Thoughts on a prayer from the Psalm 86

A David Psalm 86
1-7 Bend an ear, God; answer me. I'm one miserable wretch!
Keep me safe—haven't I lived a good life?
Help your servant—I'm depending on you!
You're my God; have mercy on me.
I count on you from morning to night.
Give your servant a happy life;
I put myself in your hands!
You're well-known as good and forgiving,
bighearted to all who ask for help.
Pay attention, God, to my prayer;
bend down and listen to my cry for help.
Every time I'm in trouble I call on you,
confident that you'll answer.

8-10 There's no one quite like you among the gods, O Lord,
and nothing to compare with your works.
All the nations you made are on their way,
ready to give honor to you, O Lord,
Ready to put your beauty on display,
parading your greatness,
And the great things you do—
God, you're the one, there's no one but you!

11-17 Train me, God, to walk straight;
then I'll follow your true path.
Put me together, one heart and mind;
then, undivided, I'll worship in joyful fear.
From the bottom of my heart I thank you, dear Lord;
I've never kept secret what you're up to.
You've always been great toward me—what love!
You snatched me from the brink of disaster!
God, these bullies have reared their heads!
A gang of thugs is after me—
and they don't care a thing about you.
But you, O God, are both tender and kind,
not easily angered, immense in love,
and you never, never quit.
So look me in the eye and show kindness,
give your servant the strength to go on,
save your dear, dear child!
Make a show of how much you love me
so the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed,
As you, God, gently and powerfully
put me back on my feet.

So many verses jumped out at me from this beautiful prayer. On Wendy Pope's blog today she pointed out the beautiful imagery of asking God to bend down and hear our prayer. Picture it in your mind...It is beautiful. You have God's undivided attention. You know how you feel or felt when you had your mom or dad's absolute attention? Well, this is even bigger. God is listening what do you want to say?

I like the way The Message says I put myself in your hands. Now you don't only have the picture of God bending to hear your words, but you are sitting in the palm of His Mighty hand. Is that not the most comforting image? Isn't it true? Don't you feel that when you pour your heart out to Our Father? The comfort, the relief, the love oh how wonderful it feels.

Bighearted ~ what comes to mind. so much love and forgiveness ~ you overlook our shortcomings. Trouble comes and we call on you. Isn't this true? Think about it when do you talk to God the most??? We know just like it tells that with all confidence God is going to show up. We believe it with all our hearts because He tells us He will.

I want to skip on down to the verse about You snatched me from the brink of disaster!
Once again, picture God picking you up out of a disaster and placing you in a field of peace. Oh I love the imagery, but yet He does this doesn't He?

Next, the verse about bullies rearing their heads. Picture the person in your life giving you the most trouble. The co-worker, the boss, the sibling, the parent, the illness, your finances, your health the list goes on and on all of these are our bullies and they do rear their heads. I typed in fighting to find the right picture and do you know it was amazing I think they had a picture of every living being fighting. Fighting is everywhere...at work, at home, in the fields.....

Once again, we are reminded that God is tender and kind, not easily angered, immense in love and that He never ever quits loving us! Never folks it doesn't matter what we do He loves us.

Now for the final imagery thought ~ God, gently and powerfully picks you and stands you back up on your feet. He does this daily doesn't He? He loves us so that He takes care of us from the bending down to hear our prayer to the placing us in His mighty Hand to protect us, to fighting our battles, to standing us back up our feet.
God is in control. Take the time today to ask God bend down Lord so that I can talk to you. Lift me into Your Mighty Hand so I can feel the love and peace of Only a Loving Father and the power and might of that Father that stands me back up again on my feet!

Loving God,
Debbie