WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.980 Psalm 86, it's still in the collection of Korah, but this one's attributed to David. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:20.559 Most likely, probably doesn't mean that David wrote it, but that it was written with maybe 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:30.199 an event in David's life in mind or reflecting on David's life, but it's just a prayer of David. 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:38.259 It is possible that he wrote it, too, that it is a possibility, but it does come in the 00:00:38.259 --> 00:00:39.759 collection of the sons of Korah. 00:00:41.859 --> 00:00:44.179 Let me read it out loud, and we'll go through it together. 00:00:44.179 --> 00:01:14.159 Let's read it out loud. 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:44.160 Let's read it out loud. 00:01:44.180 --> 00:01:46.180 Let's read it out loud. 00:01:46.180 --> 00:01:48.180 Let's read it out loud. 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:51.540 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:54.180 Unite my heart to fear your name. 00:01:55.180 --> 00:02:00.180 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:00.640 forever. 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.459 For great is your steadfast love toward me. 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:06.159 You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:10.939 O God, O God, insolent men have risen up against me. 00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:16.439 A band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them. 00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:23.379 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love 00:02:23.379 --> 00:02:24.159 and faithfulness. 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.159 Turn to me and be gracious to me. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:26.819 Turn to me and be gracious to me. 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:31.359 Give your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:40.740 Show me a sign of your favor that those who hate me may see and be put to shame, because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me. 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:49.980 There are a lot of examples in Scripture of men and women clinging desperately to God for salvation or for his blessing. 00:02:50.420 --> 00:02:58.760 You can think of Genesis 32, when Jacob is wrestling with the Lord, and the Lord touches his hip socket and puts it on a joint. 00:02:59.480 --> 00:03:04.180 And so he's pretty much a limping, disabled man at that point. 00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:10.560 And yet he still clings to God for dear life and says, I will not let you go unless you bless me. 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:20.980 And God rewards Jacob's faith and dogged persistence by blessing him and renaming him Israel so that he becomes the father of all the nation of Israel. 00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:27.560 And similarly, although in very different circumstances, a Canaanite woman in Matthew 15, 21 to 28, 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:34.180 she asks Jesus to have mercy on her daughter who was demon-possessed or oppressed by a demon. 00:03:34.180 --> 00:03:42.099 And when Jesus, because his mission to the Gentiles would not begin in earnest until he had died and risen from the dead, 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:46.860 he says to the woman, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 00:03:46.860 --> 00:03:50.040 It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:59.759 But the woman still comes and kneels before him and begs him, saying, yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:07.280 So even after she was unceremoniously called a dog, knowing that only Jesus can help her, 00:04:07.799 --> 00:04:13.120 humbles herself before the Lord and clings to him and asks for his help in desperation. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:20.319 And the message of Psalm 86 is much the same, that we should cling to the Lord with undivided hearts, 00:04:20.340 --> 00:04:23.420 because he alone is God and he alone can save. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:30.280 And the psalm is structured as a chiasm, which is a literary device where the verses are organized kind of concentrically, 00:04:30.899 --> 00:04:35.079 so that the verses in the first half kind of mirror the verses in the second half. 00:04:35.079 --> 00:04:39.859 And all the elements have in the chiasm have a corresponding part, matching part, 00:04:39.939 --> 00:04:46.680 except for the very middle, the center, which stands all alone and is there for the most emphasized part. 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:48.839 It's the part that everything else in the psalm is pointing to. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:54.579 And so here in verses 1 to 7 and verses 14 to 17 are kind of corresponding parts, 00:04:55.560 --> 00:04:57.860 and they're both prayers to God. 00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:03.939 And then in the middle, verses 8 to 13, you find praise to God that form the heart of the psalm. 00:05:03.939 --> 00:05:08.759 So we're going to talk about the two outer sections of prayer first, verses 1 to 7 and 14 to 17. 