Are you there, God?

Captain Tracy Collis discovers the possibility of moving from crisis to confidence.

Key text

Psalm 86

The 2023 film Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, tells the story of a 12-year-old girl’s awkward journey into puberty. Born into a family of mixed faith, Margaret takes on a school project exploring religion. She attempts to speak to God, although she’s not quite sure whether he exists, listens to our prayers and, if he does answer, what he can do. The film concludes with her thanking God for answering her prayers in unexpected ways.

Psalm 86 begins with a similar longing: ‘Hear me, Lord, and answer me.’ The psalmist is in trouble: ‘Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God; ruthless people are trying to kill me’ (v14). He fears for his life and cries to God for deliverance: ‘Guard my life, for I am faithful to you’ (v2).

It is a heartfelt outpouring of wants and needs, a crying out because of external forces, which are affecting the author’s trust in God. With elements of desperation and praise, this psalm of David perhaps reflects the many ups and downs of Christian life.

Pause and reflect

Have there been periods in your faith when you have felt that God is not hearing your prayers?
How do you balance this feeling with the sentiments expressed in Proverbs 15:29?

If we are earnest in our prayers and there is still pain in the world, we might question why we bother to pray at all. In his book Prayer, Philip Yancey writes of a reason that Jesus spent so much time praying: ‘He turned to prayer both as a refuge from mewling crowds and a reminder of his true home, a place that had no room for evil, pain and death.’

Psalm 86 may reflect the author’s need for clarity, comfort and compassion in equal measures. It is, perhaps, a reflection of the writer’s feelings of distance, confusion and faith. At times, we might feel the same, wondering whether prayer is heard and answered, while at the same time understanding that connecting with God is our heart coming home.

The psalm travels through four sections, moving from crying out (see vv1 and 2) to requests (see vv3–7), finding confidence in God’s character (see vv8–10) and, finally, to praise (see vv12–17). David describes a transformative, poetic journey from darkness to light, as – among his cry to be heard – he remembers God’s faithfulness.

Pause and reflect

Do you turn to God only when you feel you are in need?
How can we ensure that our prayers are not a one-way list of our wants, but are more about God?

In verse 1, the psalmist states: ‘For I am poor and needy.’ Normally, being poor and needy is seen as a negative aspect of life – a sign of weakness, vulnerability, inadequacy, poverty and loss. Jesus, though, calls those who are poor in spirit ‘blessed’ (Matthew 5:3). The opening of the psalmist’s conversation with God is a mixture of faith and need, blessings and affirmation. Above all, it is honest. He is not hiding behind a mask. He is being truthful. Worship in the truest form, according to Jesus, is ‘in the Spirit and in truth’ (John 4:23).

Hebrews 4:16 confirms that we are all in need of God’s grace and mercy. The psalmist may be requesting to be heard, not only because of what is happening around him, but also as part of his own needs and his knowledge and experience of God’s abounding love to him in the past.

A Christian’s relationship with God requires them to be continually teachable.

It could be concluded that if – as Tom Wright suggests in Finding God in the Psalms – we do not pray to God but with God, then when we pray we consciously join God in his presence. Seen in this light, Psalm 86 is not so much a crying out to God to be heard and answered. Rather, it is the start of a conversation, as the psalmist connects, inhabits God’s time and space, and speaks as a child to their father. He is hoping and looking to be heard, explaining all that is going on in his life, outlining the facts, expressing his feelings and seeking the reassurance of the loving parent who is truly there for him. It is as though the psalmist recognises what God can do and, like a boasting child telling the playground bully what his dad can do, tells God so.

Pause and reflect

If we consider prayer to be time spent with a loving father rather than the presentation of desires, how might our requests to be heard change?
As God is ‘forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call’ (v5) to him, does he hear and answer our prayers without our asking?

The continued requests to be heard remind God of the psalmist’s faithfulness and need for mercy, outlining that he is prepared to be taught to strengthen his faith (v11). Likewise, a Christian’s relationship with God requires them to be continually teachable. As Salvation Army doctrine nine states, ‘continuance in a state of salvation depends on continued obedient faith in Christ’.

The concluding verse of the psalm requests a sign of God’s goodness so that others may see and be shamed. To quell our doubts, we might desire for God to show his presence physically – we might think it would be easier for God to show himself and prove his existence once and for all. However, this would mean we that have no need for faith, prayer or spiritual growth.

An immediate ‘hear me, Lord, and answer me’ might be what we desire, but God knows when and how to answer our requests in his own time.