibles.  This Psalm is an individual lament.  Out of one hundred and fifty psalms, there are more than sixty lament psalms.  A lament psalm is a song sung by a person in distress.  They’re songs written for times when life isn’t nice and neat. 

There are times when we don’t know what to think about what’s happening, when we feel alone and abandoned, when we feel paralyzed by fear or overwhelmed with anger or despair.  Adversity replaces prosperity.  Turmoil replaces tranquility.  Chaos replaces order.  Doubt replaces faith.  These are times for lament.    

The church has in large part lost any language or understanding of lament.  In American evangelicalism especially, there’s a kind of triumphalism that doesn’t correspond to reality for many people in the church.  Sunday morning worship services are often more celebratory than reflective and can end up discouraging those who’re walking through grief, loss, or pain of any kind.  The implicit message is that Christians don’t have pain and afflictions.    

Could anything be further from the truth?  Why would God’s song-book be full of laments if God expected his people to be cheery all the time?  Why weren’t the writers of Scripture more positive and uplifting?  The Bible tells us about the afflictions of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, the nation of Israel, Naomi, Hannah, David, Jeremiah, Jesus, and Paul.  Why did they talk so openly about their afflictions?  Because God wants to reveal his ways to us through their grief, prayers, words, teachings, and worship.  He wants us to have an honest experience with him.  The Bible knows nothing of people who pretend to never suffer.

Lament helps people know how to process their grief and move toward trust and joy in God.  Lament helps hurting people know what to do with their pain.  Lament helps us to “weep with those who weep.”  Lament is a necessary part of our Christian lives because life is hard, the gospel is true, and the church, of all places, must be a place that understands what to do with our pain.

A Prayer for Our Day of Trouble

One of the ways God’s grace comes to us in our time of need is through the Psalms.  Psalm 86 is “A Prayer of David.”  He wrote this prayer of lament while he was being persecuted by his enemies (v. 14).  This psalm applies most specifically to those who’re going through the affliction of persecution.  But there’s a phrase in verse 7 that allows us to apply this psalm more broadly.  “In the day of my trouble I call upon you.”  Any “day of trouble” is in the view of this psalm.  It speaks to us in any kind of affliction.

Brewing on Psalm 86

Over these two weeks, we’re lingering by the fire of Psalm 86 in hope that its truth will help us in our day of trouble.  The way I want to do this is by making several observations, in no particular order, from this psalm.  We did six last week.  We’ll do five this week.  Each observation will finish the sentence, “David’s prayer teaches us that…”

David’s Prayer Teaches Us that Those Who Serve the Lord Will Be Opposed

The first thing David’s prayer teaches us is that those who serve the Lord will be opposed.  Verse 14 says that there are men who want to kill David.  David describes them as “insolent,” or “rude, disrespectful, or brazen,” and “ruthless,” or “cruel, brutal, and cold-blooded.”  The reason for their behavior is because “they do not set God before them.”  They have no fear of God so they think they can do anything they want and get away with it. 

David wasn’t a perfect man by any means.  His sins were very public and the consequences of them devastated him and his family.  But, as I said last week, the reason King David stands out as “a man after God’s heart” is because he owned the things he needed to own.  David was an honest man.  When he sinned, he admitted his guilt, confessed it, and received the forgiveness of God. 

David tried to live his life in ways that pleased the Lord.  He risked his life to save God’s people from their enemies and establish God’s kingdom in Israel.  But some people wanted him dead. 

God-fearing men have been opposed by God-less men for thousands of years.  The prophets, apostles, and Jesus himself were hated by many.  The great Reformers of the church, Martin Luther and John Calvin, faced opposition.  Jonathan Edwards was fired by his church because he wanted to lead them to more truly reflect the teachings of Scripture.  For centuries, ministers and missionaries have been opposed for spreading the truth of God.  For millennia, the people of God have been made fun of, beaten, plundered, and suffered at the hands of unbelievers. 

Peter wrote to the churches in the first century, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.  If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Pet. 4:12-14).

We aren’t the first to be opposed, and we won’t be the last.  When God’s people face the affliction of opposition, we have the language of lament in the psalms to talk to our God.  We can go to God with honest words and find the peace and strength we need to keep going.

