BackgroundThe only Davidic psalm in Book III, almost entirely woven from quotations of earlier Davidic psalms; David is in trouble from "arrogant men" (v14) and prays in language he has prayed before, stitching this prayer together from prayers he already knew.
Psalm 86: An Undivided Heart
A prayer of David.
By Bea Zalel
Psalm 86
A prayer of David.
- Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
- Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You are my God; save Your servant who trusts in You.
- Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I call to You all day long.
- Bring joy to Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
- For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You.
- Hear my prayer, O LORD, and attend to my plea for mercy.
- In the day of my distress I call on You, because You answer me.
- O Lord, there is none like You among the gods, nor any works like Yours.
- All the nations You have made will come and bow before You, O Lord, and they will glorify Your name.
- For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God.
- Teach me Your way, O LORD, that I may walk in Your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.
- I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever.
- For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.
- The arrogant rise against me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life; they have no regard for You.
- But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.
- Turn to me and have mercy; grant Your strength to Your servant; save the son of Your maidservant.
- Show me a sign of Your goodness, that my enemies may see and be ashamed; for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
Theme
Read this psalm with a concordance and you will see something striking: nearly every line echoes another psalm. Verse 4 echoes Psalm 25:1. Verse 7 echoes Psalm 17:6. Verse 12 echoes Psalm 9:1. Verse 13 echoes Psalm 56:13. Verse 14 echoes Psalm 54:3. Scholars sometimes call Psalm 86 a "mosaic prayer," a quilt of pieces from prayers David had already learned to pray. This is not laziness. It is the deep wisdom of a praying life: when you do not know what to say, you reach for the words you have prayed before, the words other believers have prayed before, and you let them carry you. Anyone who has ever leaned on the Lord's Prayer at a sickbed, or on Psalm 23 at a graveside, knows the gift of borrowed words.
The center of the psalm is verse 11: "Teach me your way, LORD, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name." The Hebrew literally asks for a "yachad" heart, a unified, gathered, single heart. David is honest enough to know his heart wants to fear God and also wants to fear other things, wants to obey and also wants to spare himself, wants God's way and also wants its results without its costs. He is not asking God to install obedience; he is asking God to gather his heart into one piece. This is the cry of every honest believer between the moment of conversion and the resurrection. James 4:8 picks up the same language when it tells the "double-minded" to be made single.
Notice how the psalm also takes Israel's covenant name for God and presses it into personal prayer. Verse 15 lifts almost word for word from Exodus 34:6: "compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in hesed and faithfulness." David is not inventing language; he is invoking the self-revelation of God at Sinai and saying, in effect, be that God for me now. A first-temple worshiper hearing this psalm would have caught the Sinai echo and would have recognized that David is not asking for special favor but for God to be himself toward the praying servant. The whole psalm models how to pray when your own words run out: borrow Israel's words, borrow Sinai's words, and trust that prayer is older and bigger than your present trouble.
Discussion questions
- Psalm 86 is almost entirely stitched from earlier Davidic psalms. What does that tell us about the legitimacy of "borrowed prayer" when our own words fail?
- Why is this the only Davidic psalm in Book III, surrounded by Korahite, Asaphite, and Ezrahite psalms? What might the editors be saying by placing it here?
- The Hebrew of verse 11 asks for a "yachad" (unified, single) heart. Where does your own heart feel divided right now?
- James 4:8 calls believers "double-minded" and tells them to be made single. How does verse 11 anticipate that New Testament concern?
- Verse 15 quotes Exodus 34:6 nearly word for word. Why does the psalmist appeal to God's own self-description rather than making new arguments?
- What is the difference between asking God to make you obey and asking God to gather your heart into one piece?
- David is in real trouble from "arrogant men" (v14). How does he hold both the threat and his trust together in the same prayer?
- Try praying this psalm by underlining every line that echoes a phrase you have heard before. What does that exercise feel like?
- Verse 11 also asks God to "teach me your way." What is the difference between knowing God's way intellectually and being taught it as a learner?
- When you pray, do you tend to use your own fresh words, borrowed words from Scripture, or some combination? Why?
Read this psalm in another translation
The inline text above is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Open in a new tab to compare with a modern licensed translation: