Devotional Short Note to Psalm 86: In this Psalm David did what so many who have written books do, they cite here and there from their books in order to give a helpful tool to the public to solve a problem that may be existent or may come up in the near future.

Just like in Psalm 70:6b and Psalm 40:18a David is saying that he is “poor and needy”. David was very wealthy and lacked nothing in materialism, capital or property. His poverty was spiritual. It is the greatest agony for a human to be spiritual poor. Blindness prevents people from seeing their own condition and God permits or allows people to be deceived by themselves for they chose to be that way. It takes a miracle to see one’s true condition and it needs prayer to solve it. David is praying.

One cannot miss the Davidic style in the Psalm. David is fond of using an emphasizing independent pronoun together with the name of God: “You my God” (86:2b); “You my Lord” (86:5a); “You are great” (86:10a); “You are God alone” (86:10b); “and You my Lord” (86:15a); “for You Lord” (86:17c). Just like in Psalm 51:5a where David emphasized “I, I know my transgressions”. The emphasized “I” that was sinful has disappeared in David’s life and the uplifted “You” of his Savior took prominence in Psalm 86. That is why David calls himself “chasid = godly” (86:2a). He is wrapped-up by the Rigtheousness of Christ and that is godly human being. Still human, still can die, still up for any tragedy and suffering and pain, but godly because he is a treasure of the Almighty.

This Psalm is not one of agony in sin as was Psalm 51 in his condition of godforsakeness. It is all over. Only the saint’s mind is in heavenly things and walking with God, the body is still here on earth surrounded with pain, tragedy, sufferings and the wicked around.

David does not endorse pluralism. I feel sorry for societies that enforce upon their citizens to embrace, support, recognize, and emphasize religious pluralism on an equal stand with true religion. Why do we bring this up in a note on David’s Psalm? Because that is what David encountered in his day. Pluralism and paganism around him and the pressure by his own countrymen sometimes were that there is no difference between God and the gods around them. Just before we want to tap ourselves on the back that we do not live with those constraints in the twenty-first century A.D. and that the Bible is locked in its own period, we need to think again. Every generation brought with it the same set of sins that governed their societies and sin did not change, it just comes in new fashions and new designs, technologically upgraded or digi-sins, but they are sins and in principle no different from any other generation. A secular society has a secular constitution based originally on biblical prooftexts that tries to keep to a kind of “secular theology” minus God or mention of the Trinity. Equality of race, color, culture, also include religion in their design. What originally meant that people should not persecute others with a different religion became in our days under the term “hatespeech” any nuance or opinion showing that another religion is problematic. There is a difference between discrimination and distinction. This difference became eroded in California so that a Seventh-day Adventist professor there told me that it is dangerous for him to say that the pope is the Antichrist due to vicarius filii dei = 666 as Revelation 13:11-18 indicates. Dangerous? This Psalm is about danger with enemies “the company of violent men have sought after my soul, and have not set You before them” (86:14). There is a distinction between David and them since David acknowledge God, the living only one and they not since they are open to images and other religions of their pleasure. A report over the fight between Buddhists and Islam in Myamar for example has it that since 2012 the new government work for pluralism and they want to persecute anyone who do not want to work for pluralism but insist on particularism.

David knows of a time when all nations shall come to prostrate themselves not before a list of gods or a pantheon in heaven but the one God, his God (86:9). It will be in the eschaton and also all faithful believers from different nations, not just a conglomerate of round-ups with different religions. Sorry ecumenism. Do not read into the text that is not there.

This whole excurs is necessary since the problem is that agencies are working to implement pluralism in schools, societies, and even in churches and the purpose is to de-doctrinalize the churches. Make them artificial, superficial and message-less so that it does not matter what you believe or to what group you belong: all roads lead to Rome. To be tolerant is to be kind and it implies to be accomodationistic to the point that there is a total discouragement of proselytism or evangelism. If laws are taking away your freedom of expression of your distinctions and other religions’ failure to come up to your own standard then those laws are persecuting tools in society. If you can be taken to court for what and when you say something with bona fide intentions, building your own theological views or church and it is interpreted or allocated by law as mala fide and wrong, then the law is persecuting. To stand in front of another denomination’s church and scream how bad they are, is wrong. This is not proselytizing and not evangelism either.

David asked to be taught by the Lord His way so that he can walk in His truth (86:11). God has a way and God has a truth. Truth is not either in the Scripture or in the Holy Spirit as one professor said, it is according to the Bible in the text and in the Spirit with the Spirit not saying anything in contradiction of what is in the text. The professor was trying to embrace homosexuality admitting that the biblical text condemns it but saying that the Holy Spirit tells him it is right. A red card is out by Seventh-day Adventists. Truth is in the Bible and the Holy Spirit leads you into the whole Truth, thus back to the Bible.

David knows of deliverance from God namely that his soul was delivered from the Sheol (86:13).

David is worried that the proud is risen-up against him (86:14).

God is slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and truth (86:15). That does not mean that God is willing to add people’s opinions as his no matter what they believe or say. It is from the standard, the Bible, the Christian canon without the apocrypha and pseudepigrapha only.

He asked God to turn to him and give him strength (86:16).

David wish God to perform a sign for him in his behalf (86:17).