I Will Praise You With All My Heart

(Psalm 86:12)

Mike Johnson

In Psalm 86:11, David asked God to teach him His way; he asserted that he would walk in His truth and then asked God to unite his heart to fear His name.  He follows by saying he will praise and glorify God.  Verse 12 says, “I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore.”  With David’s united heart, he wanted to “praise God.”  Earlier (6-10), he had expressed that God was worthy of praise.

Consider some observations by Spurgeon.

This is the second time in the psalm that David calls the Lord “my God,” the first time he was in an agony of prayer (Ps 86:2), and now he is in an ecstasy of praise.  If anything can make a man pray and praise, it is the knowledge. . . that the Lord is his God.  (The Treasury of David, Biblesoft, Inc.)

Significantly, the writer’s praise would be with all his heart (12a).  This concept carries back to verse 11, where he speaks of having a united heart.  So today, as we worship, we must do so wholeheartedly.  Anything less than that is not acceptable.  But unfortunately, in worship today, some engage in half-hearted worship.  As they sing a hymn, for example, they do so listlessly, not even thinking about the words they are singing.  Their minds may be on everything except what is happening in the service.   They may also watch the clock impatiently, waiting for the worship period to conclude.  A few may even look at something besides Bible passages on their cell phone.  Such people do not have the heart of David.

Note a similar passage (Ps. 9:1-2) where David over-flows with enthusiasm as he speaks of what he will do as he worships God.  “I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works.  I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.”  Can we say that this passage, and the one in our text, is a description of our worship of today?

With an undivided heart, he says, “I will glorify Your name forevermore” (12b).  Thus, he would glorify Jehovah, not a false deity, and he would do so, not just for a time but “forever,” as the original is often translated in this verse.  The idea is that he would glorify God throughout all eternity.

Is your worship enthusiastic and with the whole heart?  If not, it should be.  We should praise the Lord wholeheartedly and glorify God’s name forevermore!