I. (86:1–7) Save Your Servant, Who Trusts in You. The beginning of the psalm is a general call for God’s attention and help, without specifying the nature of the “trouble”—that will come in the third section (vv. 14–17).

This stanza is filled with verbs making requests: “incline your ear,” “preserve my life,” “save,” “be gracious,” “gladden,” “give ear,” and “listen.” Most of these are followed by an explanatory clause, introduced by “for.” These explanations include the singer’s circumstances (v. 1), his record of faithful dependence (vv. 2–4), God’s revealed character (v. 5), and God’s reliability in answering prayer (v. 7). Of these, the longest is that in verse 5, which takes up the whole verse and does not have a request directly prior to it. This puts the focus on the assurance that comes from God’s character as revealed in the Torah (esp. Ex. 34:6, 9; cf. Ps. 86:13, 15). That is, in this desperate crisis the most important ground for asking help from God is his unyielding benevolence, which he has declared to be true of himself. Thus everyone who sings this prayer from the heart may be assured of God’s attention.

These verses use vivid imagery that captures what things feel like: in times of distress, it feels like one must cry out for God’s attention and request that he be gracious. Theological questions regarding God’s omniscience would get in the way; indeed, to the person who objects to such prayers with the argument that God needs no informing nor persuading, the only biblical reply is that offered by Fledge the Horse when Polly supposed Aslan would know of their need for food without being asked: “‘I’ve no doubt he would,’ said the Horse (still with his mouth full). ‘But I’ve a sort of idea he likes to be asked.’”562

II. (86:8–13) Praise to the Faithful and Majestic God. In the second section the singer offers up praise to the magnificent God whom he has petitioned for help and forgiveness. The praise comes in two parts: first he praises the Lord, who alone is God (vv. 8–10), and then he praises the Lord, who has shown his covenant kindness (“steadfast love”; vv. 12–13). In between is a prayer for his own moral growth (v. 11).

Verses 8–10 is primarily declaration. The thought moves from “There is none like you among the gods563” (i.e., there is none other who is worthy of worship) to a declaration of God’s uniqueness, “You alone are God” (i.e., God alone has done “wondrous things” for the sake of his people, and thus he alone is worthy of human adoration and trust).564 This is why the psalmist writes, “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you”: all human beings were made from the same source (Gen. 1:27) to know and love the one true God. God called Abraham so that his family would be the vehicle of bringing this knowledge to the rest of mankind after it had been lost; the OT looks forward to an era in which this will actually happen, and the NT authors claim that this era has begun with the resurrection of Jesus. The words of Psalm 86:9 are incorporated into a song in Revelation 15:4.

Psalm 86:11–14 indicates the right response to these declarations regarding God: loyalty, trust, and praise. The prayer “Teach me your way” (v. 11) uses the Bible’s regular picture of the moral course of one’s life as a “way” or path and one’s conduct as a “walk” or journey; the faithful person seeks instruction in the ways that please God in order to learn how better to “walk in [God’s] truth” (cf. 25:4–5, 8, 12; 27:11; 32:8). The prayer further asks, “Unite my heart”—that is, make it one, undivided in its loyalty—so that all of it can give thanks (86:12).565

The Lord is “great” (v. 10), and his “steadfast love” is especially great (v. 13). And just as one day all the nations will “glorify [God’s] name” (v. 9), so the faithful worshiper anticipates doing so even now (v. 12). The section closes with each worshiper’s reflection on how God has shown his great love in the ways he has “delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol” (cf. comment on 6:1–5 [at v. 5]).

III. (86:14–17) Save Me from the Insolent. The third section of the psalm explains the source of the trouble: “insolent men” and a “band of ruthless men,” “those who hate me” (vv. 14, 17). These people “do not set [God] before them”—they have no respect for God, and therefore it is not surprising that they seek the life of the faithful. (As indicated in the comment on 86:1–7, the psalm assumes its singers be faithful.)

The psalm assures the faithful that they need not despair. They have no grounds for worry that God would abandon them to enemies because of their sins, because God is “merciful and gracious” (Ex. 34:6). Therefore his faithful ones can trust him to forgive and to guard (cf. comment on 32:1–5 [at vv. 1–2]).

Therefore the psalm enables the singer to be bold and to finish by repeating his request, asking for a “sign of [God’s] favor” (Ps. 86:17). The psalm does not allow, however, the worshipers to gloat over the enemies; it goes on to ask that “those who hate [the singer] may see and be put to shame.” With these words the psalm envisions an outcome in which the enemies realize that the true God actually cares for the pious; perhaps these enemies will also realize they have relied on a false basis of hope, which may actually lead to their conversion. This lament does not, unlike most others, end with an affirmation of having been heard—but that confidence has been implicit throughout.