You Are God Alone
Psalm 86:8-13
"Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds
can compare with yours. All the nations you have made will
come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For
you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Teach
me your way, Lord, that I may
rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear
your name. I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I
will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward
me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the
dead."
Many of the Psalms are prayers
crying out to God in times of trouble.
This is one of them. Though we
are never told exactly what “the day of trouble” is, it appears that the
psalmist is being attacked and in fear for his life. Throughout the psalm, and especially in the
first six verses there is the cry for help mixed with the attributing of
greatness and GRACE to God in relation to those who are His. Inherent in those attributes of God is the
humility of the psalmist in his relation to God. When the days of our troubles come, who do we
cry out for help? While many cry out “Oh
God, help me!”, few will see themselves so dependent on Him that they see
themselves as “poor and needy” every day, and even fewer can honestly stand
before God claiming to be His servant, devoted to him, trusting in Him as he
calls out and lifts his very soul to God all day long. But for those who have experienced salvation,
who have “tasted and seen that the Lord is good” (see Psalm 34:8), they can
come confidently before the Lord without fear knowing that He is forgiving and
good, abounding in love to all who call to Him.
Towards the end of the psalm (verse
14) we are given a clue as to the type of trouble the writer is facing. Enemies are attacking. These enemies are described as “men without
regard for [God]” meaning that they are not in the special relationship with
Him that the writer describes of himself in the first six verses. The psalmist beautifully describes the deliverance
sought as being completely and totally dependent on the gracious, compassionate
love and faithfulness of God. Any
strength given the psalmist will be from the mercy of God and the salvation
given will be both a sign of God’s goodness to the writer and a clear message
that the Lord is on his side and has delivered him, in this, the enemies will
be put to shame. It is a wonderful thing
to know the blessed relationship of sonship that we have in Christ when we
truly understand the gospel of GRACE. To
be able to approach God without fear of anger, understanding that there is
nothing but an incredible and constant flow of love and favor and mercy. In
Christ, we have salvation and are sealed with the Holy Spirit and the goodness
of God surrounds us. Surely goodness and
mercy follow us all the days of our lives and our enemies, which are under the
feet of Jesus are put to shame. The
psalmist cried out for help with the hope that we have as certainty that If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31).
The
heart of this Psalm describes the relationship between
God and the psalmist that gives him the ability to make the claims that he does
about himself and the declarations about God that he is so certain of. It gives the proper perspective of the Lord
and the acceptable position of all men before our creator. There is but one God and sovereign of all
creation. This is the starting place of
faith. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the
Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10).
Recognizing the awesomeness of God and that no one or nothing can compare
with God. One day all the nations, which
God himself has made, will bow down and worship Him to the glory of His
name. This will be willingly or
unwillingly but it is a fact that the psalmist knew just as certainly as the
apostle Paul knew it when he wrote, “Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on
earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). The Lord God is great and awesome and He
alone is God.
If this is God, what is man’s proper standing before
Him? The psalmist recognizes that there
is but one way to go and that is to ask the Lord to teach him His ways, His
ways are truth. Jesus said “I am the
way, the truth and the life” He is the light and to know His ways and to walk
in the light is how we should desire to live.
Man however continuously falls short of walking in the ways that they
ought to and even to love God will all their heart. This was true for the psalmist as much as it
is true for us today. The psalmist asked
for an “undivided heart” so that he could fear God and praise His name
glorifying Him forever. His intent was
good as is the intent of many well-meaning Christians who remain in a cycle of
asking for strength to “do right” and have an undivided heart only to find
themselves failing, seeking repentance and then trying harder next time.
Unfortunately this brings such condemnation and guilt that it becomes harder
and harder with each cycle to begin again due to the shame one feels. The better way is the way of GRACE. John wrote, “This is love:
not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). When we
recognize God’s incredible love for us and the Gift of no condemnation that we
receive in Christ Jesus, there is no longer a pressure to have a perfectly
undivided heart with a fear that we will be rejected. God’s love is perfect love and perfect love
casts out all fear (see 1 John 4:18). When we know God’s perfect love, we are free
to love Him in return, not out of obligation but out of response. Not out of fear but because we are so loved
by Him that we can’t help but fall in love with Him more and more each
day. In our own strength, even with the
best intentions our love will be imperfect, praise God His love towards is
absolutely perfect. He loves us! He loves me!
He loves you! Who are we that He
would deliver us from death while we were yet sinners? Who are we that He
remains mindful of us daily and pour GRACE upon GRACE on us and show us such favor. This is GRACE and this is life in
Christ. In days of trouble and in days
of comfort, I will trust in the Lord and praise, worship and honor Him for He
is Greatly to be praised.
Pastor Tony
Freedom Church, USA
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