Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
This is the opening of David's prayer in Psalm 86, standing as the third psalm among Psalms 84-87 where the other three belong to the sons of Korah. It speaks of God as having an ear that can hear, using the language of a bodily part. It is a prayer asking the Lord to listen and help, arguing to be heard on the ground that the speaker is poor and needy, which the poor and needy may humbly offer.
The poverty and need express humility before God and the awareness of need that should mark everyone who seeks Him, describing the human condition as poor, blind, wretched, and sick with sin, with that very need being the reason to plead. Secret prayer should therefore be very particular about sins, wants, and mercies, hiding no transgression and being unashamed to open every necessity, pressing wants and exigencies before God like an earnest but holy beggar who shows trouble, presents a ragged condition and secret wounds, and orders the cause before God.
It is a guilty sinner's cry to Jesus to hear, save from sins, and bring into His courts, turning from vain, weak human arms to God alone with the plea for pardon or death and for freedom from woes, pains, and guilty stains because Jesus died. That cry results in being washed whole in the stream opened wide from Jesus' side, seeing His smiling face, hearing His voice, and finding rest for the weary heart leaning on the Saviour's breast. The need includes the need for mercy and pardon from sin, and God listens to the humble prayer of the poor and needy, shows mercy, and brings joy to the soul. The psalm belongs to the Bible's storehouse of comfort and consolation for God's children and to a group of psalms rich in devotional and uplifting thought.
This is the opening of David's prayer in Psalm 86, standing as the third psalm among Psalms 84-87 where the other three belong to the sons of Korah. It speaks of God as having an ear that can hear, using the language of a bodily part. It is a prayer asking the Lord to listen and help, arguing to be heard on the ground that the speaker is poor and needy, which the poor and needy may humbly offer.
The poverty and need express humility before God and the awareness of need that should mark everyone who seeks Him, describing the human condition as poor, blind, wretched, and sick with sin, with that very need being the reason to plead. Secret prayer should therefore be very particular about sins, wants, and mercies, hiding no transgression and being unashamed to open every necessity, pressing wants and exigencies before God like an earnest but holy beggar who shows trouble, presents a ragged condition and secret wounds, and orders the cause before God.
It is a guilty sinner's cry to Jesus to hear, save from sins, and bring into His courts, turning from vain, weak human arms to God alone with the plea for pardon or death and for freedom from woes, pains, and guilty stains because Jesus died. That cry results in being washed whole in the stream opened wide from Jesus' side, seeing His smiling face, hearing His voice, and finding rest for the weary heart leaning on the Saviour's breast. The need includes the need for mercy and pardon from sin, and God listens to the humble prayer of the poor and needy, shows mercy, and brings joy to the soul. The psalm belongs to the Bible's storehouse of comfort and consolation for God's children and to a group of psalms rich in devotional and uplifting thought.