Psalm Reflection - Week 5

Psalm 86 The Prayer of a Poor Servant of God

Let us come down to earth! For the last weeks we have focused our attention on psalms that extol Jerusalem, Zion and the Davidic King. These are expansive and wonderful ideas to ponder and they do indeed take us upward toward God and outside our world. But it is also necessary for us at times to plant our feet firmly in the soil of our own humble life and be attentive to where we are with God. So Psalm 86 is such a simple and earth-bound prayer of a humble servant of the Lord.

Remember how each week with your lesson there is a suggested "memory verse" to learn? This psalmist has attended to the task of memorization very well! It is beyond the scope of our task here to point out the many references quoted in this psalm. It is really a patchwork of "memory verses". Committing verses to memory is a good habit to form. Take a verse each week, let the word of God weave in and out of your day; recite it as you stop at red lights, while waiting in supermarket lines, at the bank, post office, etc. Copy it and carry it around with you! How good to have a whole collection of such verses in your memory to draw on, keeping the word of God in your mind and your heart. How frequently these will serve as a guide for one or other situation.

Perhaps the most recognizable of these "memory verses" is vs 15: "You, God of mercy and compassion, slow to anger, O Lord, abounding in love and truth…". Sound familiar? We first found these words in Exodus ch 34. Moses had returned to the Lord on Sinai to restore the covenant that had been broken after the golden calf incident. Moses learns more about God in this encounter: that God is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and steadfast love. And so Israel (and we) are able to imagine a relationship between ourselves and God. If God did not extend forgiveness to us, if such was not the very nature of God, we would be helpless! How possible would such a relationship be? These are the covenant qualities of the God of Israel; qualities that make possible a divine-human bond. Verse 5 of the psalm also repeats this same understanding of God: "O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call." Again, this is a clear and constant expression of Israel's faith in the covenant God.

The Psalmist makes several requests of God: "Turn your ear and answer" (vs 1) "preserve my life" (vs 2) "Give joy to your servant" (vs 4) "Show me your way…guide my heart" (vs 11) "Give strength to your servant …show a sign of your favor" (vs 17). Accompanying the various demands is included in a list of reasons the psalmist has for trusting that God will listen and respond: "because I am poor" or "because I lift up my soul to you" or "because you are great and do marvelous things". You can readily see the simple mutual relationship that is in place. There is trust and confidence because the "Other" is known to be reliable!

Psalm 86 is an individual Psalm of Lament, even if it is slightly out of character as laments go. Although there is recognition of some trouble, this is tempered by trust. The psalmist seems to know that God will be present through whatever the difficulty and God will teach him and form him according to God's own ways. There is always something for us to learn and sometimes such things are best learned through difficulties.

The psalmist says of himself that he is poor and needy and refers to himself as "servant" three times. He cries out to God and expects a reply. The servant is ideally one with a listening ear. There is a sense of humility here. Here is where we could draw on many other biblical texts that express similar sentiments. Last week in Psalm 72, we commented on the responsibility of the King to hear these poor and be God's heart in responding with compassion. Here, we hear from the person in need their own cry for help. The "poor" can refer to the oppressed and victimized. Such persons are humble and formed in the way of patience. Anyone who has lived long enough comes to realize that when we experience loss or emptiness, then we also open ourselves to receive God's comfort and blessing. During such times, one learns to rely on God in all circumstances and to wait and watch for his way. Is this the meaning we should find in the 1st Beatitude? "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God". It seems the attitude of our psalmist.

Whenever we encounter a Psalm of Lament, it is not always easy to place ourselves into the prayer. One thing to remember is that YOU may not be so afflicted, but there are many who do suffer and so is it possible for us to pray these psalms in solidarity with others? It broadens our prayer to include others and not simply our own needs. Another way to consider "the proud who have risen against me" or the "ruthless enemy" (vs 14) is to not imagine there are persons but situations or problems or troubles that afflict us. Often the psalmist will personify such things. This may clear away some of the stumbling stones to our reading of the psalms where sometimes the language may seem anything but prayer-like!

"Teach me, Lord, your way

that I may walk in your truth"