Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Psalms 5 (1)
Pray Psalm 85.4-6.
Restore us, O God of our salvation,
And cause Your anger toward us to cease.
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?
Sing Psalm 85.4-6.
(Lyons: O Worship the King)
Restore us, O God, renew us in peace, and cause all Your wrath against us to cease.
Will You evermore all Your wrath to us show? Revive us that we may Your joy again know.
Read Psalm 85.1-13; meditate on verses 7-13.
Preparation
1. What were the psalmists seeking from the LORD?
2. What did they commit to doing?
Meditation
The psalmists cry for revival and restoration, looking to God to remove His anger from His people, remember His saving work in the past, and speak peace and restoration to them in the present. They were confident that God would hear their prayer, and they warned the people to embrace full repentance so that God’s glory would spread throughout the land (v. 9).
The promises recalled and set forth here are typical of those that accompany the salvation of Jesus Christ: freedom from captivity (v. 1); forgiveness of sins (v. 2); revival and rejoicing (v. 6); mercy and salvation (v. 7); the Word of God speaking peace (Gal. 5.22, 23); the nearness of God and His salvation (v. 9); the fusing of mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, heaven and earth, especially as we see these fused in Jesus (vv. 10, 11); the receiving of every good gift from the LORD (v. 12); the opening of a righteous pathway and the power to traverse it (v. 13).
What precious and very great promises are bound up in Jesus for us! (2 Cor. 1.20; 2 Pet. 1.4)
But “our land”—the field of the Lord, the world (Matt. 13.38)—is not yielding its increase in our day, at least, not as Psalm 85 encourages us to expect. Why not? It is because we have not fully forsaken our foolish ways (v. 8), and we have not been faithful in sowing the good seed of the Kingdom of God.
Let it not be so among us or in our part of that field, our Personal Mission Field. Hear the Lord speaking peace and salvation and good things and increase! Repent of all sins and live toward these promises in obedience to God’s peaceable Word. And the Lord will meet you with revival, day by day.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Most of the things we pursue in life are this for that in nature.
We go to work, do our job, and receive a paycheck.
We wash our clothes, take a shower, brush our teeth, and we are clean and smell better.
We grocery shop, make a meal, and our hunger is abated.
But with God the This from Him overwhelms mightily the That from us.
God has been favorable to His people.
He has brought back those captive to sin.
He has forgiven the iniquity of His people through Christ.
He has covered all our sins with Christ.
Jesus has taken away the wrath of God.
He has turned God’s fierce anger away from us.
Jesus has restored us to God.
Jesus has caused God’s anger to cease.
God revives our spirits.
God causes us to rejoice.
God shows us mercy.
God grants us salvation.
Mercy and truth are gifts for us and to us.
Righteousness and peace also.
God now looks at us through the lens of Jesus.
God gives us every good gift.
God leads us by Jesus, through His Spirit, to follow in His footsteps.
(Psalm 85.1-7, 10-13)
And for all that, what is required from us? The This for That?
“I will hear what God the LORD will speak,
for He will speak peace to His people and 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” (Ps. 85.8, 9).
Hear what He says to us in His Word.
Fear, honor, respect, and obey Him.
Don’t return to foolish behavior.
Praise Him, appreciate Him, and thank Him, that He:
saved, restores, revives, renews, encourages, and loves us.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8.1).
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5.17).
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2.20).
All the This for That doesn’t really seem fair, does it? But we won’t complain.
“…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5.8)—The LORD of Revival.
Jesus! The Name that charms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease,
’Tis music in the sinner’s ears, ’Tis life and health and peace.
(Charles Wesley, 1739)
Reflection
1. How would you explain the grace of God to a non-Christian friend?
2. What is revival and why do we need it?
3. How would you counsel a new believer to begin sowing the good seed of the Kingdom?
Christ, the way, truth, and life, sprang out of the earth when he took our nature upon him, and Divine justice looked upon him well pleased and satisfied. For his sake all good things, especially his Holy Spirit, are given to those who ask him. Through Christ, the pardoned sinner becomes fruitful in good works, and by looking to and trusting in the Saviour’s righteousness, finds his feet set in the way of his steps. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on the Psalms 85.6-13
Pray Psalm 85.1-2, 7-13.
Pray for revival. Pray that God will revive you, your church, and churches everywhere, and that His mercy, salvation, and peace will abound to us as Jesus is exalted throughout the earth.
Sing Psalm 85.1-3, 7-13.
(Lyons: O Worship the King)
O LORD, You Your favor showed to Your land; Your people You saved by Your mighty hand.
Their sins You forgave, all Your wrath You withdrew; You turned back the anger which to them was due.
LORD, show us Your love; restore us, we pray! And help us to hear the words that You say.
Speak peace to Your people; in truth let us stand. We fear You; let glory and grace fill our land.
In Jesus God’s grace and truth are combined; both goodness and peace in Him do we find.
Truth springs from the earth as He walks in our midst, and righteousness flows from the heav’ns as a gift.
The LORD by His grace will give what is good; our land will produce abundance of food.
And righteousness will go before the LORD’s face, and make of His footsteps a way in this place.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
For more teaching about the subject of this series, “Jesus throughout the Scriptures”, download our free ReVision study, “We Would See Jesus”, by clicking here.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
