When God Shows Up Let The Evidence Speak
What do you do when people doubt you, oppose you, or want to see you fail? In Psalm 86:17, David asks God to show him a token for good. He recognizes that his help and comfort come from the Lord, and he wants God’s goodness to be evident even to those...
Key Takeaways
- David's prayer in Psalm 86:17 reminds believers to ask God for a tangible token of His goodness rather than exhausting themselves trying to prove their righteousness to critics.
- The Word of God serves as an unmistakable, tangible sign and instruction manual confirming that we are walking on the Lord's side.
- Inward tokens of God's goodness manifest through our active obedience to His commandments and our willingness to be doers of the Word rather than mere hearers.
- Genuine Christian love must be extended even to difficult people and those who oppose us, serving as a powerful witness of Christ in a divided world.
- When we focus on trusting God and letting our faithful lifestyle speak for itself, our lives become a testimony that ultimately brings glory to Him.
Today’s Scripture comes from Psalm 86:17, where David makes a request that reveals his confidence in God’s goodness.
Three important thoughts emerge from this verse:
1. The Request – “Shew me a token for good.”
David isn’t afraid to ask God to demonstrate His goodness. We should never underestimate the importance of bringing our needs and concerns before the Lord.
2. The Opposition – “That they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed.”
David knows he has enemies. But rather than allowing their opinions and actions to consume him, he places his confidence in God.
3. The Recognition – “Because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.”
David recognizes the source of his help and comfort. His circumstances may be difficult, but he knows who has been sustaining him.
The takeaway: Stop exhausting yourself trying to prove yourself to people. Trust God, acknowledge His goodness, and let your life become a testimony of His faithfulness.
5. Application Questions
1. Have I been spending too much time worrying about what other people think of me?
2. When I face opposition, do I turn to God first, or do I try to handle everything myself?
3. Have I recognized the ways God has helped and comforted me through difficult circumstances?
4. Am I looking for God’s goodness even when my circumstances aren’t what I want them to be?
5. If someone watched my life, would they see evidence of my trust in God?
6. Short Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for being our source of help, strength, and comfort. When we face opposition, criticism, and difficult circumstances, help us to keep our eyes on You. Remind us that we don’t have to prove ourselves to the world. Help us trust Your goodness and recognize Your hand at work in our lives. Let our lives be a testimony of Your faithfulness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to ask God for a token for good?
Asking for a token for good, based on Psalm 86:17, means requesting tangible evidence of God's help and goodness in your life, especially when facing opposition and criticism from others.
How can the Bible serve as evidence of God's goodness?
The Bible acts as God's tangible love letter and instruction manual, guiding believers in truth and equipping them to accomplish the good works God has prepared for them.
What are the inward signs that show we are right with God?
Key inward signs include personal obedience to Christ's commandments and a genuine, active love for others, even toward those who may not love us back.
How should Christians handle people who doubt or criticize their faith?
Instead of exhausting yourself trying to prove your worth to critics, you should trust God, remain faithful, and let your honest lifestyle and good works speak as evidence of His goodness.
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Good morning. Have you ever had people doubt you? Maybe they criticized you. Maybe they even hoped that you would fail. Yeah, we've all been there. We've all had that. Sometimes it seems like people are just waiting for something to go wrong in your life. They're waiting for you to stumble. They're waiting for you to fall. They're waiting to see you struggle with something. What
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What can we do about that? We don't have to spend our lives trying to prove ourselves to other people.
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We sometimes the best thing that we can do is just to step back.
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Trust God and let Him demonstrate His love for us. Let Him demonstrate His goodness. And that's what we're going to look at today. We're going to look at Psalm chapter 86 in one verse today. And David says, Show me a token for good, that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed, because thou, Lord, hast helpened me and comforted.
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Me. David is looking here for a physical sign. He's looking for something tangible. He's looking for something that would be unmistakable that would confirm that the Lord is on his side, that would confirm that he is in the right spot, that he indeed is a child of God. And it made me think about that. It made me think about his request. I thought, well, what would I ask for?
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What kind of sign do we have?
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David was looking for something tangible. I came up with a couple of things that that would be our sign today that we are right with God. And one of them is his Bible. One of them is the Word of God. One of them is us spending time, excuse me, spending time reading the Word of God, spending time applying the Word of God. The Bible is God's love letter to you. The Bible is God's instruction manual. I used to have a hat on.
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That I would wear years ago that said, when all else fails, read the directions. And it had a picture of the Bible on there. And that's what we need to do. The Bible is our is our tangible something, is our token for good. Even though most people hate the Bible, most people don't want to read the Bible. A lot of people feel the Bible is nothing more than a collection of fairy tales. But for us, it is the the
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unmistakable tangible thing that we are on the Lord's side. In 2 Timothy chapter number let's see, 2 Timothy chapter number 3. We're going to look here at verses 14 through 17 and this is all talking about the Bible here. He says, But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
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And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Jesus Christ. All scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So, friends, we see the importance of the Bible right there.
