The Righteousness of God Psalm 85

Transcription

1 The Righteousness of God Psalm 85 This psalm, as with all of them, are reflections on life. Understanding who and where you are where God is in the midst of it and what you proclaim, and know, he will do. Whose life is perfect? No problems, no issues, no rough patches, no questions about how good of a faithful worshipper you are, or are you following as faithfully as you could? Who here feels that they are in the midst of lollipop lane where candy mountains and chocolate fountains are all of life? Yeah, didn t think so. Many of us are not only dealing with things now but we ve been dealing with things for years. Many of us have given up on asking, when will it end and have resolved our lives to saying, just give me the strength for today. Well, this psalm is for you. The big picture of the Psalms is that you, like the author has a relationship with God. That you, like the psalmist writing it, are living in the world and still holding tightly to God. Trying to live for God and obey his rules and be led by him but still understanding that so much is happening around you that actually conflicts with the Word of God and so the writings in Psalms are conflicts and praises laments and prayers. Things YOU and I deal with every day which is why the psalms, still to this day, are one of the most read and quoted pieces of scripture. This psalm, is a psalm written by someone who is in the midst of life. And they ve written it in 3 stanzas, or sections. The first 3 verses speak of the past what the psalmist knows of the Lord through experiences, but also through oral traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. Stories of God s past works and goodness. We see how the Lord showed favor, which means he showed grace and mercy we read how the psalmist knows that the Lord forgave the people of long ago and covered their sins and that any anger he had at any point he sets it aside. Then verses 4-7 are the pains that are present due to the sins that have been committed. These verses are their pleas, their needs, their understandings of their present condition and how and why they got there. Finally, though, verses 8-13 come full circle back to who God was and is. Its verses 1-3 but even stronger. It s the understanding of the past that becomes the present and the future. BECAUSE God was and is love and faithfulness and righteous he shows favor to his people and restores them. BECAUSE of his faithfulness his people s sins will always be covered and his wrath WILL ALWAYS be set aside.

2 I want to talk about these middle verses first. Verses 4-7 are about restoration now. Pleas to God to restore and return favor now not later. What s interesting is that there is this back and forth with the author. Almost like they are pulling on different emotional strings. Restore us and put away your displeasure matched with God our Savior. We have verses 5 and 6 that speak with understanding that God is angry, and that it was something they had done, but also in the same breath there is this revival requested of him so that rejoicing can happen once more. And the question I was hit with is why? Why would anyone want a relationship with someone who has all this power? This power to hurt and harm you, this power to knock you down and KEEP you down, whose anger can last forever and affecting people not only now but falling upon future generations as well. Why would anyone want any relationship with someone like that? THIS is the God many people see. A God who appears to be angry every single day. A God who could very easily snap you in half if he wanted to. A God whose anger lasts from Genesis and then finally relenting in Matthew but then hitting hard in Revelation. A God who, when he doesn t get his way, sends plagues, kills women and children, and even orders his followers to do the same. This, doesn t sound like the loving, compassionate, heartfelt God that Christians worship! This doesn t sound like a God who is slow to anger, teaches about loving one another and serving one another. This doesn t sound ANYTHING like what is preached. So either this God doesn t exist and the God of the Bible is simply made-up or God has somehow changed and gone from mean and angry to loving and kind. Our answer, of course, is in the text. The answer, was not only in verses 1-3 and 8-13 but also in those 4 verses in the middle. The Psalmist knows, understands, and declares, that God s anger does not come because he is hateful and murderous or simply on some power trip the psalmist declares that God covers sin and not just his sin but ours too. Yes the reason for his anger and disappointment is because of sin but God doesn t simply stay angry and stewing in our sin he does something about it. He actually covers that sin so that we are forgiven. You, and me, who are not PRONE to sin we ARE in it every day he comes in and he covers us he atones for it. He restores us from our sin. He restores us and makes us right again. He revives us as it says in verse 6. He puts breath back into our lungs. If you ve ever seen someone doing CPR either by chest compressions, or mouth to mouth, or when they actually have to physically pump the heart that is what God

