O Lord, You have [at last] shown favor to Your land [of Canaan];You have restored [from Babylon] the captives of Jacob (Israel). You have forgiven the wickedness of Your people;You have covered all their sin. Selah. You have withdrawn all Your wrath,You have turned away from Your burning anger. Restore us, O God of our salvation,And cause Your indignation toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever?Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us and bring us to life again,That Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your lovingkindness, O Lord,And grant us Your salvation. I will hear [with expectant hope] what God the Lord will say,For He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones—But let them not turn again to folly. Surely His salvation is near to those who [reverently] fear Him [and obey Him with submissive wonder],That glory [the manifest presence of God] may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and truth and faithfulness meet together;Righteousness and peace kiss each other. Truth springs from the earth,And righteousness looks down from heaven. Indeed, the Lord will give what is good,And our land will yield its produce. Righteousness will go before HimAnd will make His footsteps into a way [in which to walk].

Psalm 85

My Aunt Ruth Plymire served a lifetime as missionary to Chinese and Tibetan people. On her tombstone is etched this two-word epitaph: “No regrets.”

Few persons could say the same thing. Most of us have regrets. We wish we could have a second chance at some of the decisions we muffed. We may think it impossible to recover from the disastrous effect of our own personal choices.

Perhaps someone told you that serving God was like a fork in the road. If you made a wrong turn, you could never get back. I prefer the comparison to the will of God being a river. If you leave the River, bank your canoe, and get lost in the woods, the solution is to head back to the river. You may not be as far downstream as you would have been had you not wandered off, but you can be back in the current of God’s will and blessing.

Psalm 85 is written for people who have failed God, regret doing so, and want to find a place of beginning again.

George Wood

Psalm 85 provides us three means to begin again.

First, take time to remember. Psalm 85 speaks to those who have experienced hurtful personal consequences that are the results of their sins. Without the pain of consequences, we would have little incentive to change but suffering of adversity forces us to call out for help.

Our enemy wishes us to think that our rebellion has caused God to no longer hear us because our last failure has pushed us beyond the limit and we have moved too far from the grace of God. But that is not true. Our ability to return back from devastation lies in His goodness, not ours, for He is the One who seeks us, finds us, turns from anger, shows us favor, forgives our iniquities, covers our sins, and restores our fortunes.

There are certainly those who refuse to forgive what others have done to them. Not only that but they seem to never tire telling know bad that person is. But God is absolutely different, for He not only forgives us but also covers our sins. He is also never interested in broadcasting our sins, but rather chooses to erase the bad episodes from the video tape of our lives.

Sadly, there are so-called believers who don’t understand this principle of God. It seems they take great pleasure in looking for dirt in others and quite willing to spread their findings far and wide.

For us, recovering from a spiritual failure will begin as we remember that God wants us well, and just as He has helped others recover in the past, He will help us.

Second, don’t hesitate to ask God for a favor. As the psalmist remembers God’s past mercy, he finds the confidence to seek reviving, restoration, salvation and joy.

It is reported, as the American Civil War neared its end that when Abraham Lincoln was asked how he intended to treat the vanquished South, he responded, “As if they had never rebelled.”

It is certainly no different with God. If we will but ask freely for Him to put away His displeasure with us, He will. There is no doubt that when we are being disciplined by the Lord’s judgement, it feels like “forever” and “through all generations”(verse 5). But if, like the psalmist, we make our request for renewal with a sincere spirit, the Lord will grant our request.

The “why” He does this is because of His unfailing love(verse 7). Most of us have experienced failed love- the opposite of unfailing love for we haven’t been immune from those who professed love for us one day only to withdraw it later. However, God isn’t a fair-weather friend- His love remains even when we are at our worst.

Third, we should listen to what God has to say. Prayer isn’t a monologue but a dialogue. It is a mistake to view prayer as just our talking to God. Listening is as much, if not more, part of prayer. When we’re hurting, we might find it easier to continually ask God for help rather than being quiet and listening for His response.

We might ask ourselves, “What is He saying to me in the stillness of my spirit?”

Psalm 85 reveals that the writer hears Him speak peace. The Hebrew word, Shalom means more than the ending of trouble or conflict. It also includes wellness, contentment, the absence of lack, and fulfillment.

Usually the emotional, spiritual, or relational pain results from something we lack, something we feel we dearly need. God desires to bring His peace into the great emptiness of your life and to help you “not return to folly”(verse 8)- the self-destructive, senseless patterns of behavior that brought you to the place of despair to begin with.

Psalm 85 closes by emphasizing our being people of love and faithfulness, righteousness and peace,

Unfortunately these two are often divorced from our culture. We hear a lot about love and peace but little about faithfulness and righteousness. But true peace never comes without inner integrity and true love without faithfulness. We can’t say we love those whom we’ve abandoned and our peace is plastic if we have violated God’s will to get it.

When we receive the gift of God’s goodness, our living environment prospers(verse12) and we make good choices(verse 13).

Why don’t we make today the day to start over if we’ve failed?

Dr. John Thompson