Psalm
85:8–10, 13; antiphon, Psalm
85:7—In the Introit for Sunday, we
pray, Show us Your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation. God has
shown His steadfast love and salvation to us by sending His Son into the world
to save us. Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace
to His people. God speaks His peace to us through His holy Word, especially in
the Gospels, where we have a record of the words and the deeds of Jesus, who
accomplished our salvation for us. Truly, His salvation is near to us who fear
Him!
Psalm 85 –
Praying for Revival and Restoration
This psalm is titled To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of
the sons of Korah. These sons of Korah were Levites, from the family of Kohath.
By David’s time it seems they served in the musical aspect of the temple
worship (2 Chronicles 20:19).
Like several psalms, Psalm 85 (in some ways) seems to
fit the period of Israel’s return from exile; in other ways it does not.
Alexander Maclaren noted, “The book of
Nehemiah supplies precisely such a background as fits the psalm. A part of the
nation had returned indeed, but to a ruined city, a fallen Temple, and a
mourning land, where they were surrounded by jealous and powerful enemies.”
Even if this psalm belongs to an earlier period (such as the end of Saul’s
reign), God’s people find themselves in this place from time to time, and this
beautiful psalm is appropriate.
When the prophet Elijah became discouraged and
despaired of his life, “the Word of the
Lord came to him” (1 Kings 19:9b) and stood him “on the mount before the Lord” (1 Kings 19:11). The Lord made
Himself known to the prophet—not in the impressive power of gale force winds,
nor in an earthquake, and nor in the fire, but in “the sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:12). Today God reveals
Himself among us through the frail preaching of the Gospel. The Son of Man
sends “messengers ahead of Him…to make preparations for Him” (Luke
9:51–52). Putting their hand to that plow of preaching, they “go and proclaim the kingdom of God,” and
they do not look back (Luke 9:60, 62). What they preach is not the power of the
Law with its “yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1), but the power of God
unto salvation through the Gospel of forgiveness, by which “Christ has set
us free” (Galatians 5:1).[2]
Collect for
Psalm 85: God of love and faithfulness, you so loved the world that you gave your
only Son to be our Savior, Help us to receive him as both lord and brother and
freely celebrated him as our gracious Redeemer now and forever. [3]
[1] The Cross of Christ, copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things
[2] Lectionary Summary LCMS commission on worship
[3] Collect for Psalm 85, For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and By the Church, Vol. II © 1995 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
[4] Collect for Monday of the week of Pentecost 2, For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and By the Church, Vol. II © 1995 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
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