October 18, The Nations

Today’s reading: Psalms 86-90

“Glorious things are said of you, city of God: ‘I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me—Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush—and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion’” - Psalm 87:3-4.

It is common in the Psalms for the Lord Himself to speak in the midst of what the psalmist was writing, as happened in today’s passage. The psalmist was writing about the “city of God,” when the Lord entered in to say that at some time in the future, other nations would be residents in God’s city and not just Israel. This was fulfilled in Christ, who came to Israel but commanded His disciples to go to the ends of the earth to share the good news of the gospel, which they eventually gave their lives to do. The most notable of those early missionaries was Paul, who eagerly went to the nations to fulfill what was written in Psalm 87: “Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake” (Romans 1:5). Do you have a heart to see the people of the nations come to Jesus? Do you pray toward that end? Give money to help the cause? Is there a particular nation that is on your heart? Why not take time today to pray for that nation or people group? You may even wish to get a map and lay your hands on that area where they live and ask God to fulfill the promise of Psalm 87 among them.