The Hardest Prayer to Answer (Psalm 86:5-7)
- Candice Watters
- 10 hours ago
- 4 min read
[For] you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. ⁶Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. ⁷In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me. —Psalm 86:5-7
Last week one of our sons suffered a foot injury while mowing a friend’s yard. It sent him to the ER, upended his summer plans, and put his college scholarship in jeopardy for the fall. This is no small trial for him. He quickly rose to the top of our prayer list, with urgent pleas for healing, for effective treatment, for wisdom about work, for help. This has been a week for feeling our weakness.
Enter Psalm 86:5-7. Surely David felt the urgency of prayer as he fled from Saul, lived in caves, and spent years—after being anointed as Israel’s king—in hiding.
In the midst of asking God to preserve his life, to be gracious to him, and to save him (vv. 2-3), notice where David based his plea. In the day of very great troubles, David grounded his confidence that God would answer him on His goodness and forgiveness.
I have prayed for many urgent things in the days since our son’s injury. I am trusting that it is one of the things God will work for his good (Romans 8:28). But in my pleas for help as I drove to the ER, I didn’t think to begin by praising God for His forgiveness. How often do we start there when we cry out to God with pressing needs?
If we even remember God’s forgiveness in our moments of crisis, it may not be much more than: I’m really thankful, God, for your forgiveness, but what I really need is healing from this disease, a job, financial rescue. What I really long for is a husband (or a wife), a baby, or help with my fracturing relationships.
David’s declaration that “you, O Lord, are good and forgiving” is no throwaway line. It shouldn’t be for us, either. For those who are forgiven, the trials we endure are not for punishment. Jesus already suffered that in our place on the cross. Instead, God plans our lives—every single thing that occurs—for our good. Earthly troubles can feel ultimate. But while they are urgent, they are not most important. We have no greater need than to be forgiven by God.
It’s hard enough for one person to forgive another. In human relationships, no matter the conflict, it’s always one sinner forgiving another. God, however, is not like us. He is perfect; there is no sin in Him (1 John 1:5). When we go to Him for forgiveness, we are the only sinner in the conversation. God, who is “of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13), looks at Jesus suffering the punishment for our sins on the cross. This is how He forgives.
There is no greater, more costly, gift.
God Himself made a way to answer our greatest need and our hardest prayer: forgive me. He sent His Son to take on human flesh and suffer infinite humiliation so that we might be saved and reconciled to Him. Jesus opens eternity to us, the place David described saying: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
God has already done what is most difficult—“He did not spare His own son, but gave Him up for us all.” This is why we can pray with confidence that He is able to do every lesser thing according to His will: “how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32). And we can know with certainty that His will, no matter how painful, is for our good (Romans 8:28).
David started his request by praising God for doing the most difficult, most valuable thing: forgiving him. Then he cried out to God for help with his imminent troubles, the circumstances that threatened his life.
If you are in Christ, God has forgiven you. No matter how urgent today’s needs are, there is no greater answer to prayer. Whatever troubles you are facing today, praise God that He has forgiven you. And cry out to the Lord who hears. Make your request with confidence, remembering that He has already done the hardest thing.
For Reflection
When you face hardships, suffering, or trauma, worldly sentiment says, “you don’t deserve that.” But God’s Word tells us what we actually deserve because of our sin (Romans 1:18-20).
Praise God that He doesn't give us what we deserve: “For the wages of sin is death,” but instead offers what we could never earn: “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Give thanks to God for His forgiveness in Christ and make your requests known to Him with the faith of a child in the arms of a loving heavenly Father.
Candice Watters is the editor of Fighter Verses and contributor to Truth78's webinars. She and her husband, Steve, lead the VBS ministry for their church in Louisville, KY. They are the co-authors of Start Your Family: Inspiration for Having Babies. They have three sons, one daughter, and one daughter-in-law.
