Commentary - Psalm 86:14-17

Bird's-eye view

This closing section of Psalm 86 presents a sharp and instructive contrast. The psalmist, who we can assume is David, finds himself caught between two opposing realities. Below him, on the horizontal plane, are arrogant and ruthless men, a band of thugs who have sought his life. They are characterized by one defining feature: they have not set God before them. But on the vertical plane, David looks up and sees a completely different reality. He sees God, and he recites what is essentially an Old Testament creed, a description of God's covenant character drawn from God's own self-disclosure to Moses. The psalm concludes with a series of petitions that flow directly from this contrast. Because his enemies are godless and because God is gracious, David asks for grace, strength, salvation, and a public sign of God's favor. This is not a prayer of desperation in the dark, but a confident appeal to the known character of God in the face of godless opposition.

The central lesson here is that a right understanding of God is the foundation for every right response to our troubles. David does not begin with his feelings or his circumstances. He begins his appeal with a robust theology proper. He knows who God is, and therefore he knows what to ask for. His prayer is a model for every believer who finds himself pressed by the world. We are to look away from the horizontal threat and fix our gaze on the vertical reality of God's covenant love and faithfulness. Our deliverance comes not from a change in our enemies' hearts, but from the steadfast heart of our compassionate and gracious God.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 86 is unique in the third book of the Psalter as it is the only one explicitly attributed to David. It is described as "A Prayer of David." The psalm is a composite of phrases and themes found elsewhere in the Psalms and the Pentateuch, which does not indicate a lack of originality, but rather shows a man saturated in the language of Scripture. He is praying God's Word back to Him. The psalm moves from a plea for God to hear (vv. 1-7), to praise for God's uniqueness (vv. 8-10), to a prayer for a whole heart (vv. 11-13), and finally to this concluding section. The contrast between the godless persecutors in verse 14 and the covenantal description of God in verse 15 is the pivot upon which the final petitions turn. This structure is common in the Psalms: the psalmist states his trouble, he remembers who God is, and on that basis, he makes his requests.

Key Issues

The Character of God vs. The Character of Thugs

The whole world is divided into two camps. There are those who set God before them, and those who do not. This is the fundamental division, the ultimate continental divide of the human race. In our passage, David is squeezed by this reality. He is being hunted by men who operate as though God does not exist, or as though He does not matter. Their arrogance and ruthlessness are the natural outworking of their atheism, whether theoretical or practical. When you remove God from the picture, all that is left is the raw pursuit of power.

But David, instead of despairing, turns his eyes upward. And what does he see? He sees the Lord, and he describes Him using the very words God used to describe Himself to Moses on the mountain after the golden calf fiasco. This is crucial. David is not inventing a god who might be helpful; he is appealing to the God who has revealed Himself in history. The contrast is stark. On the one hand, a gang of proud, violent men. On the other, a God who is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth. The prayer that follows is a direct appeal for God to act in accordance with His stated character, and in opposition to the character of His enemies. This is how a righteous man prays; he aligns himself with the character of God and asks God to bring that character to bear on his situation.

Verse by Verse Commentary

14 O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, And a band of ruthless men have sought my life, And they have not set You before them.

David begins his specific complaint by identifying the character of his enemies. They are first arrogant men. The word here is prideful, insolent. This is not just a character flaw; it is a theological position. Pride is the native air of Hell because it is the assertion of self as the ultimate reality. Second, they are a band of ruthless men. They are violent, terrifying, and tyrannical. They are a pack, a gang, and their goal is not just to defeat David but to take his very life. But the third description is the root of the first two: they have not set You before them. This is the source of all their wickedness. They live and act as though God is not there. They do not factor Him into their calculations. Because God is not in their line of sight, their own ego is, and so they become arrogant. Because God's law is not their standard, their own violent desires are, and so they become ruthless. This is a perfect description of the spirit of the world in any age.

15 But You, O Lord, are a God compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

The word "But" here is one of the most important hinges in the Bible. David pivots from the horizontal problem to the vertical solution. He turns from the character of his enemies to the character of his God. And he does not offer his own opinion; he quotes the divine self-disclosure from Exodus 34:6. This is God's own description of Himself. He is compassionate and gracious, full of pity for the weak and giving favor to the undeserving. He is slow to anger, patient and long-suffering, not flying off the handle at every provocation. And He is abundant in lovingkindness and truth. The word for lovingkindness is hesed, which means covenant loyalty, steadfast love. The word for truth is emet, which means faithfulness, reliability. God's love is not a fickle emotion; it is a rock-solid commitment grounded in His own covenant promises. David is stacking up the attributes of God as a direct counterweight to the attributes of his enemies. They are proud; God is gracious. They are violent; God is compassionate. They are faithless; God is full of faithfulness.

16 Turn to me, and be gracious to me; Oh grant Your strength to Your slave, And save the son of Your maidservant.

Based on the preceding contrast, David makes three requests. First, Turn to me, and be gracious to me. He asks God to turn His face toward him, which in biblical thought means to show favor. Second, he asks for strength, but notice how he identifies himself: grant Your strength to Your slave. He is not a freelance operator demanding his rights. He is a servant, a slave of the Lord, and he is asking his Master for the resources to do his job. Third, he asks for salvation, and again, the self-identification is key: save the son of Your maidservant. This is a beautiful and humble expression. It means he is a servant from birth. His mother was a servant in God's household, and he was born into that household. He is not a hired hand; he is part of the family, a homeborn slave. It is an appeal to a deep, multi-generational covenant relationship. He is saying, "I belong to You. My mother belonged to You. I have nowhere else to go. Save me."

17 Show me a sign for good, That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, Because You, O Yahweh, have helped me and comforted me.

David's final request is for a public vindication. He asks for a sign for good. The King James has it as a "token for good." He wants some tangible, visible evidence of God's favor. And this is not for his own reassurance alone; it has a public purpose. He wants it so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed. He wants his enemies to be confounded. He wants them to see that he was not, in fact, abandoned by his God. Their shame will come when they are forced to recognize that the God they ignored is very real and is very much on David's side. The psalm ends on a note of confidence, speaking of God's help in the past tense as a ground for future hope. Because You, O Yahweh, have helped me and comforted me. He is not just hoping for help; he is remembering past help. He has been in tight spots before, and God has always shown up. This past faithfulness is the foundation for his present request and his future confidence. God will give him a sign, and his enemies will be put to shame, because that is what a compassionate, gracious, and covenant-keeping God does for His servants.

Application

We live in a world swarming with arrogant and ruthless men who have not set God before them. They run our governments, our universities, our media, and our corporations. They seek the life of the righteous, not always with swords and spears, but with lawsuits, cancellations, and slander. The pressure to despair is immense. The temptation is to fight them on their own terms, with our own worldly schemes and anger.

This psalm teaches us a better way. The first thing we must do when confronted with the godlessness of the world is to rehearse the character of our God. We must turn from the television screen to the book of Exodus. We must remind ourselves that our God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in covenant faithfulness. Our theology must be the bedrock of our strategy. We are not our own; we are God's slaves, sons of His maidservant, the Church. We were born into His house. Therefore, we can and must appeal to Him for strength and salvation.

And we should not be shy about asking for a "sign for good." We should pray for God to vindicate His people publicly, that the world might see and be ashamed. The ultimate sign for good was the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. God raised Him from the dead, and in so doing, put all His arrogant and ruthless enemies on notice. They sought His life and got Him into the ground, but God showed the world who was really in charge. That is our sign. And because He was raised, we know that our God has helped us and comforted us. We can therefore face our enemies not with fear, but with the confident prayer that God will act according to His name, for His own glory.