Prayer ands Psalm 85

By: Chris Gaffney

Central to this psalm is God showing his favor and how he did this and how he will do this again.

The first verse comes in powerfully, and says,“You showed favor to your land oh God, and restored the fortunes of Jacob."

The direct effect of the Lord’s favor is restoring or bringing back the fortunes of Jacob. Fortunes do encompass many things, so this would be a multi fold favor. It doesn’t say I restored the fortune but the fortunes, so one of the keys to looking for God’s favor and what it effects, is not to look to narrowly at any one area but it would be more of a sweeping full restoration coming to and from many directions and involving any number of things and aspects.

Verse 2 says,"You set aside your entire wrath, and covered all their sins." Including in the favor is God setting aside his wrath or judgment and covering not some but all the sins." As God’s favor becomes operative and sweeps in, it is a mistake to get wrapped up in prior sins and what they might mean for now. God is covering the sins and the effect they might have had on your life, within the bringing about of restoration as part of his favor. He is restoring you from sins and their effect upon you. There is no sense in getting mired in guilt and letting the wounds opened by sin fester. All the sins are covered or obscured. God is saying, “I have you covered on this, and you can go forward without any further harm that might have arisen from this. As part of the vastness of the favor of God is the covering of these sins as he brings forth his favor.

Verse 8 is very much related to verse 2 and it says in the King James version," I will hear what God, the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints, but let then not return to folly." Here God is releasing his favor, but warning that the folly will compromise this favor and as he speaks there are two things or sides to read. One is, that he is speaking of his favor, which will be most often involves specifics to an individual or nation,but its linchpin or sign that it is coming, is the peace that is there and will follow. Peace being more broadly defined and then applied specifically. God will in his favor, speak to an individual the way of peace, and what you are hearing from God, in some way involves peace. Peace, involves in this case, a settling or resolving of the matter, like bringing a court case to a peaceful resolution, with a warning not to do it again, which is the other side of the verdict. Here even his very saints have been involved in folly and are admonished not to return. And this return to the folly would include just going back mentally and rehashing the mistakes and misfortunes that this folly might have brought about. God’s favor is to release you from that as well. At the same time, don’t go back to what obviously caused the original troubles to arise. An alcoholic person doesn’t go back to hanging out in bars. In today, as many good opportunities as there are, there is certainly a widening span for folly as well.

Verse 6 says," Will you not revive us again,that your people may rejoice in you." God knows that place you can get back to,that you need to get back to, too feel restored in your spirit, mind and body. That place, may seem so distanced from what feels real to us now that the possibility of it, seems lost forever. Too amazingly get it back, as part of God’s favor, is the subject of rejoicing."And if it starts to fade or is lost, God can bring it back again. God’s favor is about not only what he can do and has done, but how He can do it for us again and again and all over again.

For example, maybe you are struggling for your answer from God and if you get it, it would represent crossing an imaginary juncture where everything is now okay. But, something could be lost as soon as it’s found, so we can and must rely on God doing it again for us, if needed. This is part of his continuing favor, he will do this again. It is worth meditating upon and discussing in prayer just how you want God to do what you want again.

You can think back to yonder where God has done it and bring this into your again prayer.

Verse 7 says, “Show us your unfailing love,and grant us your salvation."

I might want to ask God to show me, the manifestions of his love in my life as they are being created even now. As we ask God to show us anything, bring into this asking the aspect of his love for us as individuals and call upon God's love being within what he is revealing, as God crafts what he is showing us, in his love for us as individuals. An example would be saying," God, in your love, show me this or show me the way through."

The remaining verses continue to be power packed in what God will do, in the Kings James version is says in verse 9,

“Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.

[10] Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

[11] Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

[12] Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.

[13] Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way ofhis steps."

First off, is the nearness of God and his salvation to those who fear him, just how close he remains, and glory will come from this in the here and now, and actually take abode in the land. There will be a residential glory to God’s presence and nearness to his faithful ones that is seen in the land.

Verse 10, shows how keenly mercy and truth are related and need to meet together as part of the answer to your prayers.There is a mercy aspect and a truth aspect that needs to be considered and contemplated in meeting together for a resolution, again just thinking of a court case, finding the truth and leaving it to the mercy of the courts.

Righteousness and peace will kiss each other. The right way and peace are directly involved with each other, and involve a type of embrace, if I’m embracing the right way, I’m embracing peace and vice versa. Going the right way, finding the right way, will be marked by the sign and presence of peace.

Verse 11 is talking about the coming together of heaven and earth. God and his heavenly hosts are looking down upon us in the here and now. Truth and the prayers of his saints will spring forth from the earth and shall meet with the righteousness of God, and co create for the good. There is a true encounter between heaven and earth in the prayers and their effects.

God will give that which is good. That is one statement to hang your hat on. With the mass of confusion out there, finding and seeking God, included finding what he will give, and that is going to be that which is good, which is what you really want, after the layers are pulled off and the unveiling of your heart’s desires reach God in prayer.

Our land shall yield its increase, not might but shall. The goodness of the Lord and the increase that will ultimately take place within and from this goodness, and will not be stopped but shall bring about the fullness of it s increase and yield its fruit. The Gospels talk about 100 fold increases for example in the New Testament. This relates to this psalm,and whenever and wherever you might see this increase, it is God giving it, out of his goodness, either to a nation or people or to an individual. His favor has a continuance part to it.

Some of this involves predetermination with God, which of course does go all the way back to the beginning of our lives.The Holy Spirit is going the way before us, meaning, he is charting a course,mapping out roads, and giving us pathways we can actually step into which will be good for us. We have been released from the judgment of the courts thru God’s favor, now the way to go after being in bondage or under the duress of the court and now released from that may still be uncertain, but this new freedom is guided with the steps of the Holy Spirit who is still with us after the release, not so far away or so far ahead that we are so far behind that we couldn't trace and follow those steps forward. If those steps were that far away from me, I couldn’t trace them, I couldn’t follow them, but these steps are steps we can see into enough to follow and discern our way with the continued nearness of the presence of the Holy Spirit and the continued guiding light of the Holy Spirit illuminating our way directly in front of us.

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