Mom sent me this reflection on Psalm 86:5. It goes so well with the Beth Moore Bible study on James that my sister-in-law and I (and many other women across the country) are doing at church. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”


When I read my Bible this morning, I was overwhelmed, then very teary.


Psalm 86:5
You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
abounding in love to all who call to you.

I know it’s so everybody’s-heard-this-a-thousand-times, but the truth of it hit me today, and I had to visit Strong’s Bible Concordance to see what all is there. (Where Strong’s didn’t have something, I put in my own.) After I read the definitions, I reread the verse. Wow!


Psalm 86:5 Revisited

You are kind, loving, beautiful, desirable, pleasing, joyful, even merry! You are prepared, ready, eagerly waiting for us to ask You to forgive us, so You can send our sins away forever (gosh, I’m getting choked up again, just typing this), as far as the east is from the west (so cool — you can arrive at “north,” you can arrive at “south,” but you can never arrive at “east” or “west”); they’re gone and even You forget them! Your unfailing love and mercy (often based on a prior relationship, especially a covenant relationship — thank You, Jesus, for our covenant relationship!) is abundant, exceedingly huge, plenteous to all (who does that leave out?) who call on You.

…who call on You. That’s our part. Somewhere this past week I read, and I think it was in Psalms or Proverbs, that there is a difference between just wailing and actually asking God to help you. Anyone can just wail into space, but only someone who believes or hopes that there is a listening God out there will actually ask Him for help.

This goes for us Christians, too. Sometimes I just wail instead of, with my words, asking Him. By asking, too, it helps by clarifying in my own mind what the problem is and what I want Him to do. If I listen for how to pray, sometimes that in itself helps to solve the problem, usually by changing me!

Then His answer will draw us to Him. This is His heart, and I’m finding it all over the Bible. “Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.” This is what He wants — His kids tucked into Him, trusting, asking, rejoicing in Him. And He wants to take care of us and fix us and make us new and free and abundantly joyful, because He loves us so much!!