Psalm 86:1-2a Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy.
Do you have anything for which you are praying today? Why should God answer any of your prayers? That is a very basic question, but it is an important one if we are in any way depending upon God to answer our prayers? If we are not depending upon God to answer our prayers, the outlook is bleak indeed. But, if you are praying, why should God answer of your prayers?
Psalm 86:1-2 sheds some light upon this question. The psalmist says, “Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy.” He says, “Hear me.” Why? There are two reasons: “for I am poor and needy” and “for I am holy.” We tend to think of these as contradictory things. Either you are holy, really spiritual with no needs so your prayers are just a matter of exhibiting your discipline and spirituality, or you are poor and needy, you need help, know it, and ask God for it. These are not in conflict. These are actually two reasons.
So, why should God answer your prayers? First, you are needy. That may not sound like an answer in and of itself, but it is a matter of God’s nature. The psalmist says elsewhere, “O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.” In verse 2 the psalmist calls himself “God’s servant.” In verses 6-7 he says, “Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.”
To be sure, God doesn’t answer our prayers because we are noble. He answers our prayers because we are needy, we acknowledge it, and it is His nature to answer prayer, to be the provider. We want to be noble because of our prayers. We want people to think we are spiritual because we pray. I don’t pray because I am good; I pray because I am not. I don’t pray because I am capable; I pray because I need help.
On Christmas break back in the old days, I would go skiing on occasion, and as a young twentysomething I half hoped that I would break my leg. Then, when I went back to school on crutches, people would say, “Wil, what happened to you?” I would reply, “Well, I was going down a gnarly, black double-diamond run at Jackson Hole when I tried to launch Corbet’s Couloir and I broke my leg.” That makes me a hero. I am noble because I broke my leg. The bottom line is that you don’t pray because you are noble; you pray because you are not. You pray because you are needy. Until you acknowledge that, you won’t have your prayers answered.
Second, God answers prayer because you are His. Verse 2 says, “Preserve my soul: for I am holy.” The word does carry the idea of pious, but not in the way we generally think of. The point here is, “God, you are holy and I belong to You.” The psalmist calls himself “God’s servant” in verse 2. In verse 16 he says, “Give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.”
I remember hearing an interview some time ago. I don’t remember what the discussion was about, but the person being interviewed had the audacity to invoke God in some way. The anchor said, “So, you think you have a monopoly on God?” The idea being, “Who are you to say what God would want?” No one is to say what God would want. God has given His Word. We don’t need to wonder about God’s character. That has been made crystal clear.
The question is not, “Do you have a monopoly on God?” It would be very simple and ignorant to think you have a monopoly on God. God is the God of the whole earth. Psalm 86:9 tells us that all nations are a creation of God. What you should ask is, “Does God have a monopoly on me?” You see, God doesn’t answer because we are great; He answers because we are His. You are needy and you are God’s. The real question is, “To what extent do you acknowledge these two things to be true?” Are you needy and do you know it? Do you belong to God and do you show it?