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:11.339 They parallel each other. 00:05:11.459 --> 00:05:14.259 Verses 1 to 4 parallel verses 16 to 17. 00:05:14.519 --> 00:05:17.920 For example, if you can see in verse 3, the psalmist prays, 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:19.079 Be gracious to me. 00:05:19.459 --> 00:05:23.040 And then likewise in verse 16, he says again, Be gracious to me. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:30.560 And in both sections, the psalmist addresses himself to God in verses 2, 4, and 16 as your servant, 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:37.980 or the son of your maidservant, meaning basically a servant that was born into the household instead of being purchased. 00:05:37.980 --> 00:05:47.340 And the tone of the petition, the prayer in both sections, is that of a loyal servant who is seeking the protection of his lord and king. 00:05:47.840 --> 00:05:53.240 And so notice the emphasis that's repeated in verses 1 to 4 on soul trusting God, right? 00:05:53.700 --> 00:05:55.160 Because in verse 2, the psalmist says, 00:05:55.500 --> 00:05:57.980 Preserve my life for I am godly. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:00.480 I mean, that's not really boasting. 00:06:00.600 --> 00:06:01.879 He's saying that he's devoted to God. 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:04.939 That he's, that's who he's defined by. 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:06.779 And it's really explained by the following clause. 00:06:06.860 --> 00:06:07.480 He's where he says, 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:09.800 Save your servant who trusts in you. 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:10.839 You are my God. 00:06:10.939 --> 00:06:11.899 He's saying that's what he means. 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:12.600 I am godly. 00:06:12.719 --> 00:06:13.420 You are my God. 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:15.180 You're the one that I'm given to and devoted to. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:17.159 And then again in verses 3 to 4, 00:06:17.219 --> 00:06:20.319 Be gracious to me, Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:25.180 Glad in the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 00:06:25.860 --> 00:06:28.379 So in other words, he's saying this whole time, 00:06:28.379 --> 00:06:30.459 Lord, you alone are my God. 00:06:30.579 --> 00:06:32.360 I don't have anyone else, Lord. 00:06:32.740 --> 00:06:34.879 I am your servant and no one else is. 00:06:34.980 --> 00:06:36.939 There isn't anyone else I'm turning to for help. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:39.000 There isn't anyone else I'm crying out to. 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:40.379 You're all I have, God. 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:41.379 I'm trusting you. 00:06:41.459 --> 00:06:42.600 I'm counting on you. 00:06:43.259 --> 00:06:44.420 So Lord, answer me. 00:06:44.500 --> 00:06:45.560 So that's the tone. 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:48.839 And so that's such so instructive for us, right? 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:52.040 Do we seek God with this kind of desperation, right? 00:06:52.079 --> 00:06:53.079 And desire. 00:06:53.540 --> 00:06:57.100 Because it's so easy for us to take things into our own hands, isn't it, right? 00:06:57.100 --> 00:07:03.160 When we are faced with trouble or suffering, when we're facing need, 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:05.720 when we're feeling poor and needy, like the psalmist is saying, 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:12.000 our first impulse is often to try to solve our problems with human solutions, right? 00:07:12.260 --> 00:07:13.100 With our own hands. 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:14.340 We take things into our own hands. 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:19.360 Or we turn to other people, whether it's our spouses or to other friends or to someone else. 00:07:19.420 --> 00:07:20.620 We turn to them for help. 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:30.000 But as people who belong to him, as God's servants, our primary sense of allegiance and dependence should be on God, right? 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:34.560 And his resources should be the first thing that we turn to. 00:07:35.019 --> 00:07:37.079 Of course, he could use other people, right? 00:07:37.220 --> 00:07:40.620 But our orientation should be first toward him and not toward others. 00:07:41.259 --> 00:07:45.920 And because our God is a gracious master who loves to come to the aid of his servants. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:55.420 And then the psalmist, after that, turns to the basis for his prayer, the reason why he could pray this way to God in verses 5 to 7. 00:07:55.860 --> 00:07:59.420 And verses 5 to 7 is mirrored by verses 14 to 15. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:05.040 And in both of those sections, the psalmist invokes God's character as the basis for his prayer. 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:08.480 And in verse 5, he says, 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:13.879 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.040 And in verse 15, he says again, 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:23.800 You, O Lord, are God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:24.720 Right? Same phrase. 