Today's Reading: Psalms 86 & 122

Taught Of God

Psalm 86 is a “mash up” of various verses from the other Psalms. David takes verses that are dear to his heart from Psalms 18, 25, 27, 55, 71, 119 and various other Psalms and compiles them into Psalm 86. Practically every verse of Psalm 86 is taken from another Psalm someplace. This demonstrates David’s working knowledge of God’s word and reveals his heartfelt devotion to the Scriptures.

Psalm 86 is a prayer of David crying out for God’s active presence in his life. He prays for God to listen to him; to preserve him; to be gracious to him; to gladden his soul; to teach him God’s ways; and to give him a unified heart. In verse 11, he pleads with the Lord to “teach me your way that I may walk in Your truth.”  From this plea, we see that David understood the importance of being taught directly by God.

It is vitally important for every follower of Christ that we be taught by God - directly by Him. It is a wonderful thing when God has placed anointed teachers and preachers in our lives so we can hear Scripture being taught by wise and learned men and women. We should be thankful for such a blessing. But… learning from the teachings of men should never, ever, be a substitute for learning directly from the Lord, Himself.

The only path to pure doctrine and correct belief is for each of us to be taught directly at the feet of Jesus. In Him alone is the Way. In Him alone is the Truth. As He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by Me.” (John 14:6)

David’s plea shows that he grasped the truth that we all must be taught by God. This principle is repeated often in Scripture: “For you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9); “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.” (Isaiah 54:13); “For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him.” (Isaiah 28:26)

It is a wonderful thing to have godly and anointed teachers and preachers influencing our lives for Christ. We should thank God daily for such men and women. But, at the same time, we must diligently seek to be taught directly by God, Himself. It must be the passionate pursuit of our heart and soul to search the Scriptures regularly under the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit. He is the One who will guide us into all truth. Along with David, we must pray, “teach me your way O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.”

Make it your heartfelt prayer today that you be taught by God. Then, be like the Bereans who “searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)