“O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.”
A final request for a sign: "Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the child of your maidservant." The petition for God to turn toward the supplicant becomes a request for visible manifestation of favor. The phrase "child of your maidservant" emphasizes familial covenantal relationship.
Church Fathers on Psalms 86:16
1. No greater gift could God have given to men than in making His Word, by which He created all things, their Head, and joining them to Him as His members: that the Son of God might become also the Son of man, one God with the Father, one Man with men; so that when we speak to God in prayer for mercy, we do not separate the Son from Him; and when the Body of the Son prays, it separates not its Head from itself: and it is one Saviour of His Body, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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