Learning to Pray

I want to return to the Psalms this week and dive into Psalm 86. A while back I was re-reading Calvin Miller’s book A Hunger for the Holy, and he made a statement that jumped out at me…he said,

“Our failure to pray is not because we do not love prayer, but because we do not love Jesus.”

That struck me as harsh at first, but the more I pondered upon it the more I knew it was true. When Psalm 63 is true of us—“O God you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water,” we will find an insatiable desire to talk to the One we love.

One of our greatest problems with prayer is simple—we just don’t know how to do it. Early on I told you the Psalms were not only God’s Word to us, but they were given to us so we could have words to God. This was Jesus’ prayer book…it was the prayer book of the early church, and has been the prayer book of the saints throughout history. When we find ourselves immersed in the Psalms we will find the Holy Spirit taking those words and leading us to pray them back to the Father.

Our Psalm today gives us a great example of how to pray. Psalm 86 is at the end of Book Three of the Psalms. There are only 17 Psalms in Book Three and this is the only one attributed to David. Almost all of the 17 Psalms are written during a real crisis of faith. What do you do when you find yourself in a crisis?

It is interesting to note what King Hezekiah did in 2 Kings 18, the king of Assyria comes against them, Isaiah the Prophet reassures Hezekiah and in 2 Kings 19:14ff we are told that the King prays to God. He said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.” Then in verse 16 he says, “Incline you your ear, O LORD, and hear…”

Hezekiah knew His Bible—it would seem that the first statements about God being the God of all the kingdoms were learned in this Psalm because Hezekiah quotes the first line, “Incline your ear, O Lord…” Psalm 86 was written during a crisis in David’s life and Hezekiah sets the example for us by praying these very words and thoughts back to God. This week I simply want to take these 17 verses and show you how to pray to God.

The first thing David teaches us is that when we pray we should pray with reasons for our requests.

Spurgeon taught his people that they needed to learn to pray with arguments. In other words, before you ask God for something think through it and find reasons as to why God should answer that request. When God told Moses He was going to destroy Israel, Moses interceded and said what would Egypt say? If you are asking for any number of things—why should God answer that request? There are 15 petitions in this Psalm and David offers reasons for almost all of them.

Look at what he says:

In verse one, “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,” that’s the request…here is the reason, “for I am poor and needy.”

In verse two, “Preserve my life.” The word for preserve is a military term meaning to guard, defend, or protect…here is the reason, “for I am godly.” I’m your child and I need you to protect me and guard me.

In the second half of verse 2, “save your servant…” why? Because I trust in you and you are my God.

In verse 3, the request, “Be gracious to me, O Lord.” It is also translated as ‘be merciful,’ and the reason, “for to you do I cry all the day.” In other words, I’m throwing all my cards in with you God…I have no other option…I need your mercy!

In verse 4, “Gladden the soul of your servant,” and the reason, “For to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.” David is asking for God to bring joy to his life because he has committed his soul to Him and he is doing it based on God’s steadfast love. He is appealing to God’s history of delivering His children and asking Him to do it again.

In verse six, “Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of trouble, I call upon you,” and here is the reason, “for you answer me.”

Before you ask God for that car, for that new job, for that promotion, for your healing, or for Him to move in a relationship…spend some time thinking it through and offer up reasons for Him to do it. If you can’t come with reasons for God to do something—you might need to re-think your request. Make sure your requests are centered in His glory and you’ll find what the NT meant when it said, “Ask anything in my name and it will be done for you.” Center your request in your own gloryand you’ll find out what James meant when he said, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (4:3)