'Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me; for I am poor and needy. 2.
Preserve my soul, for I am holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant
that trusteth in Thee. 3. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry
unto Thee daily. 4. Rejoice the soul of Thy servant: for unto Thee,
O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5. For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready
to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon
Thee.'--PSALM lxxxvi. 1-5.
We have here a sheaf of arrows out of a good man's quiver, shot into
heaven. This series of supplications is remarkable in more than one
respect. They all mean substantially the same thing, but the Psalmist
turns the one blessing round in all sorts of ways, so great does it seem
to him, and so earnest is his desire to possess it. They are almost all
quotations from earlier psalms, just as our prayers are often words of
Scripture, hallowed by many associations, and uniting us with the men of
old who cried unto God and were answered.
The structure of the petitions is remarkably uniform. In each there are
a prayer and a plea, and in most of them a direct invocation of God. So
I have thought that, if we put them all together now, we may get some
lessons as to the invocations, the petitions, and the pleas of true
prayer; or, in other words, we may be taught how to lay hold of God,
what to ask from Him, and how to be sure of an answer.