Most people like to see justice done, and truth to prevail when something wrong has been committed. If someone has done something wrong, then justice needs to be meted out. On the other hand, there are those who want mercy to be shown, especially if a loved one or friend is involved. It seems that those two, mercy and justice, can never come together. Either the truth is shown and justice is meted out, or mercy is shown, but not both. In our psalm for this week we will see where God has made this possible, where true justice is served, but also mercy is shown.
Psalm 85 is one of several psalms that were written by the Sons of Korah. The Sons of Korah were Levites, and descended from Moses’s cousin, Korah, who led a rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16:1-33). God caused the earth to open up, and all those involved in the rebellion were swallowed up. However, Korah’s children did not die in this rebellion (Numbers 26:11). They continued to serve the Lord, and later their descendants were gatekeepers and musicians in the Temple, and wrote several Psalms.
As the Sons of Korah observed, the people were prone to falling into sin. We all are today, just as they were in the past. They saw the cycle - the people sin, God forgives, they sin again, God forgives again. Would He continue to forgive the people? The psalmist knew that God was a God of truth and justice. When the people broke His law, God’s justice would demand punishment. Yet they wanted and needed His mercy (vs. 4-7). Mercy is God’s loyal and unfailing love. It is when He holds back from giving us what we really deserve.
How can God’s justice be met and His mercy be shown at the same time? Under the Old Testament Law “mercy” and “truth” could not meet. “Righteousness” and “peace” could not kiss or greet each other. Yet that is what the Psalmist says will happen (vs. 10-11). How could it? The Sons of Korah unknowingly were looking ahead to the time of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, where these two, justice and mercy, would meet. Jesus satisfied the Law, and did so in every capacity. He did so at the Cross. At the Cross, truth and righteousness judged sin in the Person of Jesus Christ. At that time the barrier between God and man was settled. Mercy and peace can now flow freely to all believers, those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Only those who renounce their sins and put their complete trust in God will participate in salvation, and His future Kingdom (vs. 9).
There is another message that the Sons of Korah spoke of in this psalm. In our Scripture the psalmist makes a prayer to God for revival (vs. 6). He sees in the people a continual swinging back and forth from sinning to trying to do right, from following after the pagan practices to following the Lord. He also sees apathy in the people. They may not be openly practicing evil, but their fervor for the Lord has died down to barely a flicker. He prays to the Lord to send a revival among the people, a renewal and resurgence of their faith. Just as a person who is deathly sick comes back to health and they are “revived”, so too a person who has drifted into apathy in their faith, needs to be revived.
Revival begins with the Holy Spirit working in individual hearts, bringing a return to God with passion and zeal. True revival is based on truth found in the Bible. We need to pray for revival, both in our own individual life, and for revival in our churches. Too many believers have grown cool in their faith, bored, unconcerned, and listless. Too many churches are asleep, or are drifting into dangerous waters with their beliefs. We need to be brought back to spiritual life, as so many churches and communities are spiritually deathly ill or even dead.
Spiritual revival is not only about restoring a right relationship with God, it is also about returning to a place where we can delight in Him, and celebrate His goodness, love, and mercy. Let us pray, as the psalmist did, that a great revival would sweep among God’s people!
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