Psalm 85

Psalm Category: Song of Lament

Central thought: God is constant in His faithfulness and will surely revive His church again.

Hard times are always a trial. Add to that this psalmist’s sense in Psalm 85 that God has issues with us, on account of our faithlessness, and the darkness only deepens. God’s people were not doing well in those days. They had been exiled to Babylon. A first party had returned home and Jewish life had revived in the ruins of Jerusalem. After a while, they returned to their old ways and God withdrew His blessing (cf. Hag. 1:1-11). The church seemed like Noah’s ark—they were not dead yet, but “above were the clouds, below were the waves” (M. Henry, vol. 3, p, 561). The joy of the past had given way to pain in the present and foreboding about the future.

What was to be done? The psalmist shows the way by reviewing past, present, and future from the perspective of God’s dealings with an errant people.

What did God do in the past? (vv. 1-3). The answer is that He had been “favorable” to His “land.” The land is a figure of speech for the people of God, the church (v. 1a). After national spiritual and moral decline, political extinction and Babylonian exile, God had rescued them from captivity (v. 1b), forgiven sin and revived then spiritually (v. 2), and taken away His righteous anger, thus restoring His favor to them (v. 3)

Notice the “selah” between verses 2 and 3. It is a word that marks a pause for the reader. It says, “Stop and think about God’s covenant faithfulness and everlasting mercy.” They had turned from Him, but He had not let them go. So “count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” God had done great things for them, if they cared to think about it.

What is God doing in the present? (vv. 4-7). Twenty years since that first return, the exiles were in the doldrums spiritually and in every other way—hence their prayer for restoration. This prayer mirrors in reverse their praise in verses. 1-3, the general theme being “Restore us, O God of our salvation” (v. 4a). The petition is in three parts. First, please remove Your anger and chastisements (vv. 4b-5); second, please revive us (Hebrew chayah—lit., “give us life”) and cause us to rejoice (v. 6); and third, please rescue us and save us in Your mercy—Your covenant love (v. 7).

Applying this generally, while we cannot say that a certain setback is necessarily a consequence for a certain sin (see Jesus’ caution in Luke 13:1-5), we should always take occasion from our troubles to humble ourselves before the Lord and plead for His help. Maybe we do need renewal. The psalmist writes, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word” (Ps. 119:67).

What will God do in the future? (vv. 8-13). Having prayed, the psalmist gets an answer! This lays a number of challenges and blessings before his readers.

 1. Are you listening? (v. 8) The Lord “will speak peace,” but don’t you “turn back to folly.” It’s easy enough, when we are scared, to promise God we’ll be “good little boys”—and later show ourselves to be hypocrites with no more than a show of commitment. So “hear what God the Lord will speak.”

 2. Are you really looking for blessing? (v. 9). In other words, be serious, for the Lord certainly is! Your personal salvation and eternal destiny are at stake. “His salvation is near to those who fear Him.” He is “near,” not far away, so close with Him in repentance and faith. The revival of the church is also in view. The salvation of each individual is part of the prospect of “glory” coming to “the land” (a metaphor for the church).

3. Are you willing to follow the Lord? (vv. 10-13). Here the psalmist focuses on how the Lord accomplishes and applies His salvation. The foretaste of Messiah and gospel grace is palpable. There is good news for us in the three-part outworking of His goals for His church in the world.

3.1 Good news salvation (vv. 10-11). In prophetic form, here is both the root and fruit of Christ’s saving work. The root (v. 10) is in the following crossover double parallel:

(A) “mercy” meets (B)“truth”

(B)“righteousness” kisses (B)“peace”

It is only when atonement for sin is made and God’s justice satisfied that salvation is secured. Mercy and peace give life (theme A), whereas truth and righteousness can only condemn a sinner to death (theme B). The former cannot come at the expense of the latter. This is the meaning of the Temple sacrifices and their fulfillment in Christ and the cross. Christ dying for sinners is the root of salvation. The fruit is found in “truth” springing from the “earth,” and “righteousness” looking down from “heaven” (v. 11). Both are the work of God and, again, there are messianic overtones: Christ is incarnate and the blessing is from on high.

 3.2 Good news life and blessing (v, 12). The spiritual drought is over and so the land—the church and the converted—yields its increase.

 3.3 Good news growth (v. 13). God is holy and so “righteousness” is His pathway. And so, in His Word, He leaves His footsteps in that way for us to follow as our path.

Taking these threads together, you can see how they intertwine in Christ and the gospel. Paul writes, quoting Psalm 68:18 of Christ, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men” (Eph. 4:8). These gifts are the promise of new life for all who will receive and follow Him.