The mercy of God is such a tremendous and all-embracing theme that it applies to virtually every area of life. There are four applications that we cannot afford to miss.
When Moses began to pray, his first request was that he might know God. He had been with God on the mountain twice for forty days at a time, but he still yearned to know God better: "If I have found favor in your eyes, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you" (Exod. 33:13). This is a petition every Christian should make often. If we are Christians, we know God partially already. But every one of us needs to know God better. This is what David was praying about when he asked God to teach him his "ways.”
David's prayer incorporated arguments why God should answer him. Yesterday we looked at arguments based on David and David's need. Today we examine four reasons based on God and God's character.
What are David's requests? There are a lot of them, fifteen in all, as I said yesterday. He asks God to "hear” and "answer” (v. 1), "guard" and "save" (v. 2), "have mercy" (v. 3), "bring joy" (v. 4), "hear” and "listen" (v. 6), "teach me" and "give me an undivided heart" (v. 11), "turn," "have mercy," "grant...strength" and "save" (v. 16), and "give me a sign of your goodness” (v. 17). Most of these requests have to do with his perilous circumstances, which is what he develops in the last stanza. We may remember that there is hardly a psalm of David's that does not mention his enemies and ask God's help in delivering him from their attacks and stratagems.
There are psalms of David in every book of the Psalter, but we have come near the end of the Psalter's third book and have not had a psalm of David, until now. And characteristic of David, it is an appeal for mercy based on the character of God.
