Psalm 85:1-2; 8-13

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
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OBSERVE:

This Psalm describes the reward and abundance that are produced when the Lord shows favor to the land.

The first section here is past tense. The Lord has shown favor to the land, restored the fortune of Jacob, and forgiven all their sins. In Hebrew poetic parallelism, these are all ways of saying that restoration and forgiveness are intimately related.

The reference to the restoration of Jacob makes me wonder if this Psalm is post-exilic — a reference to the promised return that we learn about in Isaiah 40?

The next verses we consider, from 8 to 13, are oriented toward the future. When the servant listens to the Lord, he hears the promises of peace — so long as the people don’t mess up again!

Peace in biblical terms is more than just the absence of conflict. Peace is shalom, which denotes the well-being and wholeness that come when all is right with our world. It is a sign of the salvation and glory that are near to those who fear God.

And then there are the remarkably intimate pairings of desirable qualities. The metaphor is that of lovers, or of close kinsmen, who kiss one another — love and faithfulness meet, righteousness and peace kiss. What can be more intimately described than these wonderful qualities?

Next, it is almost as though these pairings of wonderful attributes produce their own offspring! Faithfulness springs from the earth; and righteousness looks down from heaven benignly. And the Lord yields what is good.

The persistence of the words faithfulness and righteousness suggest that there is a holy, ethical purity to this blessing that will be poured out on the land.

And once again we have that Advent theme:

Righteousness goes before him,
And prepares the way for his steps.

This is a vision of the world that is promised, but that has not yet arrived. It is still in preparation.

APPLY:

It seems perfectly clear that when this Psalm talks about restoration and forgiveness and salvation and righteousness and peace and faithfulness, that it doesn’t begin with us. God is always the initiator.

We have a tendency to think that “if anything’s to be, it’s up to me.” Well, maybe in the business world or the academic world or the athletic world. But in the world that is to come:

Yahweh will give that which is good.

God is the active actor in bringing all of those attributes together in a holy marriage of love and faithfulness, righteousness and peace. We are the passive receivers of his blessings — we listen, we fear him, but all begins in him. After all, where do love and faithfulness and righteousness and peace originate? Only in God.

While that’s hard for doers and movers and shakers to accept (which is what those in our culture tend to be), in relationship to God we are all responders and receivers. God always takes the initiative.

RESPOND:

I always want to find out what I can do to receive the blessings that God has for me. But the truth is I need to listen and to fear him first. Or, as another Psalm says it:

“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10).

Lord, prepare us for your love, righteousness, faithfulness and peace. May those qualities, so wonderfully and intimately blended in your nature, become second nature in us. Amen.

PHOTOS:
“Crocuses pushing through winter – Psalm 85:11” by Ben R is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.