00:08:24.840 --> 00:08:26.180 Abounding in steadfast love. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:33.980 And so the psalmist asks God boldly and desperately, but he doesn't come to God with a sense of entitlement. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:34.320 Right? 00:08:34.420 --> 00:08:37.000 Saying, oh, I deserve this. 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:38.840 You know, I've done so much for you. 00:08:38.980 --> 00:08:39.799 You should help me. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:42.179 Like, that's not the attitude with which the psalmist comes. 00:08:42.299 --> 00:08:44.100 He says, he appeals to God's grace. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:47.600 Not because I'm blameless, but because you are good and forgiving. 00:08:48.059 --> 00:08:53.539 Not because I am abounding in worth and merit, but because you are abounding in steadfast love. 00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:55.879 Lord, come to my aid in my time of trouble. 00:08:55.940 --> 00:08:57.159 That's the attitude of the psalmist. 00:08:57.720 --> 00:09:00.460 And that should inspire us to pray all the more. 00:09:00.620 --> 00:09:00.759 Right? 00:09:00.820 --> 00:09:01.299 That truth. 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:08.139 Because we don't need to earn a certain amount of, you know, credits with God in order for him to answer our prayers. 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:14.579 Often subconsciously Christians think that God will answer their prayers because of their most recent performance. 00:09:15.139 --> 00:09:16.539 How satisfactory it is. 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:21.819 But if our performance were the basis, then we would not even be able to approach the throne of God to pray. 00:09:21.820 --> 00:09:21.860 Okay. 00:09:22.500 --> 00:09:27.379 It's because he is abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness that we can come freely and boldly to God in prayer. 00:09:28.040 --> 00:09:30.560 Look at, if you look at verses 3, 6, and 16. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:34.300 Three times in those places, the psalmist asks for God's grace. 00:09:34.440 --> 00:09:35.480 Be gracious to me. 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:35.980 Be gracious to me. 00:09:35.980 --> 00:09:36.820 Be gracious to me. 00:09:36.820 --> 00:09:37.820 Be gracious to me. 00:09:37.820 --> 00:09:45.120 And the reason why you can ask for grace and expect God to answer is because, as verse 15 says, God is gracious. 00:09:45.520 --> 00:09:46.520 Because he is gracious. 00:09:46.640 --> 00:09:50.320 His character is the basis for our appeal to him, our plea to him. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:55.620 And so that two other sections, verses 1 to 7 and 14 to 17, are prayers. 00:09:56.180 --> 00:10:01.760 And then they point to the middle section, which is praise to God, which is the center of the psalm. 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:05.100 And within this middle section, the mirroring structure continues. 00:10:05.260 --> 00:10:08.920 So verse 9 says that the nations shall glorify your name. 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:12.640 And in verse 12, it says, I will glorify your name forever. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:15.080 And then two corresponding reasons are given. 00:10:15.560 --> 00:10:17.380 Why will the nations glorify God's name? 00:10:17.379 --> 00:10:20.919 Verse 10 says, for you are great and do wondrous things. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:22.159 You alone are God. 00:10:22.779 --> 00:10:25.000 And then why will the psalmist glorify God's name? 00:10:25.100 --> 00:10:28.939 Verse 13 says, for great is your steadfast love toward me. 00:10:28.980 --> 00:10:31.080 You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:31.320 Right? 00:10:31.580 --> 00:10:37.539 So the reason in each of those cases for glorifying God's name is his greatness displayed in his wondrous acts of salvation. 00:10:37.539 --> 00:10:48.179 And even within that middle central section, verse 11 is the very crux of the entire psalm that the whole psalm is highlighting and bringing attention to by its structure. 00:10:49.099 --> 00:10:53.459 And it's the one verse that stands alone without any part that's mirroring it. 00:10:53.860 --> 00:10:54.719 And it's a petition. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:11:00.660 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. 00:11:01.180 --> 00:11:04.200 Unite my heart to fear your name. 00:11:04.759 --> 00:11:07.660 There's a very clear logical flow to this psalm. 00:11:07.800 --> 00:11:07.860 Right? 00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:13.040 So because in verse 8, the psalmist just said, there is none like you among the gods, O Lord. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:16.799 And then in verse 10, he said again, you alone are God. 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:25.839 And so it's because there is none like God and because there's only one God that the psalmist is prompted to pray for God's way to prevail in his life. 00:11:25.899 --> 00:11:28.699 And he says, unite my heart to fear your name. 00:11:29.259 --> 00:11:34.360 And the heart in Jewish conception is a lot more than just an emotional center that we think of. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:35.559 It's the volitional center. 