David’s Prayer Teaches Us that Pain Does Not Preclude Praise

The second thing David’s prayer teaches us is that pain doesn’t preclude, or prevent, praise.  Verses 8-10 are a declaration of God’s character and greatness, a short hymn of praise to him for who he is and what he has done and will do.  Verse 12 is a prayer of thanksgiving and prayer of praise based on what God has done for David in verse 13. 

Despite the opposition and persecution and affliction that David is going through, he continues to praise the Lord.  In verse 12, David even promises that he’ll praise the Lord forever.  As the verse in 10,000 Reasons says, “On that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come.  Still my soul will sing your praise unending.  Ten thousand years and then forevermore.”

It’s okay to pray for help and deliverance and relief and healing during affliction.  But David’s prayer teaches us that our cries for help ought to be mingled with cries of praise.  We must never forget who God is and what he has done.  As one old commentator says, “The church is never in so afflicted a state, but she hath still reason to intermingle hallelujahs with her hosannas.” 

For example, after we pray, “Lord, save me from my enemies,” we pray, “Lord, I praise you for saving me from my greatest enemies of sin, Satan, and death.”  After we pray, “Lord, please give me strength today, I am so tired,” we pray, “Lord, I praise you for giving me strength each day and trust in your promise to do so again today.” 

Our pain should not prevent our praise.  It will often compel deeper and more genuine praise, as we realize just how small and weak we are, how much we need God, and how great and good and faithful and near he is.

David’s Prayer Teaches Us to Ask for More Grace during Affliction

The third thing that David’s prayer teaches us is to ask for more grace during times of affliction.  Did you notice how many times David asks God for grace?  Verse 3, “Be gracious to me, O Lord.”  Verse 6, “Listen to my plea for grace.”  Verse 16, “Turn to me and be gracious to me.”  David is confident that these prayers will not go unanswered because the Lord is a God who is “merciful and gracious” (v. 15).  David asks for grace because God is gracious.

Why does David ask for grace?  Why should we ask for grace?  What does it mean for a believer to ask God for more grace?  It doesn’t mean that we’re asking for more saving grace.  Once God saves us by his grace, we’re saved.  In verse 2, David says that the Lord is his God.  In verse 13, he says that God has delivered his soul from death.  David has received God’s saving grace.

In the same way, Christians have received God’s saving grace.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift” (Rom. 3:23-24).  In Christ, God has saved us by his grace, freely choosing to give us what we do not deserve, and doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.  This grace is a one-time gift.  It can’t and doesn’t need to be repeated. 

So why does David pray for more grace?  David, and the other psalmists, pray for grace because they understand that without God, they can do nothing.  They understood that they didn’t deserve anything good from God.  They understood two basic facts: God’s greatness and their unworthiness. 

Until we also understand these things, we won’t understand why we need to pray for more grace.  We don’t deserve to be saved and go to heaven, but we also don’t deserve any good thing from God.  We’ve done nothing but break God’s law, ignore him, and love everything else but him.  Yet we think God owes us comfort in our pain or help in our trouble.  It’d be like stealing from your employer and then expecting a promotion.  That’s not how things work.  We’ve stolen God’s glory for ourselves and deserve to be fired, forever.  We don’t come to God with rights.  We come to him with guilt.  Thus, we come looking for grace. 

When we begin to see ourselves and God clearly, praying for grace in our times of need will be our knee jerk reaction.  We’ll know we deserve nothing from him, that he owes us nothing, that he’s not obligated to do any good thing for us.  And we’ll pray for grace in every area of life. 

The psalmists pray for grace for every kind of need.  They pray for grace when they need help from God: “Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me; O Lord, be my helper!” (30:10) When they’re weak (86:16).  When they need healing: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled” (6:2).  When they’re hated by their enemies: “Be gracious to me, O Lord!  See my affliction from those who hate me” (9:13).  When they’re lonely: “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted” (25:16).  When they’re grieving: “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted away from grief” (31:9).  When they’ve sinned: “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!” (41:4) When they want God’s name to be praised among the nations: “May God be gracious to us and bless us…that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations” (67:1-2). 

