Desperate

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Psalm 86:1  

With these words David expresses his deep dependence upon God.  “Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.”  

What?  David is poor and needy?  Isn’t David the king of Israel?  Isn’t David wealthy and powerful beyond words?  Is David not king over Israel at the height of Israel’s glory?  

Yes, David is king.  So how can he cry out, “I am poor and needy”?  

David refers not to financial poverty, but spiritual poverty.  This is poverty of spirit.  This is the first beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  

This is the first beatitude because it is the basic beatitude.  This is where our relationship with God begins, with dependence, with humility, with our deep sense of need for God.  

David is saying,Lord, how I need you.  I’m totally dependent upon you.  If you don’t deliver me, I have no chance.  If you don’t rescue me, I’m sunk.  O God, hear my prayer.  Hear and answer. The word for this is desperate.  David is desperate for God.  

Do you feel this way?  Do you feel desperate for God? Lord, if you don’t intervene, I’m sunk!  

Jackson Senyonga is a pastor in Uganda who has seen revival and transformation in his country.   On his trips to the U.S. he has commented:  “You in America are not desperate enough.  You are addicted to a spirit of ease and comfort.”  

O Lord, help us in America to realize how desperate we really are.