Daily Devotion – December 4, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
85:1 LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
85:2 You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. Selah
85:8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
85:9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
85:10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
85:11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.
85:12 The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
85:13 Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.
Peace and restoration.
This psalm appreciates all the good things that can be seen once a bad time is over.
Have you ever been suffering, either from a time fraught with danger or from a personal dilemma that was hard to resolve? Such a problem pulls you inside it, places you into a powerless position, and holds you there, sort of in the dark, so that you don’t even know what time of day or night it is. There is only the present moment; whatever past you see looks beautiful by comparison, and there are no hopes or dreams for the future.
Now read this psalm. Such a dark time has just passed for this psalmist. The first verses say that although badness, sin, iniquity had been present, they have been removed and the people have been released and forgiven. And just see how a vision for a decent, plentiful, right future springs from these acts of God – of God’s forgiveness and restoration
When you have come out of a period of suffering, of being imprisoned in the present dark moment and you have been released to see both the past and the future more clearly and hopefully, have you also felt the joy this psalmist feels? Such time should help us know that God is part of our world, both our sufferings and our release. And restoring a right relationship with God (for that is what righteousness means – not being right and never making mistakes, but a trueness in our relationship with God) makes the next dark night of the soul more bearable, less awful, more tolerable, knowing we can emerge from it still holding onto God’s loving hand.
Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for staying right with us through troubled times. Thank you for holding our hand. Help us to notice it! Amen.
