Reading: Psalm 86
The Psalms sooth my soul and I hope that is the same for you. Today as I was reading through this Psalm there were a few key scriptures that I wanted to read over and over again because they spoke of who God is. As I read these and I hope as you do as well, I pray that you will meditate on the truths of these verses and confess them over yourself, as David did. David spoke these of the Lord because he knew the Lord and His character. I pray you will receive these truths of the Lord as well.
God is good and ready to forgive
“For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you.” Psalm 86:5
What struck me with this is that at the beginning of this Psalm, David is crying out to the Lord asking for God to preserve his life and to be merciful. Yet after giving his request he follows with this confession. David knew the heart of God. He knew that God was good and would hear his cry. He knew that God would forgive him of whatever he had done.
Not only is God ready to forgive, He is also abundant in mercy to those who call upon Him. God is full of mercy and forgiveness! His mercies are new every morning. (Lam 3:22-23) Do you believe that? I pray that you believe this truth and if you do not have a revelation on this truth, that you would meditate on these scriptures and let them penetrate into your soul. I pray that you would begin to confess these scriptures for yourself til you know in your heart, as David did, that His mercies are abundant.
This also reminds me of Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” God is good and has freely given us mercy by sending His son, Jesus Christ, that whoever calls upon His name will be saved. This speaks to the truth of who Jesus is today and the promise, that He is the way, the truth and the life. Because of God’s goodness, He sent us a way to be saved, made whole, healed, and able to prosper. God is good and His mercies will never fail us.
God answers our prayers
“In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me.” Psalm 86:7
Not only does God hear our prayers and petitions but God will answer them. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, we will have trouble and here again it says, “in the day of my trouble.” Today if you have a situation or a trial that you have come up against you can pray and He will answer. It does not say that we must pray for months or even years before God will answer. He is never too busy to take our call. Our call does not go to voicemail. He will answer us every time we call upon Him. Now if that doesn’t get you excited; I don’t know what will. I for one, am encouraged to know He hears me every single time I call out to Him. I do not need to beg or plead with Him to hear my request. He will answer every time.
In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus proclaims, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Jesus was saying essentially the same as David here, that when we call upon God, asking and seeking, He will answer us every time. This gives me a daily peace, knowing that God is only a call away when I need Him.
I remember when I started driving and my car broke down. My first call was to my Dad. You know why I called my Dad? Because I knew my Dad wouldn’t leave me stranded on the side of the road and he would come and help me. The word says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matt 7:11) Our heavenly Father is no different and wants to do good to His children that ask. Our heavenly Father WILL come to our rescue every time we need Him!
God is Longsuffering
“But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.” Psalm 86:15
Again, we see that God is abundant in mercy but here it adds to that saying God is longsuffering. The word for longsuffering is the word arek which also means patient, and slow to anger. When we read through scripture, we can see over and over again how long suffering God is with His people. They rebel and turn away from Him, continuously. However, every time they come back and seek Him, He is there for them.
This reminds me of the parable of the lost son because when the son took all of his inheritance and left the family to do his own thing, his father said nothing. As a parent, I cannot imagine what that father went through not knowing if his son was okay and what he was doing. He had to be patient with his son. When his son finally came back, he ran to him and embraced him and was full of grace and mercy towards his son. He did not shun him or condemn him for spending all of his inheritance. Instead, he had the heart of our Father, full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy. (Luke 15:11—32)
That is the God we serve, ready with open arms to those that have gone astray. God is so patient and longsuffering with us when we go astray or when we are living in the flesh, instead of in the Spirit. He still loves us and will bear with us while we try to figure things out on our own. Although He knows when we surrender and come back to Him, His ways are greater. God will not Lord over us, as a ruler; instead He watches over us trying to keep us from harm. When we run back to Him, He is always there. Praise God today for his patience with all of us.
Today, I hope you can see some of the character of our God. He is good, full of mercy towards His beloved. He answers our prayers when we call upon Him. God is longsuffering, putting up with all of our rebellion or selfish whims. Praise God that He is all these things for He is faithful and will be there for us when we seek Him. I pray that you would seek Him daily, even hourly when needed. He is there and is willing and ready to answer you when you call.
I always thought Mat….7:7&8 was the keys to dads Maserati …….hahahaha