Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten
from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hudson, OH. Thank you for being with me
today.
Today we will be reading Psalm 85, the appointed Psalm for
the 2nd Sunday of Advent. Before we get to that though, I should
point out that there is a special piece of vocabulary at the end of verse two;
the world selah. Selah is unique
because we really don’t know what it means. There are several well educated
guesses, however, and the one that I think makes the most sense is that the
word selah marks a musical interlude
that would give the congregation time to ponder what had just been said. Many
of the psalms were (and are) used in public worship, they draw us together
before God and give us words for our worship, confession, prayer, and praise.
If I were going to use one word to summarize the readings we’ve
had so far this week it would be: repentance. Today’s psalm fits that theme as
well. As we read Psalm 85 listen for those themes of turning away from sin,
trusting in God’s mercy, and being comforted by His forgiveness.
Psalm 85 (ESV)
LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the
fortunes of Jacob.
2 You
forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You
withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
4 Restore
us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!
5 Will you
be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you
not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us
your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
8 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.
9 Surely
his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
10
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11
Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the
sky.
12 Yes,
the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13
Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way. (Ps. 85:1-13
ESV)
Comments
Did you notice how the psalm moves from forgiveness to
repentance? The psalmist says that God was favorable to His people. He forgave
their iniquity and covered their sin. He withdrew all of His wrath and turned
his hot anger away. Then the psalmist leads the people in requesting
restoration, revival, to be shown God’s steadfast love – which is GRACE – and salvation.
He then turns to faith – he wants to hear what God will say, but already trusts
that surely God’s salvation is near to those who fear Him – that is, those who
have faith in him.
So what does the psalmist trust? That steadfast love and
faithfulness meet. God’s steadfast love draws us to faithfulness. Righteousness
and peace kiss. Living in God’s righteousness draws us into God’s peaceful
embrace. Faithfulness springs up and righteousness looks down – God is at work
above and below, in all and through all to keep us with him. And righteousness
will go before God and make His footsteps a way. The righteousness that we
receive through faith in God’s grace – grace that we know in Jesus Christ –
comes to us before He comes fully to us. And as we live in the righteousness
that comes by faith, God comes to us and dwells among us and our relationship
with Him is restored.
Psalm 85 (ESV)
LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the
fortunes of Jacob.
2 You
forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You
withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
4 Restore
us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!
5 Will you
be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you
not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us
your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
8 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.
9 Surely
his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
10
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11
Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the
sky.
12 Yes,
the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13
Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way. (Ps. 85:1-13
ESV)
Prayers
Lord, Your favor and mercy have restored our fortunes. You
forgave us and covered all of our sins with Jesus’ blood. In Him we have a
righteousness that restores us to You. Thank You for Your lovingkindness. Thank
You for Your salvation. Forgive us again for kindling Your anger with our sins.
Restore us again, O God of our salvation, for Jesus’ sake! Give us Your Holy
Spirit to grow us in faith so that we might know that Your salvation is near,
and so we may experience the joy of when steadfast love and faithfulness meet,
and when righteousness and peace kiss one another. Let faithfulness spring up
from the ground, and righteousness look down from the sky, until that day when
we dwell together in perfect peace in Your glory. Amen.
Memory Verse: 2
Peter 3:13 - But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a
new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Pet. 3:13 ESV)
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
I want to remind you to be prayerfully and thoughtfully
generous in the giving of alms during this Advent season. Pray that God open
your eyes, your heart, and your hand to help others in need.
Another devotional habit we can use to help us meditate on
God’s word is memorization.
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and hopefully
help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
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