What to Do When Sorrow Overtakes Us – Psalms 86-89

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #181 and today we’ll read Psalms 86-89 together.   David is back, giving a good example of what to do when sorrow overtakes us.

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Psalm 86

Lament and Petition

A prayer of David.

Listen, Lord, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

Protect my life, for I am faithful.

You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.

Be gracious to me, Lord,

for I call to you all day long.

Bring joy to your servant’s life,

because I appeal to you, Lord.

For you, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive,

abounding in faithful love to all who call on you.

Lord, hear my prayer;

listen to my cries for mercy.

I call on you in the day of my distress,

for you will answer me.

Lord, there is no one like you among the gods,

and there are no works like yours.

All the nations you have made

will come and bow down before you, Lord,

and will honor your name.

For you are great and perform wonders;

you alone are God.

Teach me your way, Lord,

and I will live by your truth.

Give me an undivided mind to fear your name.

I will praise you with all my heart, Lord my God,

and will honor your name forever.

For your faithful love for me is great,

and you rescue my life from the depths of Sheol.

God, arrogant people have attacked me;

a gang of ruthless men intends to kill me.

They do not let you guide them.

But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,

slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.

Turn to me and be gracious to me.

Give your strength to your servant;

save the son of your female servant.

Show me a sign of your goodness;

my enemies will see and be put to shame

because you, Lord, have helped and comforted me.

Psalm 87

Zion, the City of God

A psalm of the sons of Korah. A song.

The city he founded is on the holy mountains.

The Lord loves Zion’s city gates

more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Glorious things are said about you,

city of God.

Selah

“I will make a record of those who know me:

Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Cush —

each one was born there.”

And it will be said of Zion,

“This one and that one were born in her.”

The Most High himself will establish her.

When he registers the peoples,

the Lord will record,

“This one was born there.”

Selah

Singers and dancers alike will say,

“My whole source of joy is in you.”

Psalm 88

A Cry of Desperation

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.

Lord, God of my salvation,

I cry out before you day and night.

May my prayer reach your presence;

listen to my cry.

For I have had enough troubles,

and my life is near Sheol.

I am counted among those going down to the Pit.

I am like a man without strength,

abandoned among the dead.

I am like the slain lying in the grave,

whom you no longer remember,

and who are cut off from your care.

You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit,

in the darkest places, in the depths.

Your wrath weighs heavily on me;

you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.

Selah

You have distanced my friends from me;

you have made me repulsive to them.

I am shut in and cannot go out.

My eyes are worn out from crying.

Lord, I cry out to you all day long;

I spread out my hands to you.

Do you work wonders for the dead?

Do departed spirits rise up to praise you?

Selah

Darkness is My Only Friend

Will your faithful love be declared in the grave,

your faithfulness in Abaddon?

Will your wonders be known in the darkness

or your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

But I call to you for help, Lord;

in the morning my prayer meets you.

Lord, why do you reject me?

Why do you hide your face from me?

From my youth,

I have been suffering and near death.

I suffer your horrors; I am desperate.

Your wrath sweeps over me;

your terrors destroy me.

They surround me like water all day long;

they close in on me from every side.

You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me;

darkness is my only friend.

Psalm 89

Perplexity about God’s Promises

A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

I will sing about the Lord’s faithful love forever;

I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations

with my mouth.

For I will declare,

“Faithful love is built up forever;

you establish your faithfulness in the heavens.”

The Lord said,

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;

I have sworn an oath to David my servant:

‘I will establish your offspring forever

and build up your throne for all generations.’”

Selah

Lord, the heavens praise your wonders —

your faithfulness also —

in the assembly of the holy ones.

For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?

Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord?

God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,

more awe-inspiring than all who surround him.

Lord God of Armies,

who is strong like you, Lord?

Your faithfulness surrounds you.

You rule the raging sea;

when its waves surge, you still them.

You crushed Rahab like one who is slain;

you scattered your enemies with your powerful arm.

The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours.

The world and everything in it — you founded them.

North and south — you created them.

Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at your name.

You have a mighty arm;

your hand is powerful;

your right hand is lifted high.

