Yesterday I marveled at the fact that God the Almighty hears prayer. His ears are open.

Today I noticed this in Psalm 86:

“For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.”

You may have a God whose ears are open but that doesn’t tell you anything about the disposition of that God towards you and your prayers.

He may hear, but then not answer.

He may hear and give a harsh answer.

He may hear and require elaborate rituals in order to get an answer.

In Psalms 32 and 51 and now in Psalm 86 there are beautiful descriptions of a God whose disposition is forgiveness, mercy and abounding, steadfast love!

Sometimes it helps to stop and look up a word in the dictionary to get its full meaning.

To abound means to exist in great quantities, to be rich in. It comes from the Latin which means to overflow.

God’s ears are open to his children and his disposition is that of overflowing, bountiful love.

It reminds me of John 1:16:

“And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”