“Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me;
For I am afflicted and needy.
Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man;
O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You.
Be gracious to me, O Lord,
For to You I cry all day long.
Make glad the soul of Your servant,
For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.”
(Psalm 86:1-5 NASB1995)

This was a prayer of King David, but I do not know if he was king at this time or not. David was a man of God who followed the Lord in obedience to his commands, as his life practice. He was not a perfect man, and there was a time in his life when he sinned against God and other humans grievously, but God used Nathan, the prophet, to point David to his sin, which then brought him to genuine biblical repentance. And I do not know if this Psalm was written before or after David’s moral failure, but God did forgive him.

Here David states that he himself was a godly man, so this was not the time in which he sinned grievously against the Lord. This was a time when his life was committed to obeying the Lord and to doing his will and to walking in his truth and righteousness. His heart and mind were surrendered to the Lord to do as he commanded. But it was also a time of trouble and distress, for he had enemies who sought to take his life, who did not honor God. But he had confidence that God would hear his prayer, and would answer him.

Now, perhaps some of us can relate to what David spoke of here and to some of David’s history. I know that I can. I also had a time of moral failure, but God brought me back around, and he forgave me, and not too long afterwards (4 years) he called me to writing down what he teaches me each day from his word and to post these writings on the internet. I can identify a lot with David’s heart and with his love for the Lord and with his desire to serve the Lord with his life, and with having people come against him, too.

But we read in the New Testament that if we follow Jesus Christ with our lives that we will be hated as he was, and that we will be opposed, mistreated, slandered, thought ill of, and persecuted for the sake of the name of Jesus, and for the sake of righteousness. We will have enemies if we are serious about our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord, and especially if we are verbal about our faith and the true message of the gospel of Christ which teaches us to die to sin and to obey God’s commands.

And when David wrote that God is good, and that he is ready to forgive, and he is abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon him, he was not speaking of giving lip service only to the Lord or just asking God for favors. For all who call upon the Lord must call upon him in truth with a sincere desire to have a change of heart and mind resulting in a change of behavior, i.e. to truly repent of their sins. We must want to have our sins put to death so that we can now live for the Lord in walks of obedience to his commands.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18]

You are Loving and Forgiving

Based off Psalm 86
An Original Work / February 19, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

You are loving and forgiving,
Jesus, Savior, King of kings.
You provided our redemption.
By Your blood You set us free.
You are gracious; full of mercy.
No deeds can compare with Yours.
Great are You; there is none like You.
Glory be to Your name.

Teach me Your way, and I’ll walk in it.
O Lord, I will walk in Your truth.
May I not have a heart divided,
That Your name I give honor to.
I will praise You, O Lord, my Savior,
For great is Your love toward me.
You have delivered me from my sins.
Your grace has pardoned me.

You, O Lord, are full of compassion,
Slow to anger, bounteous in love;
Faithful to fulfill all You promise;
Glory be to Your name above.
Hear, O Lord, and answer Your servant.
You are my God. I trust in You.
Turn to me and grant Your strength to me.
You are my comforter.

Abundant in Lovingkindness
An Original Work / January 31, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love