The Holy One of Israel

Righteousness and justice are the foundation

of your throne;

faithful love and truth go before you.

Happy are the people who know the joyful shout;

Lord, they walk in the light from your face.

They rejoice in your name all day long,

and they are exalted by your righteousness.

For you are their magnificent strength;

by your favor our horn is exalted.

Surely our shield belongs to the Lord,

our king to the Holy One of Israel.

You once spoke in a vision to your faithful ones

and said, “I have granted help to a warrior;

I have exalted one chosen from the people.

I have found David my servant;

I have anointed him with my sacred oil.

My hand will always be with him,

and my arm will strengthen him.

The enemy will not oppress him;

the wicked will not afflict him.

I will crush his foes before him

and strike those who hate him.

My faithfulness and love will be with him,

and through my name

his horn will be exalted.

I will extend his power to the sea

and his right hand to the rivers.

He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,

my God, the rock of my salvation.’

I will also make him my firstborn,

greatest of the kings of the earth.

I will always preserve my faithful love for him,

and my covenant with him will endure.

I will establish his line forever,

his throne as long as heaven lasts.             

I Have Sworn an Oath

If his sons abandon my instruction

and do not live by my ordinances,

if they dishonor my statutes

and do not keep my commands,

then I will call their rebellion

to account with the rod,

their iniquity with blows.

But I will not withdraw

my faithful love from him

or betray my faithfulness.

I will not violate my covenant

or change what my lips have said.

Once and for all

I have sworn an oath by my holiness;

I will not lie to David.

His offspring will continue forever,

his throne like the sun before me,

like the moon, established forever,

a faithful witness in the sky.”

Selah

But you have spurned and rejected him;

you have become enraged with your anointed.

You have repudiated the covenant with your servant;

you have completely dishonored his crown.

You have broken down all his walls;

you have reduced his fortified cities to ruins.

All who pass by plunder him;

he has become an object of ridicule

to his neighbors.

You have lifted high the right hand of his foes;

you have made all his enemies rejoice.

You have also turned back his sharp sword

and have not let him stand in battle.

You have made his splendor cease

and have overturned his throne.

You have shortened the days of his youth;

you have covered him with shame.

Selah

Blessed Be the Lord Forever

How long, Lord? Will you hide forever?

Will your anger keep burning like fire?

Remember how short my life is.

Have you created everyone for nothing?

What courageous person can live and never see death?

Who can save himself from the power of Sheol?

Selah

Lord, where are the former acts of your faithful love

that you swore to David in your faithfulness?

Remember, Lord, the ridicule against your servants —

in my heart I carry abuse from all the peoples —

how your enemies have ridiculed, Lord,

how they have ridiculed every step of your anointed.

Blessed be the Lord forever.

Amen and amen.

BOOK IV

(Psalms 90–106)

Close

Hey, I thought David’s prayers ended with Book II!  Here in Psalm 86, David writes a personal lament, and as John MacArthur points out in his study notes, this distress was only overcome by praise and worship. 

I was just talking to a friend the other day about distress and regret…I suppose you could call it lament.  The problem with lament is that it is habit-forming.  In my experience, it can only be crowded out by gratitude.  I contend that it is physically impossible to allow sorrow to overtake us if we are grateful.  I’m not trying to say that David didn’t have good reason to be in distress, but I am applauding his example of turning to God and thanking Him even in the midst of that hardship.  You might try having a gratitude journal – or gratitude a notebook paper or a gratitude Post-It note – at the ready for these times to count your blessings.  It’s the perfect antidote for the doldrums.  

Don’t confuse the Rahab named in 87:4 with the Rahab who helped two Israelite spies have victory over Jericho.  Used here, Rahab is a name that refers to Egypt, just like Jacob is used to refer to Israel.  The enemies of Israel will someday, according to David, worship in Zion.  In other words, Jerusalem.  Furthermore, David is saying that it will hold great honor for one to be born in Jerusalem.  

I always want to hear from you.  If your study Bible sheds some light on these psalms, please share at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

See You Tomorrow!

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will by changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.