MERCY (Psalm 86)

One of the miniature railroad enthusiasts at our local 

county fair had this "perfect" winter display for our

enjoyment. Fun to look at--but not our real world.

(A continuing series on the 48 psalms recommended for reading and study during times of depression by counselor/pastor David Seamands, author of Healing for Damaged Emotions.)

Like a pep rally of almost galactic proportions, the frenzied shopping and hoopla that now seem to define the Christmas season will soon end. I’m probably in the minority but I vote for simplicity: less stuff, more of Jesus. Millions do not have what our culture considers the “normative” holiday. Disaster and discouragement dog each day. King David, who lived centuries before Christ, had his share of those days even after rightfully ascending the throne. When I began to study Psalm 86, realizing I’d unwrap its message right before Christmas, I thought how inappropriate. I was wrong.

This is the only psalm by David in the entire “Book III” of Psalms, the majority written by Asaph or other Levites who led worship. I can’t answer why except this is the way the ancients organized psalms. But as only God could arrange things, there is a Christmas message here:

All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord. They will bring glory to your name.  For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.  (vv. 9-10)

GLORY TO HIS NAME

On a bitter night in Bethlehem, a marvelous thing happened: God become flesh. Rough-and-tumble shepherds were the first visitors of a Baby who, though born into poverty, was an earthly descendant of King David. The infant’s birth was announced by angels, heralding that this was now (as Bible translator J.B. Phillips famously said) the visited planet. Later, a curious star led royal seers from far away. Some day, as David wrote, all nations will worship God alone.

David had no idea this was in the works when he wrote this psalm. Much of it reflects the message from the prophet Nathan to newly-enthroned King David, found in 2 Samuel 7 and often called the “Davidic Covenant.” It’s full of good and hopeful things, including this prophecy about Jesus:

Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.(2 Samuel 7:16)

This is a psalm about mercy. “Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I call to you all day long” (v. 3). “Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for mercy” (v. 6). David appealed to God to help him on the basis of God’s character. Consider circling verse 15:

But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. 

GOD-GIFTS

It’s easy to let lists like this fly over our heads, like kids fling wrapping paper on Christmas morning as they tear into their gift piles. But each of these qualities is a precious gift. When I am discouraged from negative circumstances or critical people, I find help in simply focusing on these qualities of God.  Even this morning, as I prayed for the person who has verbally abused me, God visited in simply bringing to mind the chorus of an old hymn written by George Young, a preacher and carpenter. One time when he was away preaching, some thugs who didn’t like his message burned down his humble home. Out of that experience he wrote the hymn “God Leads Us Along.” Its chorus reached across a century to cloak me with a sense of God’s care in my “cares”:

Some thro’ the water, some thro’ the flood,

Some thro’ the fire, but all thro’ the blood;

Some thro’ great sorrow, but God gives a song,

In the night season and all the day long.

It's not in the “Christmas” section of my hymnal, but it reminds me of God’s incomprehensible love for me—that He would send His Son to this messed-up planet to show us up-close what “mercy” really looks like. Glory to His Name. Blessed Christmas!