PSALM 85 Amplified Bible (AMP)
1 O Lord, You have [at last] shown favor to Your land [of Canaan]; You have restored [from Babylon] the captives of Jacob (Israel).
2 You have forgiven the wickedness of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah.
3 You have withdrawn all Your wrath, You have turned away from Your burning anger.
4 Restore us, O God of our salvation, And cause Your indignation toward us to cease.
5 Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?
6 Will You not revive us and bring us to life again, That Your people may rejoice in You?
7 Show us Your loving-kindness, O Lord, And grant us Your salvation.
8 I will hear [with expectant hope] what God the Lord will say, For He will speak peace to His people, to His [a]godly ones—
But let them not turn again to folly.
9 Surely His salvation is near to those who [reverently] fear Him [and obey Him with submissive wonder],
That glory [the manifest presence of God] may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and truth and faithfulness meet together; Righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Truth springs from the earth, And righteousness looks down from heaven.
12 Indeed, the Lord will give what is good, And our land will yield its produce.
13 Righteousness will go before Him And will make His footsteps into a way [in which to walk].
If ever there was a time when Christians needed encouragement, it’s now.
Christians belong to God, as His children, with an eternal salvation secured, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy on earth.
In fact, many times it’s quite the opposite.
They could do well to heed the words of the psalmist in the above verses.
ALSO READ: From the Word: Sabbath of the seventh year
He writes about how God has brought back a previously rebellious nation to its home.
He reminds the people not to do the foolish things it did before, but to obey God.
There’s a promise that His manifest presence will dwell in the land.
God will speak peace to his people, who will respond to Him.
There will be love, truth and faithfulness – righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
It’s not hard to see that there isn’t necessarily much of that around right now.
A quick scroll through Facebook feeds reveals how much hatred and angst there is in this country and the world in general.
It’s sad. Very sad. And needn’t be that way.
By not obeying God we lose out on so much.
One of these is the land yielding its produce (wealth). Another is God giving what is good.
This can mean a lot of things – and they don’t have to be the satisfying of material wants or desires.
God gives what is good for us, even if we don’t necessarily agree!
The scriptures indicate that God can revive His people.
It usually depends on the nation going down on its knees, repenting for its appalling behaviour – how people have rejected God and been cruel to each other.
Then it’s a matter of embracing God’s way of doing things – living a life of righteousness – and making a habit of it.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
