Appeal For Compassion

Appeal for Compassion

Psalms 86

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

“7 When I am in distress, I call to You, because You answer me.”

The Oxford English Dictionary defines distress as “extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain.” When faced with unchangeable tribulations feelings of terror grip our very souls. Especially acute is our sense of hopelessness when we muster up enough strength and courage to ask advice from a spouse, parent, brother, sister or friend only to hear “crickets,” mere sympathy, or suggestions that have zero probability of success! O if we would only seek council from our Sovereign God instead of from the foolish “dust of the earth” we would find mercy, escape or be given the strength to endure our tribulations with joy! While today’s passage is a prayer from King David to be rescued from his enemies it is also is a beautiful template on how to seek and find mercy from God when faced with overwhelming difficulties and turbulent seas of tribulations. Using a series of imperative verbs such as hear, answer, guard, show, save, teach, faith and trust; David humbly pleaded for mercy from God based on His sovereignty and character. This sermon is intended to show how one can cry out and receive mercy from the One who knit, shapes and sustains our very souls!

Vanity of Thoughtless Prayers

When the walls come tumbling in and one finds oneself in the darkest of valleys how does one ask a Sovereign God for aid and comfort? While prayer should be as natural as breathing, for it is the “central avenue which God uses to transform us,” the manner and attitude in which one addresses a holy God often gets overlooked. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told the crowd that God is not interested in long prayers that “babble” or ones that contain “Christianese” language to impress others with one’s superior theology (Matthew 6:5-8). Floods of words according to Spurgeon are often used in prayers to mask an unbelieving heart! Since pride goes before the fall (Proverbs 16:18) and creation has no right to command her Creator to dance when the pipes of prayer are sounded (Matthew 11:17), approaching the Throne of Grace in prayer without an attitude of humility is at best futile and at worst invites God’s wrath. Also, since it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6), praying with an attitude of doubt will result in receiving nothing from God (James 1:5-8). Lets now turn our attention to how important it is for Christians to pray with an attitude of humility, faith and trust in Jesus.

Praying with a Humble Heart

David did not start off his petition “arguing that God owed him anything” but with the humble words, “hear me, Lord, answer me for I am poor and needy” (verse 1, NIV). Instead of foolishly pleading for rights based on his accomplishments, David humbly pleaded with God to “bow down His ear” (verse 1, NKJV) so that the dust and worm of the earth might plead his case to a holy God! Even though David was a somebody, i.e. an earthly king, he admitted that he was poor, feeble and incapable of doing anything or being saved apart from the aid of his sovereign God! Being humble like David is not easy for giving up our “deadly confidence in self” or our “cursed trust” in the council of the ungodly (Palms 1) does not come naturally. Let me tell you the story of the “sin of our imagination:”

“After a minister had preached a searching sermon on pride, a woman who had heard the sermon waited upon him and told him that she was in much distress of mind, and that she would like to confess to a great sin. The minister asked her what the sin was. She answered, “The sin of pride, for I sat for an hour before my mirror some days ago admiring my beauty.” “Oh,” responded the minister, “that was not a sin of pride—that was a sin of imagination!” - C. E. Macartney

While there is nothing wrong in imagining or developing possible solutions to life-problems, it is arrogant to think that we alone can control the unknown future. God loves His children to humbly approach His mercy seat and cry out “I need You help me please my Father God!” Humility is the fertile ground in which God invites us to give Him our yokes in exchange for burdens that are truly easy and light (Matthew 11:29-30)!

Praying by Faith

The author of Hebrews defines faith as being “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (11:1). When it comes to receiving mercy from our sovereign God, having faith is critical! According to Scripture Jesus was not able to do any miracles in His hometown because they lacked faith (13:58). Without faith it is “impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). If we are to receive the promise of mercy and an easy yoke from God, then our faith in God must be “personally lived.” Spurgeon used the following illustration to show the connection between God’s promised mercy and faith as follows: