Psalm 138:2-3  David has declared his thanks and praise to The Lord, with sincerity, zeal, boldness, and freedom.  Now he gives us what he praises God for:
Thy lovingkindness / goodness
Thy Truth ( faithfulness)
Thy Word /promises/ revelation
Again Matthew Henry's Commentary gives me a wonderful exposition of this . " for  thy lovingkindness and for thy truth, for thy goodness and for thy promise, mercy hidden in thee and mercy revealed by thee, that God is a gracious God in  himself and has engaged to be so to all those that trust in him. "
Verse 3 " On the day I called Thou didst answer me"  MH comm. " The sweet communion he had with God.  He cried, he prayed, and prayed earnestly,and God answered him, gave him to understand that this prayer was accepted and should have a gracious return in due time."  The answer that David received made him " bold with strength in my soul".    It was a spiritual response,  to be followed in due time with the physical answer.  " God gave him strength in his soul, and that is a real and valuable answer to the prayer of faith in the day of affliction.  If God give us strength in our souls to bear the burdens, resist the temptations, and do the duties of an afflicted state, if he strengthens us to keep hold of Himself by faith, to maintain the peace of our own minds and to wait with patience for the issue, we must own that he has answered us, and we are bound to be thankful." ( Matt. Henry )

In our present circumstances, in our struggles and burdens, in our hurts and fears, as we cry out to God with earnest prayers, He hears us. And he gives us strength in our souls. And even if we do not see His Hand move to change our circumstances or release us from our burdens, or heal our hurts, we can know His answer in the spiritual realm, in our own faith, patience, and peace.  And we are indeed thankful.

I Timothy 1
Paul writes to his "son" in the faith, Timothy, who is leading the church at Ephesus.   The church is being led astray by "certain men"  who are teaching , not the Word of God, but "strange doctrines"; "myths"; "endless genealogies"; "mere speculations"' and " fruitless discussions" .  They wanted to be teachers of the Law, Paul says, but they don't know or understand what they are saying. The Ephesian church was made up of Gentiles and these men wanted to teach Jewish laws.  They were missing the whole point, " the administration of God which is by faith." NIV says " Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God's work - which is by faith."   In contrast to the teachings of these men, that produced confusion and arguments; Paul says that the goal of Timothy's teaching and his is " love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."  He tells Timothy to "fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience".
v 8- 10 Paul explains that the law is not made for righteous man, "but for those who are lawless"  - for the rebellious, ungodly, unholy, and profane.  And in case we don't know what that means he spells it out.:  they kill their parents, they murder, they are immoral, they are homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, perjurers, and anything else "contrary to sound teaching" .  To use the law lawfully, is to point out what is sin.  Paul confesses that he also was lumped into this group, because he was "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor." He says he "acted ignorantly in unbelief"
 Ignorantly - to not know, not understand, or to ignore, to lack information. Unbelief - faithlessness, disbelief.  His ignorance came because he refused to believe.  But God had mercy on him and gave him grace, abundant grace, to have faith and love, "which are found in Christ Jesus" .  Paul's testimony is that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners". Himself being one.  Jesus demonstrated His "perfect patience"  by showing mercy to Paul.  This is an example for all "who would believe in Him for eternal life" .
Paul had been ignorant in unbelief, but now he emphasized sincere faith and a good conscience.  The conscience - co-perception,  to see completely, to understand and be aware of, to be conscious, informed of , privy to, moral consciousness.
The sinner is lawless, acting in ignorance, because of unbelief.  But in mercy, Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners!  To take us from not knowing to fully knowing, from not believing to sincere faith.  He came in love and shows us grace.  This is the goal of instruction, Paul teaches. Fight the good faith by keeping on with this work and not allowing any one to stray from it into fruitless, strange, empty speculations.  Amen!