Psalm 86

A prayer of David.

1 Hear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my God; save your servant who trusts in you.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, O LORD; listen to my cry for mercy.
7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD , and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.
14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God; a band of ruthless men seeks my life men without regard for you.
15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant.
17 Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
There is an old hymn of the faith called “Tell Me the Story of Jesus” written by Frances J. Cosby that I am reminded of when I read verse eleven. The refrain of this song:
Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard
reminds me of the way of God that David wrote about in all his psalms. David look forwarded to the Savior, but we are so much more richer since we now have the story of Jesus in your life. David’s desire was to walk in God’s way and to walk in his truth. We should have the same love in sharing the story of Jesus that David had for studying God’s way. By sharing the story of Jesus to those around us, we will be more inclined to live this type of a blameless walk that David wrote about in Psalm 15. Paul’s writings also encouraged us to make our walk blameless before others:
1. 1 Corinthians 1:8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
3. Ephesians 5:27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
4. Philippians 1:10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,
5. Philippians 2:15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe
6. 1 Thessalonians 2:10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.
7. 1 Thessalonians 3:13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
8. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In this psalm David also refers to himself as your servant. To truly be devoted to God we must become a servant to God just as David refers to in verse two. To gain a better understanding of the concept of this type of servant see my comments to Psalm 40. By being a servant of God two things will occur, God’s presence will be in your life and the wicked will stand against you.
In the daily reading of the Psalms today we start the devotional time with this Psalm and end with Psalm 90. In Psalm 86 David wrote “Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” These words bring to life the key to living a Christian life which is found in Psalms one. This fact is also found in Psalms 90:12 as Moses wrote “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”. Teach me God is a prayer that we need to pray more in our daily walk.