Turn us, O God
This psalm is a prayer for their afflicted country….looking to Jehovah, Who alone is able to “turn us”….and bring about a reviving of the soul toward God….
….which is the greatest prosperity any country can have. When we, as Christians, are right with God, we are a great blessing to our country. For our prayers will be heard. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
Psalm 85:1 “Lord, Thou hast been favorable unto Thy land: Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.”
The Lord had brought them out of Egypt….had brought them into Canaan…..had established a nation….and now the psalmist prays that the Lord will look upon HIs land….and save them.
He had saved them many times….against many enemies. He had led them by the hand many times….out of dangers, and out of sin.
Psalm 85:4 “Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause Thine anger toward us to cease.”
We want God to turn from HIs anger….but we need to pray that we will turn from our sin.
He is more willing to bless than we are willing to receive such blessing….but our sins separate us from them, often.
He has delivered before….Praise God….let His mighty work be done, by turning us again.
And this, the psalmist prays for his whole nation….to see his people converted to God, and love and worship Him.
Psalm 85:6-7 “Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?
Shew us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation.”
Revive means to make alive, nourish and make whole. God never does anything by halves. He saves to “the uttermost” (Hebrews 7:25) those that come unto Him.
Psalm 85:8-9 “I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for He will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him; that glory may dwell in our land.”
To me this is the highest point in this prayer…..”I will hear what God the Lord will speak”. When we willfully determine to hear the Lord, He will speak peace to us:
He is the Only One who can speak peace….and peace will come.
Isaiah 57:15,18 “For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, Whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite (repentant) and humble (honest) spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.”
Notice, “and to his mourners”….it is as if the Lord is showing that this one was as dead,….but He saw his ways….and will heal.
His ways here means that God saw that this one humbled himself….became honest about his sin, and repented….coming to Him for forgiveness, and deliverance from it.
I will heal him….I will lead him…
…what more can we ask! For healing is for now, and leading is from now on.
“But let them not turn again to folly.”
What folly sin is! It loses so much for us. It loses God’s felt presence (He never leaves a Christian…but He often withdraws the peace of His presence, and lets the darkness we stepped in, hide HIs glorious light).
Sin loses time….and often loses opportunities for a growth in grace, or opportunities for witness to others.
(People talk about “losers” all the time….sin is a loser! For it separates us from our closest Friend.)
Psalm 85:10-11 “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.”
(I have never really understood these verses, till the Lord showed me the intimacy of them.
Where do mercy and truth meet? Where does righteousness and peace kiss each other?
Only in Christ! Again I say, Only in Christ!
Are you in Christ? Then know His mercy and truth….and be led on in them. They meet together in Him, and walk together. Face Him in truth, and mercy is right there, with you.
Righteousness…not mine, but His….and peace have kissed each other. The most sweetest of greetings….kissed each other. And it is, when His righteousness has been applied to me, that I have real peace. Peace with God, peace with others, and peace, even with myself.
They have kissed, in Christ! Righteousness and peace are not at a distance….but intimately linked for me.
What a blessing….in Christ….we have!)
And remember, this is a prayer for the nation…..how wonderful for any nation,….whose God is the Lord!
Psalm 85:12-13 “Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
Righteousness shall go before Him; and shall set us in the way of His steps.”
And here is “that confidence in God, which hath great recompense of reward” (Hebrews 10:35)
When God sends down His grace, the hearts that are His, send up our prayers, with obedience.
To bear fruit for HIs glory…
…then, righteousness shall go before Him,…for it was always the Will of the Father that He did…but since Christ did it for us…
….He “shall set us in the way of His steps”. Follow Me, was His call….and it is the same today.
“Turn us, O God of our salvation,…shew us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation.
Truth shall spring out of the earth…and righteousness shall look down from heaven.”
What a day that will be, when He reigns on earth.
But today, He can reign in us, His people, and we can have His intimate peace and truth…and we can shed abroad HIs light….praying for ourselves to be revived….our family and our nation.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 