Psalm 86

 “I am poor and needy.”

Jesus said in Luke 6:20, “Blessed are you who are poor.” Can you embrace that message? It is a new way of thinking. He goes on to give His reasoning, “for yours is the kingdom of God.”

Worldliness will not allow for this kind of blessing. Godliness receives the fact of poverty, and the more general truth of our neediness, and looks to God for supply. Supply may come today, but supply will surely come. Godliness believes in the promise of God. “Yours is the kingdom of God.”

Godliness is honest about today's need, trusts in God, and calls out to Him.

God's love is steadfast. He is good. He is very forgiving. Remember the cross? Jesus will not abandon you in your time of trouble. You can call out to Him, and He will answer you.

“Jesus knows our every weakness.” You can approach Him with that confidence. He knows everything, but He knows weakness as someone who experienced the depths of it. The words “I am poor and needy” are not only something He hears when you say them. They are His own experience. He is able to understand your trouble as one who carried your sorrows on the cross.

His intercession for you is powerful. According to His perfect love for you, He has both sympathy for your weakness and salvation for your deliverance.

Jesus is the God-King of Israel. It should be a very natural thing for His people to call out to Him as their Messiah. Yet it was the intention of the God of the Jews that the reign of His Son would extend far beyond the descendants of Jacob.

There is no other god that could say with credibility to a person in need, “Yours is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus said these words, and then proved His claim through His own resurrection and ascension. He reigns as the true Son of God from the Jerusalem that is above. All the nations shall glorify His Name.

It has been granted to you not only to believe in His Name, but to follow Him, even in your present suffering. He has given you His Word and Spirit to guide you along the path that He has for you.

The pathway of life that Jesus has for His disciples is a way of sincere devotion and obedience. He will teach us the way of the cross. This good road leads to the city of light, where Christ shines forever. Consider where you have come from, the city of darkness, and where you are going, the celestial city! God will help you today in your greatest need.

The life of dependence upon the Almighty does not deny the reality of trouble. But God is stronger than every enemy, even death. Through the death of His Son for you, death was defeated. You can call upon His Name now. He is merciful and gracious.

“I am poor and needy.”

Ask Him to save you in your poverty and in your great need. Ask Him to grant to you a sign of His eternal favor today. Ask the One who loves you with an everlasting love to comfort you and help you in this present hour.