Commonplace –
“Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy” (Psalm 86:1).
God is amazing! Currently, I am working through a church wide prayer guide. Today is about seeking the Lord. Psalm 86 just ‘happened’ to be the next psalm on my list. So, for this specific day, when I am going through a guide, which I had nothing to do with creating, the devotional is about prayer. And, for this specific day, when I am just continuing through the psalms in order, I have a psalm all about prayer. It’s easy to consider this convergence between what the guide is suggesting and what the psalm is providing as coincidence. But God, friends. But God! He is pointing me to making prayer my first response in all situations, and He has provided a prayer, which Matthew Henry calls a prayer for use “especially in a day of affliction” (Henry 460).
Per Matthew Henry,
“This psalm was published under the title of a prayer of David; not as if David sung all his prayers, but into some of his songs he inserted prayers; for a psalm will admit the expressions of any pious and devout affections. But it is observable how very plain the language of this psalm is, and how little there is in it of poetic flights or figures, in comparison with some other psalms; for the flourishes of wit are not the proper ornaments of prayer” (Henry 460-461).
How aptly Henry notes that ‘flourishes of wit are not the proper ornaments of prayer’. This plain language is seen from the very outset of the psalm. The psalmist asks the Lord to lend his ear, because he, the psalmist, is poor and needy.
It reminds me very much of the Lord’s prayer and the counsel, which Jesus offered to the disciples in regard to prayer in Matthew 6.
“But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking, Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knowest what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8).
After this counsel, Jesus gives the Lord’s prayer. It is a simple prayer without ‘flourishes of wit’.
Praising God for this timely counsel in my own prayer life.
Works Cited
Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 86.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.
Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.
© 2025 Angela Hormberg
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