Psalm 86 is a source of joy and encouragement. It is an encouragement because it is based on truth. It is founded in the truth of a real, personal, imminent and transcendent God. It is based on the revealed truth of the God who exists. It is founded on the fact that our God has power over all things because He created it. The truth is that this God is the Lord and Master of all including each of us.
The psalmist would not have had hope if this god was a god conceived in his own mind. A god that a human could think up would be limited by the scope of the human’s imagination. This god would always have limitations for he would be restricted to the scope of knowledge of the one doing the imagining. This god would not be an encouragement for he would always fail when the mind was weak.
The reason I am sharing this is because Psalm 86 is a real source of joy because there is an all-powerful God who exists and has revealed himself to mankind. He is Yahweh, the existent one. He is Elohim, the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe. He is Adonai, the good and loving Lord and Master who deserves respect, glory and praise.
This week I was reading a Facebook thread that was quite controversial. Many people attempted to lend authority to their ideas by using the idea of a god. The problem was that many people argued based on a god they had made up in their own mind. They said things like, “Well if your God would do that I want nothing to do with him. My God is loving and would never do that” and “In my heart I know God does not think that”.
If we are going to find true joy and encouragement it must be in a true God, not one we make up. The only way to know the true God is to learn from the revealed truth He Himself has given us. The information we need to find joy and peace is outside of us and beyond us. The only way we can know it is if we receive it from the One with the knowledge and truth.
As I read through Psalm 86, I realize the author knew God through His revealed Word, the Holy Scriptures. I want to know this God, the One, who listens, who saves His servants, the God whose works are great. I desire to have a personal relationship with this God, the One, who is true and truly exists. I can know Him and understand Him through His revealed Truth, The Word of God, The Holy Bible.