Psalm 83:18: “That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, / Are the Most High over all the earth.”

March 29th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This psalm was a prayer against the hostile nations that surrounded and threatened Israel. The psalmist’s purpose wasn’t domination and conquest, but rather spiritual, that through a mighty display of God’s power and protection of His people, all men would know that He was God of all the earth. The psalmist wanted the Gentile nations to know the name (or character) of the God of the Bible.

We are to have the same concern for unbelieving nations and people groups, but it may cost us a great deal personally if we are called to go and share the gospel with them. John and Mary Ann Paton became Scottish missionaries to the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific, just 2 weeks after they were married in 1858. One night, hostile natives surrounded the mission station, intent on burning out and killing the Patons. John and his wife prayed during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came, they were amazed to see their attackers leave. A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ. Remembering what had happened, John asked the chief what had kept him from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, “Who were all those men with you there?” John knew no other men had been present. The chief said he was afraid to attack because he had seen “hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords, circling” the mission station. The Patons would certainly agree with David’s prayer: “That men may know.”

“LORD, help us to be obedient to Your call on our lives to take Your gospel to others who cross our paths this day, in Jesus’ name.”