Psalm 85
Lord, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin.
You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.
Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, December 10, is Psalm 85. Lord, you were favorable to your land. You restored the fortunes of Jacob, you forgave the iniquity of your people. You've covered all their sin, you withdrew all your wrath you turn from your hot anger, restore us again, oh, God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you will prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not Revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, oh Lord, and grant us your salvation. Let me hear what God the Lord will speak. For he will speak peace to his people to His saints, but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is nearer to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. steadfast love and faithfulness meet righteousness and peace, kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground and righteousness looks down from the sky. Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps away. Here and the reading. The Psalm is a complaint Psalm, a communal complaint. So it's all the people of Israel, talking about what what God has done and asking him to change it. It begins with reminding god of his faithfulness in the past, that he restored the fortunes of Jacob and forgave the iniquity that at one time, he was angry with them, but he withdrew his hot anger. And we can see that pattern, especially in the book of Judges, were over and over again, God's people leave him. And then he sends in an army to punish them, and remind them that they need him for for their protection. And then they turned to him, God raises up a judge to defend them. And then the cycle starts all over. And so the psalmist is looking back at what God has done, and all the ways that he has done this and says, you know, you did this before, do it again. And that's what the verses following starting at verse four, say, restore us again, oh, God of our salvation. So there's obviously something going on, that is a problem in the mind of the psalmist. Now, the Psalms were written not just for a particular instance, but for the people of Israel to use on a regular basis. So this psalm would have been around anytime there was a major problem or national national emergency for Israel. But I think what's really interesting is how it sees the disasters as God's wrath. In verse five, it says, Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not Revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Now, what this shows is that God is actually in control of all the things, everything that happens is within his power. And Israel, when God brought disaster on them any kind of disaster, they would have said, God is angry with us. God is doing something to us. And so they say, God will stop it. Do something better. As it says in verse seven, show us your steadfast love, oh Lord, and grant us your salvation. And then it waits in Trust says, Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to his people to His saints, but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is nearer to those who fear Him that gory glory may dwell in our land. So it offers up this request. God, you're angry with us now. Let's stop it. returned to your promises. You've given them to us, we trust you. And then he waits for God's response, with the sure and certain hope that God will turn back to his promises as he always does. And then finally, there's the rejoicing of faithful people as they wait. steadfast love and faithfulness meet righteousness and peace, kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground and the righteousness looks down from the sky. Yes, the Lord will give what is good and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps away. Now one of the things we always have to remember about the Old Testament promises is that were they were given to a people in a land with real, actual consequences associated to them. When Moses talks about being In faithful to God, he says that all sorts of wealth follows faithfulness, and all sorts of curses follow unfaithfulness. So for Israel, when steadfast love and faithfulness, righteousness and peace and faithfulness all come together it means crops will grow, famine will be gone, armies will be kept at bay. For us Christians we know that when steadfast love and faithfulness meet righteousness and peace, kiss each other, when when faithfulness to God and from God come together. We don't get always the best things in life. What we get is the gift of God's grace and the promise of eternal life resurrection from the dead through our Savior. And so we get to look forward to the ultimate perfection of Christ's return and the joy he gives us there. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai