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"A Prayer
  for the Nation's Welfare"

   Psalm 85

   Good News Translation (GNT)

   "Hebrew Title:

    "A psalm by the clan of Korah."

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  1  Lord, you have been merciful to your land;
        you have made Israel prosperous again.
  2  You have forgiven your people's sins
        and pardoned all their wrongs.
  3  You stopped being angry with them
        and held back your furious rage.
  4  Bring us back, O God our saviour,
        and stop being displeased with us!
  5  Will you be angry with us forever?
        Will your anger never cease?
  6  Make us strong again,
        and we, your people, will praise you.
  7  Show us your constant love, O Lord,
        and give us your saving help.
  8  I am listening to what the Lord God is saying;
        he promises peace to us, his own people,
        if we do not go back to our foolish ways.
  9  Surely he is ready to save those who honour
        him,and his saving presence will remain in
        our land.
10  Love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness
        and peace will embrace.
11  Human loyalty will reach up from the earth,
        and God's righteousness will look down
        from heaven.
12  The Lord will make us prosperous,
        and our land will produce rich harvests.
13  Righteousness will go before the Lord
        and prepare the path for him.

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Commentary taken from 'word-on-the-web'
supplied by Scripture Union

'Counting our blessings'

Here is a song for anyone who's experienced loss, whether of home or heart.
Thought possibly to have been written on the return from exile in Babylon, there is certainly a sense of the hardships that God's people have experienced. Verse 12 may even refer to the drought predicted in Haggai 1:5-11.

(Haggai 1v10)
10  Therefore, because of you the heavens
    have withheld their dew and the earth
    its crops.
11  I called for a drought on the fields and
    the mountains, ...)

This psalm illustrates the tension that believers have experienced throughout the ages between an assured faith in what God has done and the reality of the present in which he has become distant and what was promised seems endlessly delayed.

The opening verses celebrate the divine forgiveness and mercy which form the very basis of Israel's existence. These are historical facts and nothing can change the record of God's mighty deeds in the salvation of his people. Although judgement has come, the first we hear from God is a word of peace (v8)
This comes to those who fear (in awe of ) him
(v 9), but not in the sense of earning God's approval; rather, these are the ones who are ready to receive what he longs to give. His salvation is 'near' (v 9a), anticipating Jesus' own preaching about God's kingdom, his just and righteous rule.

This psalmist was straight with God, and what a difference it made! The final section, verses 8-13, have a much more contented tone. Because he's been honest with God about his struggles he's able to embrace God's promises. An individual voice breaks in, possibly someone in the Temple with a prophetic gift who, hearing the corporate lament, announces: 'I will listen to what God the Lord says' (v 8). He reports that the divine response is one of reassurance and verses 9-13 overflow with words of comfort:

God is near those who fear him; and allow his ways to be their ways (vs 10-12).

The experience described here is familiar to Christians who struggle with the apparent gap between the promise of the gospel and the reality of a world (and, alas, a church) which seems to change very little.

We need both the honesty and integrity of the prayer of this psalm and the gift of prophets who can speak God's word of hope and promise as a response to our anguished cries.

Other versions are available here

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