Embrace the Word for Monday, July 6, 2026

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Psalm 86 is an intensely personal cry to the LORD. After a string of Psalms by Asaph, followed by a couple of Psalms by the sons of Korah, Psalm 86 is a Psalm of David: “A Prayer of David.” Psalm 86 is the only Psalm attributed to David in Book 3 of the Psalter. The way that Book 2 ends might seem to suggest that there would be no more Psalms from David: “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended” (See Psalm 72:20). But what the end of Book 2 means is that the historical flow of Books 1 and 2 with their emphasis on tracing the life of David had come to an end. While there is no explicit indication of the historical context of Psalm 86, this Psalm of David is placed in the flow of Book 3 of the Psalter that pertain to the devastation of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. The emergence of a Psalm of David at this point as well as other points in the remainder of the Psalter helps foster expectation of the future king from David’s line. While Book 3 overall suggests failure on the part of the Davidic line of kings, Psalm 86 inserts a Psalm of David to underscore that the promises of the Davidic covenant are still intact. Psalm 86 shares several common links with Psalm 85. Both Psalms share terms such as “life” (85:6; 86:2), “godly” or “steadfast loved ones” (85:8; 86:2), “salvation” (85:7,9; 86:2), “forgiveness” (85:2; 86:5), and “steadfast love” (85:7,10: 86:5,13). Psalm 86 begins and ends with a petition to God (86:1-7, 14-17), and in between, expresses worship to God (86:8-13). A focal point of each section is a declaration about God (86:5,10,15).

Psalm 86 opens with David petitioning the LORD to hear him. David starts this first segment with an urgent plea: “Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me” (86:1a), but it ends with a sure confession that corresponds: “you answer me” (86:7b). Both the plea and the confession are rooted in David’s grasp of the covenant relationship that he experiences with the LORD. David’s urgent plea is prompted by his perception of his ability: “for I am poor and needy” (86:1b), but also his confidence in the LORD’s covenant love towards him: “for I am godly” (86:2b). David’s statement “for I am godly” is not actually a statement about his own moral superiority, but an acknowledgement of the LORD’s regard for him, for the term rendered “godly” is the term perhaps better translated “steadfast loved one,” meaning one who is covenantally loved with a durable and devoted love. David is truly loved by the LORD and that is important because by saying that he was “poor and needy,” David was saying that he was spiritually bankrupt without the LORD’s love. Rooted in the LORD’s covenant commitments, David offers up a string of urgent pleas: “Preserve my life…save your servant…Be gracious to me…Gladden the soul of your servant…Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace” (86:2-6). In between his pleas, David states details of his situation, but also dimensions of the covenant: “…for I am godly…who trusts in you—you are my God…for to you do I cry all the day…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…In the day of my trouble I call upon you” (86:2-7a). This segment of petition is full of allusions to Exodus 34:6-7 as it underscores that the LORD is “abounding in steadfast love.” 

David’s petition with its strong orientation toward the LORD prompts him to express wholehearted worship to the LORD: “There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God” (86:8-10). While the first segment of Psalm 86 is a series of requests for rescue, there are no such requests in this second segment. In spite of the troubling circumstances that David had found himself in, his focus is sharpened as to beyond what he is experiencing to who God is and what kind of God He is. David declares that there is no god like the LORD, and there is no god who can do what the LORD can do. The LORD is unique in His being and He is unrivaled in His accomplishments. The result of the LORD’s stature and achievements is that all nations, that is all people groups, have a moral obligation to worship the LORD alone and all nations—at least a portion of individuals from each nation—will be compelled to worship the LORD. As David declares that all nations will come to the LORD, David basically restates His assertion as to why the LORD is to be worshipped: the LORD is great and the LORD does wondrous things. In a word, the LORD is the only God!

David’s focus upon the LORD stirs him to not only personally respond to the LORD, but also model before the nations what worship looks like. First David prays that His wholehearted worship of the LORD would entail an undivided heart of obedience to the LORD: “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name” (86:11). David’s request is not merely for the LORD to let him know the way that he should live, but that the LORD will lead him to live in that way. Coupled to this request is a restatement that brings greater clarity. David recognizes that there are aspects of his life within his own soul that still desire an altogether different way to live. So David requests that the LORD would direct all of his focus and affections to the one purpose of obedience to the LORD. As the LORD would unite David’s heart, he would display what fearing the LORD looks like in a greater fashion. The prophet Jeremiah would proclaim that the LORD would do the very thing that David is praying for: “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them” (See Jeremiah 32:39). With an undivided heart to properly show his fear of the LORD, David adds further outcomes to include gratitude: “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever” (86:12). The kind of obedience that properly fears the LORD out of an undivided heart is also a thankful heart. All such responses are simply rooted in just how great David understands the LORD to be: “For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol” (86:13). David realizes that there is no god whose love is as great as the LORD’s and there is no salvation available from anyone but the LORD.

David resumes his petition to the LORD: “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. But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (86:14-15). David provides further information about his “day of trouble” (86:7). The source of David’s troubles are men who are “insolent,” “ruthless,” and who “do not set you before them.” Violent, malicious men who live their lives with no thought of the LORD were after David. But David’s chief response is to acknowledge what is true about the LORD, as he once again rehearses Exodus 34:6-7. Because of who he knows the LORD to be, David realizes what he needs above everything else: “Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant” (86:16). David desires and simply knows he needs the LORD’s presence in his life. David acknowledges that only the LORD can provide him the amount of strength and deliverance he needs. So David asks for the LORD to show himself to him once again: “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” (86:17). Based on what he has seen the LORD do for him in the past and based on his past experiences, David asks the LORD to bring his enemies to shame. As David has seen in the past, his enemies put to shame by the LORD, coincides with the LORD’s hand of deliverance in his own life.

As we reflect on Psalm 86, we should consider the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the designations that David uses through Psalm 86 is that he is the LORD’s servant: “save your servant” (86:2), “gladden the soul of your servant” (86:4), and “give your strength to your servant” (86:16). The superscription from Psalm 18 designated David as “the servant of the LORD,” and the prophet Nathan speaking directly from the LORD addressed David as “my servant” (See 2 Samuel 7:5). The servant of the LORD, which is fittingly used of David, is ultimately true of and finds its complete fulfillment in Jesus. The Apostle Peter proclaimed Christ as God’s servant: “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness” (See Acts 3:13-15,26). From the line of David, Christ is the servant of the LORD whom the prophet Isaiah spoke of as the LORD’s servant to preface the words concerning the sufferings that He would face (See Isaiah 52:13-53:12). As David previewed the role of the LORD’s suffering servant, he pointed to the ultimate fulfillment of Jesus as the suffering servant: “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (See 1 Peter 2:23-24). As the LORD’s suffering servant, Christ’s suffering was sacrificial and substitutionary—He bore our sins in His body and suffered in our place.

That’s all for Embrace the Word for Monday, July 6, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Wednesday, July 8, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 87.