Psalms of Comfort 20: Footprints On Your Heart

Psalm 86

11 Lord, teach me what you want me to do, and I will live by your truth.

When kindness comes grudgingly, we’ll remember God’s kindness to us and ask him to make us more kind. When patience is scarce, thank him for his and ask him to make us more patient. When it’s hard to forgive, we won’t list all the times we’ve given grief. Rather, we’ll list all the times we’ve been given grace and pray to become more forgiving. Catalog God’s goodnesses. Meditate on them. He has fed you, led you, and earned your trust. Remember what God has done for you.

Have you ever reacted to people or situations in ways that you have regretted? And what have you done with that regret? Have you managed to supress the voice of your conscience? That conscience has to be based upon a standard and a Christian conscience should be based upon the way God wants us to be. How do we know that? Through Christ, his word and his Spirit working in us.

Psalm 86 tells us a lot about the nature of God and how he wants us to be. I don’t want you to use this as a staff to beat yourself up with, instead let it inform and educate you and place a desire in your hearts to be more like him.

Listen to this psalm. God is: forgiving and good, kind and loving, he is tender and gentle. He is faithful and compassionate and gracious and slow to anger but quick to show his great love. He is patient and attentive, he is inclusive and does not discriminate. He performs miracles and wonders, he created all that we see. He helps us and comforts us and he saves us.

The psalmist trusts God and is prepared to be changed. What about you?

Today if we are willing we can take small steps to become more like him. So when we identify a lack of these things within us, simply pray the way the psalmist prays and he will help us along the way. By doing that we bring him glory and we begin to fulfil our destiny. Its not to bring us glory, it is to bring God glory.

Praise the Lord.