I WILL GLORIFY THY NAME

Any misgivings that a reader of verse 2 of this psalm might have in thinking that David was self-righteous (“I am holy”), are soon dispelled by reading the rest of the psalm. It is a cry for help from one who knows his own failings and his enemies, but more importantly, from one who knows God. Because he knows himself so well, he acknowledges his trust in God, v. 2; his need of mercy, v. 3; and forgiveness, v. 5. He knows his enemies are proud, violent, without fear of God, vv. 14, 17.

David’s God was his source of rejoicing; cf. Phil. 4. 4. He is good, v. 5, and is not to be compared with the gods of the surrounding nations, v. 8. David’s view of God was not limited to national boundaries. His was no national deity; He had made the world, and He merited universal praise. Thus David anticipated that one day “All nations … shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great”, vv. 9, 10. One day there will be an international anthem of glory to God. Together with “Glory to God in the highest”, Luke 2. 14, this praise in Psalm 86 will make up the true universal praise to God.

This great anticipation of David has an immediate practical effect: he asks for help for his everyday life. In particular, he prays that God would “unite my heart to fear thy name”, v. 11. He wanted his “whole heart”, v. 12 R.V., to praise God. The heart, as the seat of our deepest thoughts and desires, has many conflicting forces within it. For the believer today, this is always true, and we need to have the peace of Christ arbitrating in our hearts, Col. 3. 15 lit., between any interests that seem to be conflicting.

What David was anticipating would happen at some time in the distant future. However, he makes every effort to see it coming about to some extent in his own lifetime, “I will glorify thy name”, v. 12. David’s hope and ours is tied up in the same Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. As believers, our hope is that soon we shall be like Him, 1 John 3. 2, with bodies like unto his body of glory, Phil. 3. 21. Until then, we are not complacent about our present condition. We want to “put … on the Lord Jesus Christ”, Rom. 13. 14, so that we can glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits which are God’s, 1 Cor. 6. 20.