1 Lord, you were favourable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you pardoned 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,
so 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,[2]
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.
We all need restoration. Each day. Not like a crumbling ancient monument. But as living beings through which God breathes the polluted air of our age. We need the kiss of life. God desires this for all humanity and all creation. And our psalmist experienced this need, not only personally but as a longing for the whole fabric of society. Indeed, the psalmist’s vision is much broader than simply a nation state, a socio-economic-political entity: it is for the universal reign of God stretching from earth to sky.
As I read this psalm we continue to emerge from lockdown, yet are haunted by the prospect of a return of the pandemic in a second destructive wave over the autumn and winter. Every plan made is contingent. In fact, it remains difficult to plan with certainty for anything. In my work, I juggle two possible futures – one delivering formation and training on Zoom and the other, much hoped for possibility, of being ‘in the room’.
Scholars consider psalm 85 to being a post-exilic communal prayer for help. The worst has past and the people have returned home from captivity. Yet the need for being made whole by God (salvation in vs 4, 7 and 9) remains. Children of God need always to be saved from themselves. And it seems that despite the return from captivity (just like the original exodus experience of release from captivity) is not enough to create a faithful, righteous, just and peaceful life. So it is, with our nation and the global community. We are returning to a less restricted way of life. But we are traumatised, in some way, by the reality that the pandemic is not over and the risks associated with Covid-19 will remain until and beyond the discovery of a vaccine. Many are tired and even exhausted. Many sense this summer has to bring restoration in order to strengthen us for service in to the autumn and winter. How are we to find restoration?
As I read the psalter in Daily Prayer, I found this translation of the first part of vs8 helpful: ‘I will listen to what the Lord God will say’. It presents a more active choice by the psalmist than the NRSVA translation ‘let me hear what God, the Lord, will speak’. Actively listening to God may come in many forms for you and I. What the psalms do teach is that passionate attentiveness is one of the marks of prayerful listening. This is about getting close to the heart’s cry and the deeper emotions of yearning of God, I believe. The disposition of the psalmist – of searing honesty and raw truthfulness (best revealed in vs4-7) – leads to a revelation of the character of God. Meeting with God and enjoying God’s presence and being recalibrated in that meeting is surely the goal of attentive prayer.
This psalm pivots on vs8. From the attentive listening comes revelation after revelation that trims the psalmist’s sails in a new direction. From vs9 onwards, the psalm is a character study of God’s nature and the fact that we are called to close relationship with our creator, redeemer and restorer. God is:
· Close to those who fear (vs9) – so that God’s glory is seen everywhere
· Where mercy and truth meet together (vs10) – in conversation and discourse, in private communion and the public square
· Where righteousness and peace are so close they even kiss each other (vs10) – not a hidden passion but a joyful revelation to a whole community
· The one who accomplishes these things so that God’s character of truth and righteousness fills the earth from ground to the heavens (vs11)
May we have eyes to see and ears to hear as the future rolls towards us. May we be eagerly looking for signs of God’s kingdom around us. And may we also find renewed commitment to pray ‘your kingdom come, your will be done.’
[1] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) New
Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian
Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United
States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] I will listen to what
the Lord God will say:
translation in Daily Prayer ©2010 Church House Pulbishing; p775
This psalm gives us a much needed message of hope of renewal with some beautiful poetic phrases. In these days of very limited physical contact, when I long to hug those I love who I don’t live with, the picture of God’s kiss of righteousness and peace is so reassuring and comforting., and full of hope. As I began to visualise that kiss I wondered how artists have depicted it, and I came across John August Swanson’s painting of Psalm 85. You may like to have a look and watch the short video in which he explains his work for himself.
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