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:37.919 It's the whole inner being. 00:11:38.139 --> 00:11:44.199 It's the control center of a human being, basically, where all of our hopes, desires, and loves spring from. 00:11:45.159 --> 00:12:02.539 And he's saying, unite my heart to fear your name because if there were more than one gods, if there were more than one being in the universe that were worthy of our attention, worthy of our worship, worthy of our illusions, then our hearts would be warranted in being divided. 00:12:02.539 --> 00:12:07.379 But because there's only one, he says, unite my heart because there's none like you, God. 00:12:07.459 --> 00:12:09.079 Unite my heart to fear your name. 00:12:09.899 --> 00:12:11.659 And so we should examine our lives. 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:13.379 This is a good opportunity to do that. 00:12:13.439 --> 00:12:25.199 Are there hopes and desires and loves in our lives that compete with God or conflict with his desires for our lives? 00:12:26.059 --> 00:12:29.639 And so because there's only one God, we should worship and revere only him. 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:32.879 Because there's only one God, we should depend on only him for salvation. 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:41.299 And because there's only one God, there should be only one person in this world that we should cling to with this kind of faith and fear that the psalm is calling us to. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:46.360 We should cling to the Lord with undivided hearts because he alone is God and he alone can save. 00:12:47.139 --> 00:12:52.340 And it's only those who have an undivided heart, those who pray to God, unite my heart to fear your name, 00:12:52.340 --> 00:12:56.580 that can then, as it says in verse 12, give thanks to God with his whole heart. 00:12:57.519 --> 00:12:59.160 So our whole heart is given to God. 00:13:00.139 --> 00:13:04.280 We don't know the exact nature of the predicament that the psalmist was facing. 00:13:04.420 --> 00:13:08.600 Maybe it was David in one of his, he was fleeing for his life. 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:16.899 But we know that it was life-threatening because he says that if God delivers them, he'll glorify God's name forever. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.040 And he says this, 00:13:18.100 --> 00:13:22.019 For great is your steadfast love toward me, you'll deliver my soul from the depths of Sheol. 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:24.279 Sheol is the realm of the dead. 00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:33.660 And this salvation from death that the psalmist is talking about points to and ultimately is fulfilled by Jesus' salvation, 00:13:33.860 --> 00:13:37.379 who saves us from death and eternal death and damnation. 00:13:37.379 --> 00:13:43.500 And that Hebrew word Sheol gets translated into Greek in the New Testament as the word Hades. 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:47.179 And Jesus says in Revelation 1, 18, 00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:51.600 Fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. 00:13:51.820 --> 00:13:54.799 I died and behold, I am alive forevermore. 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:57.820 And I have the keys of death and Hades. 00:13:58.340 --> 00:14:03.620 Because Jesus is the one who, the son of God who died for the sins of his people. 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:10.320 And because he was raised victoriously from the dead, he is the only one that the psalm, like the psalm is crying out to, 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:13.919 the only one who can save us from sin and its consequence, which is death. 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:18.899 But in order to be saved like this, we need to renounce our sins and cling to him. 00:14:19.139 --> 00:14:21.720 We have to unite our hearts to fear his name. 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:25.120 And Jesus said in Matthew 16, 24 to 26, 00:14:25.500 --> 00:14:31.300 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:14:31.639 --> 00:14:34.180 For whoever would save his life will lose it. 00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:37.620 But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:43.620 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? 00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:48.120 For what shall a man give in return for his soul? 00:14:49.259 --> 00:14:51.379 It's nothing less than death to ourselves. 00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:58.539 We have to forsake all of our own selfish hopes, desires, and loves in order to align ourselves entirely to Christ. 00:14:58.620 --> 00:15:02.039 That's what it means to unite our hearts, to fear God's name. 00:15:03.139 --> 00:15:08.500 But we can do this gladly because of the steadfast love of God displayed in the cross of Jesus Christ. 00:15:08.500 --> 00:15:13.179 And when we do this, we find, when we've actually tasted and seen Jesus Christ, 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:22.399 we find that Christ was worth more than any loss or sacrifice that we incurred or that we endured on account of him. 00:15:23.179 --> 00:15:29.039 And so that's the call of this song, that we should cling to him with undivided hearts because he alone is God.