3 does! He gives us BACK life. Verse 7 says his love is unfailing so even when he is sad and disappointed in how we ve acted and treated him and others his love does not cease it does not fail. I asked the question earlier of why Why would anyone want to be in a relationship with someone who is like that? And the reason is because we, just like the psalmist, understand that what God did has always been in response to what we have done but his actions have always come from a place of love. God IS love. Everything he has ever done is because of his love. Then and now. Love is our framework, love is what we receive, love is what was given to us and asked of us. Towards him and each other. But above all other things the greatest is his love to us. There is a word here that for some reason when I was in Hebrew class, while I struggled with everything else this one word always stuck with me. Tse-dec. Say that with me tse-dec it means Righteous. It not only means righteous but it means right and true, just and accurate. And I love this imagery of Righteousness. We get it in a few verses. Righteousness and peace intimately joining in verse 10, and in verse 11 it is righteousness that looks down from heaven and then finally, verse 13 it is righteousness that goes before the Lord preparing the way for his steps. It s as if we are getting this understanding and picture of righteousness not only coming from heaven but righteousness is a peace that goes before the Lord and clears the path for him. Why is this image and word so powerful for me? Because it reminds me exactly who God is and we declare it and see it from the beginning of time. I ve said this a few times, but our understanding of who God is is what allows us to fully grasp and understand scripture. When we declare that God is good and right and true then every text we read will declare that goodness back and reveal God s goodness in it. Even the really tough ones. Even the ones that we struggle with because in the end we always come back to the goodness of God. And so if we declare that He is righteous and that He has worked from the beginning to bring us BACK, to restore us and give us peace then this text absolutely makes sense and they are words we cling to during times of darkness. Even when we chew on verses like those in 4-7 where we hear that God DOES get angry, that he CAN BE displeased with us. Because there may be times where we FEEL like God s love has somehow failed us not held up to our expectations of him that he has, for whatever reason, withdrawn the FEELING of his presence upon us which is exactly what the psalmist is feeling and in those seasons, those times, we need something to cling to

4 and the only thing we CAN cling to is what we know. What we know of God of the past by the work He has done gives us what God of the future will continue to be who, as it turns out, is also the same God of the present. Notice I said Feeling quite a bit in those 3 sentences. It s because we need to differentiate between US and God. God does not change he is a solid rock that cannot be moved and everything about him is love. Us.on the other hand well, that s vastly different and probably a sermon series all on its own. But I wanted us to understand that God always was and is and always will be. That goes with his presence as well as his heart. And what can change, for us, is depending on where we are or where we ve been our feeling of God can change and that s not right, and it s not fair. So this psalm reminds us that no matter what God always remains the same. The God of the present reminds us that the God of the past sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save it from itself and from the work of Satan. Jesus Christ reminds us of the sacrificial love and dedication of God and his whole desire to restore and return us to what we once were holding fast and true to the covenantal promises regardless of the work we do each and every day to break that promise. Reminding us, as we read in our Epistle (Col 2:6-19) that what Christ was and is is what we become and not by our work but by His work. By his blood we are set free. By his baptism we are also baptized into the family of God. Becoming heirs as he is heir. The Spirit of the present is also the Spirit of the past holding us true and firmly within God s loving embraces. Showing us love and giving us love. When Jesus taught his followers to pray (Luke 11:1-13) he speaks of doors being opened, fish being given, gifts received from God and who do you think gives those things? Who do you think hands those needs to you? The Spirit of God. The giver of gifts. The Anointer of Heaven. We do not fully know what was going on during the time this psalm was written but we DO know what was going on INSIDE the psalmist. There wasn t a struggle with understanding who God was there wasn t a battle raging between the knowledge of who God was was he good or bad there was, and is, a loud voice that declares God s righteousness, love, and faithfulness. This psalm is rejoicing in the unknown that is yet still known. It s the expectation and surety of what will come based on what has always been.

5 Unless, for some reason, gravity fails I expect and know and am assured that if I throw a ball up into the air it will come back down to me. If I hold a pencil out from my side and simply let go of it it will drop and hit the floor. So to the psalmist is just as sure of God and what He does as we are with gravity. That God restores what was broken, forgiving the iniquity of people and covering their sins by the blood shed upon the cross. That he revives, restores, looks down upon heaven and comes down FROM HEAVEN, entering our lives, and daily making us whole and holy. That the God of the past, the God of the present, and the God of the future is the same each and every day. This text may SEEM like it s only for those times when we are in the midst of trouble but let s be honest if it wasn t for God and what he has done then every day WE WOULD BE IN THE MIDST AND FULLY IN TROUBLE. And it is only because of God s righteousness and faithfulness and grace that we can even stand here today knowing that our restoration is not only coming but has already happened and is in full affect taking place each and every day by the Holy Spirit. And to that we give praise and thanks.