The psalmists pray for grace again and again because they understand their need for God’s help in every possible situation.  We need grace for our grief, sin struggles, anxiety, despair, fears, insecurities, relationships, ministries, families, communities, and nation.  Apart from God’s grace, we have nothing and can do nothing.  So we should pray for grace in everything.

For example, if we’re struggling with a particular sin, we don’t just ask God to take it away, we pray for grace to see it for what it actually is, hate it, fight it, confess it, repent of it, and grace to love Jesus more than it.  We can do none of that on our own.  Only God can do those things in us, so we pray for him to do it by his grace. 

One of the greatest promises of Scripture is Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  When we go to God in faith that he can do for us what we can’t do for ourselves, we’ll find that from his throne flows a fountain of grace for every need we have.  Grace will be given to those who ask.  “’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

David’s Prayer Teaches Us to Ask God for Joy

The fourth thing David’s prayer teaches us is to ask God for joy.  In verse 4, David asks God to make his heart glad.  During his affliction, David asks the Lord to make him joyful.  After he’d sinned with Bathsheba and been called out by the prophet Nathan, he prayed, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation” (51:12).  David didn’t hesitate to ask God to increase his joy when it was lacking.  He didn’t accept despondency and despair and depression as the way things had to be.

The great British preacher of the twentieth century, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, said, “The greatest need of the hour is a revived and joyful church…Unhappy Christians are, to say the least, a poor recommendation of the Christian faith.”  This doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to walk around pretending to be happy all the time, hiding our pain and weakness.  It does mean that in the middle of every pain we have an unshakable confidence that God is good and that he is with us. 

Joy in God has nothing to do with circumstances.  It is refined and proven through our circumstances, not determined by them.  In fact, hard circumstances reveal whether our joy is in God or not.  If something in our life is taken away from us and we fall to pieces and lose heart and lose hope and lose any sense of meaning or purpose, then it’s clear that the thing we lost was our god. 

This doesn’t mean that our joy in God doesn’t waver.  It most certainly does.  The waves of life crash onto us and leave us wondering where God is and whether he’s really good or not.  When this happens, a part of our prayer of lament is a plea for renewed joy.  David is our example, “I know that people hate me and want me dead, but please gladden the soul of your servant” (v. 4). 

Joy in God doesn’t take away pain.  But it does make pain bearable because it reminds us that there’s something permanent in our lives that can never be taken away.  And that He’s better than life itself (Ps. 63:3).   

David’s Prayer Teaches Us to Trust in the Gospel

The fifth thing that David’s prayer of lament teaches us is to trust in the gospel.  There are foreshadowings of the gospel throughout this psalm.  Verse 1 teaches us to be honest about our condition.  Verses 2 and 16 teach us that only God can save us.  Verses 3, 6, 15, and 16 teach us that God has grace for us.  Verse 5 teaches us that God is good and forgives sinners and gives his loyal love to anyone who calls out to him.  Verses 8-10 teach us that there’s only one God, that he rules over the whole world, and does wonderful things.  Verse 13 teaches us that God can deliver our souls from the grave.  And verse 17 teaches us that God puts our enemies to open shame and that his help and comfort will come for his people. 

Verse 17 also points us forward to the ultimate sign of God’s favor: the cross of Jesus Christ.  On the cross, God reveals his goodness to a world that only deserves his justice.  The cross shows us that God wants to extend favor to those who’ve rejected him, that he’s turned toward those who’ve turned away from him.  Jesus’ death on the cross is the clearest expression of the goodness and grace and mercy and love of God.  It shows us that God is slow to anger and willing to save anyone who calls out to him.

This psalm teaches us many things.  If I could summarize its message, it’d be like this: God cares deeply for us in troubles.  God will give us help when we need help (v. 7).  And our biggest need, of course, is for grace.  Because of the cross, God offers grace to all who repent of their sins and call out to him, to all who put their confidence in his Son Jesus Christ. 

The cross is God’s help for us in our day of trouble.  Help for salvation.  And help because it reminds us that God’s love is abounding and steadfast no matter what’s going on.  Through the cross, God’s help has come to us.  Where do you go for help?  Where do you go in the day of trouble?