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We see that it makes us wise unto salvation. We see that we need to continue in the things of the Bible. We see the Bible is is given by the inspiration of God. And Paul tells us it's it's profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And we need the Bible. We need to get in here. We need to spend time in it so that we may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. God has a good work that He's expecting you to do.
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And the only way we can do that is when we get lined up with his word, when we are are living out the word of God in our lives.
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But then I started thinking, what about some inside, inward signs, inward tokens of good? One I thought of was our obedience. Our obedience. Several times in John chapters 13, 14, and 15. And Jesus uses the phrase: if you love me, keep my commandments. And that's how we show our love for Jesus by being obedient, by following the things that He's told us to do.
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And in Luke chapter 6 and verse 46, Jesus asks asks us a question when he says, Why call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? Why do we go to church on Sunday and we lift our hands praising him? And then we go through Monday like we don't even know he exists, and we don't even know who he is. That's what happens. We have to be obedient. We have to be obedient to the things of the Bible. We have to be obedient to what what
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What God says in here. And in James chapter one, I think it is, he tells us to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. That's the problem today. We have too many hearers. We don't have enough doers. We need to get out there and do the word of God, do the things that that Jesus said to do. Another inward sign of tokens for good is our love. Our love. In John chapter 34.
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13, John chapter 13, verses 34 and 35. Jesus said, A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye love one another. By this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Friends, love is something that this world needs drastically today. Hate is spread all around this discord, dislike. Um
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I mean, there's such a divide in the world today, not just here in America, but in the world today. And we need to show the love even to people, it's not going to show us love back. That's what Jesus told us in Luke chapter six and verse 33. He said, And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye for sinners do also the same. What is what good is it going to be for us to?
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Only love those who's going to love us. Our love should be present toward others no matter if they're going to love us back. No wonder if they're even if they're going to chop our head off. Anything, we need to show the love of God. And we see that over and over and over again in the New Testament and in the book of Acts of people showing the love of God. Now, let's not make a mistake about this one thing here.
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Showing the love of God doesn't mean that you're showing your approval for somebody, for their lifestyle, for their beliefs, for their whatever. Showing love is what we're commanded to do, but we're commanded to expose those false teachings. We're commanded to make sure that we don't fall victim to those false teachings. So, so part of part of showing someone love.
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Is telling the truth. And that's what this world has such a problem with when it comes to Christians today, is that the world doesn't want to hear the truth.
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The world's closing its ears to the truth. It doesn't want to hear the truth. So therefore, they mistaken the truth as as hatred toward toward somebody, and they don't see the love of Christ. So we got to make sure that we're showing love one for the other. You know, one of the places that that people dislike the most is Chick-fil-A. And how many times do you read in the paper when there's a major winter storm or
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Some kind of disaster happening. Do you read that a Chick-fil-A store is out there feeding people on the side of the road? Things like that. They're showing love. And that's what we need to be doing today, too. We need to show love. A token of good is the Bible. It's our obedience. It's our love. And he wanted he David wanted God to give him this token for good.
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So that as we continue here in verse 17 of Psalm chapter 86, he says, so that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed.
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He wants the people that hate him, that wants to take his life, that that's not listening to him, that doubt his his salvation, that doubt his his being right with God. He wants them to see this token that God's going to give him, this tangible thing that God's going to give him to prove that he indeed is right with the Lord. He says that they may see that good token and be ashamed that they hated him.
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That they doubted his salvation, that they doubted his word in first Peter chapter number two.
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Verse number twelve, Peter says, having your conversation or having your lifestyle honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. What's Peter telling us here? He's saying that we need to make sure we live our lives honestly among the Gentiles, among the heathen, among those that are not Christians, are not saved.
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So we need to do that so even though they speak evil against you, they're going to see your good works, they're going to realize your good works come from God, and they're going to praise God. That's essentially what David is saying here in Psalm chapter 86. He's saying, God, show me this thing, give me this tangible thing, so that when when the people that hate me see this, they will bring glory to you. And why does he want all this done?
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The end of verse 17 says, Because thou Lord hast hopened me and comforted me. Hopen is a uh archaic word that simply means helped. So he wants people to be ashamed to see this token of good that proves that God has not only helped him, but God has comforted him. So friends, let me ask you today: are you so busy running around trying to prove that you are right with God?
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Or are you letting your life shine, letting your light shine, and letting your life prove to others that you indeed are right with Christ? Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. Then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.
