Psalm 86:11-17

David’s Prayer in the Midst of Persecution.

V. 11. Teach me Thy way, O Lord, pointing out how the believer may arrange his entire life in conformity with the will of Yahweh; I will walk in Thy truth, in line with the faithfulness of the covenant God; unite my heart to fear Thy name, uniting all the believer’s powers to give the Lord his whole, undivided heart in showing Him reverence by a life of sanctification.

V. 12. I will praise Thee, O Lord, my God, the All-powerful, with all my heart; and I will glorify Thy name forevermore, praising and proclaiming the perfections of God’s essence and attributes as revealed in His Word. V. 13. For great is Thy mercy, God’s unmerited favor, toward me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell, from the lowest regions of the realm of death, said of the extremely perilous situation in which David had found himself on account of the persecution of his enemies.

V. 14. O God, the proud, insolent, arrogant persons, are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men, a band of tyrants, have sought after my soul, to take his life, and have not set Thee before them, purposely ignoring Yahweh’s attributes and His holy will, lest they be kept from their wickedness.

V. 15. But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, as contrasted with the cruelty, insolence, and violence of the enemies, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth, as He Himself had testified when passing before the face of Moses, Ex. 34, 6. V. 16. O turn unto me, with His face full of divine favor, and have mercy upon me; give Thy strength, the divine power being the source of all the believer’s strength, unto Thy servant, and save the son of Thine handmaid, born into the inheritance of the children of God, possessing the blessings of the true worship of Yahweh from his birth.

V. 17. Show me a token for good, an evidence of divine favor, a special measure of His blessings, that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed, covered with shame on account of the favor of the Lord so manifestly resting upon the faithful; because Thou, Lord, hast holpen me and comforted me.

The same help and comfort on the part of God may freely be asked by all believers, for He is truly the God of everyone who puts his faith in Him.