86 A Prayer of David.
1 Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.2 Preserve my life, for I am godly;
save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.3 Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all the day.4 Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
listen to my plea for grace.7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
for you answer me.8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.9 All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.10 For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God.11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me;
a band of ruthless men seeks my life,
and they do not set you before them.15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.16 Turn to me and be gracious to me;
give your strength to your servant,
and save the son of your maidservant.17 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. (Psalm 86:title–17, ESV)
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The cry of neediness is both a call for help and a warrior’s bellow of action.
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Abba,
We are a needy people.
The truth of that statement cannot be ignored or understated. The problem is not really in agreeing with the statement as it is with accepting it.
Deep down we all know it is true. It just takes spiritual maturity and humility to accept it. We live in a culture, with a flesh that regularly wants to assert its false perceptions of independence and self-sufficiency. We can be guilty of too much bravado that is unwilling to yield to the truth, to admit just how weak and needy we are. Our unwillingness, though, does not negate the truthfulness of it. Truth is true even if we fail to acknowledge it.
However, the other side of the equation is also true. We are sometimes too in touch with our brokenness, our neediness. We turn that “in touch-ness” into victimhood. We then sit back and wait for rescue and deliverance to be imparted to us. We become passive receivers only.
Psalm 86 paints a very different picture than both of these extremes. It reveals our neediness while at the same time demanding a response from us when we see and embrace that neediness.
“Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.” (Vs 11)
Intrinsic in that cry of neediness, of that cry for help, is also a cry for the impartation of knowledge so that we can also act in that neediness.
We are needy. Yes.
But we are also required to act in that neediness.
We are to act in obedience to the truth. We are to cry out in humility and vulnerability about our neediness. But we are to be more than passive receivers. We must be humble and active responders to that neediness. Crying out in our need and acting in faith and dependence in the grace of heaven’s throne.
Why do we always lean toward extremes? Why do we always want to live so unbalanced? Why is the balance so hard to find?
Of course, I know the answer. It is rhetorical. The question is really just a lament at the difficulty of finding and maintaining the balance.
The prayer then, Abba, really ought to be this:
We are needy. We know it. I am needy. I know it. Let me not run from that truth. Let me embrace it. But, let me also not grow passive in it. Let me step into obedience, active faith, by the grace You supply. Let Your strength of being flow through me in that neediness so that the beauty of Your worth shines through the weak neediness of this flesh.
A Singular Passion 