Daily Devotional Podcasts

518_Revive us again that we may rejoice in you Psalm 85 Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. 2 You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered 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, 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, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. 9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. 11 Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. 12 Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way. A pastor once told the story of a small church in the countryside that had grown cold over the years. Worship had become a formality, prayer meetings were empty, and people seemed more interested in discussing crops and weather than God’s Word. One day, during a particularly lifeless service, an elderly farmer stood up and prayed aloud: “Lord, the barn needs cleaning, the fields need plowing, but more than all of that, our hearts need reviving. Revive us again, Lord, that we may rejoice in You.” His words struck the congregation like lightning. For weeks afterward, people gathered to pray, tears flowed, old grudges were forgiven, and joy returned to that small church. The farmer had put into words the cry of Psalm 85: “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” Psalm 85 is the prayer of a people who know what it is like to walk away from God, to experience His discipline, but also to taste His mercy and forgiveness. It is both a looking back to God’s past mercies, a prayer for rescue in present troubles, and a picture of what happens when his people walk with him. The psalm opens with remembrance. “Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.” Israel’s history was marked by wandering, rebellion, and repeated failure. They underwent repeated discipline, being overcome by their enemies. Yet they were not forsaken. God restored them when they repented and cried out to him. He forgave their sins. He turned His anger away. Verse 2 reminds us that God forgave their iniquity and “covered” their sins. Importantly, the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. These sacrifices only foreshadowed the final and only perfect atonement made by Christ our Lord on the cross. For Christ’s sake, God continued to be merciful