Revive Us Lord! (Psalm 85)

Revive Us, O Lord!
Psalm 85

INTRODUCTION:
Last week, when I gave the presentation on our trip to Romania, I mentioned that when we left Josh in the airport in Timisoara, he probably had a little bit of an empty feeling in his stomach / heart. There are times in our lives, that we experience a spiritual euphoria - we are on “Cloud 9.” It’s like the kids when they come back from Horizons. It’s like when we come back from Polishing the Pulpit or the FHU lectureship.

It happens to you when you come back from vacation. It’s nice when you don’t have to worry about setting an alarm clock. You don’t have to go to work. You can go take a hike or go lay out on the beach. Someone else cooks for you; someone else cleans the kitchen; someone else makes up the bed. But then you come back home and all that quickly fades from memory as you get back to the normal routine of life.

But when our highs and lows are spiritual, then it takes on a completely different tone or texture. It might be the case when you leave worship services, and it might have more to do with the song service or perhaps some man’s prayers or the Lord’s Supper, rather than the sermon, but you leave worship services on a spiritual high and you feel like you are going to last a long time before you sin against God again.

But Monday comes, maybe you take it until Tuesday, maybe even Wednesday, and you fall off the wagon. You sin again. The same old sin. It’s not gone. But then you get discouraged, frustrated at yourself because you can’t seem to make it very long; you can’t stay on that “Cloud 9” very long.

It’s in those moments when we have sinned against God and we are frustrated at ourselves that Satan can take advantage of the situation and he can move in and steal the joy that we think we have in Christ. Yes, there are often times when you and I need a spiritual revival.

And that spiritual revival does not come when we go to a lectureship like PTP. And it doesn’t necessarily come when we go to worship, although those events should be a spiritual revival for us. The spiritual revival that sustains us is the spiritual revival that we experience in the privacy of our own Bible study, prayer, and times of meditation on God and His word and works.

Let’s meditate on Psalm 85. The superscription of this psalm says that it was written by one of the sons of Korah. You might remember that Korah was a Reubenite in Numbers 16 who led a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Eventually 250 men would be caught up in this rebellion and God would punish all of them. Korah and his family would be engulfed in an earthquake while many of the men would be burned to death.

But King David would eventually appoint the descendants of Korah as singers in the temple worship. We had a study on King David and his worship a couple of months ago. So one or more of those Korahites - the sons of Korah - wrote this song. It appears from the psalm that the nation of Israel had been in captivity, perhaps in Babylon, and they have returned. But whatever the exact background to the psalm, it is apparent that they needed revival.

So let’s see what the Holy Spirit led Korah to write and to do in order to revitalize the spirits of the Jews during that period of time. Because if we know what the Spirit told them to do, then we know what the Spirit would tell us to do today as well.

Many of us live been “memory” and “hope.” We remember what God has done for us in the past, with thankfulness, and we hope that God will bless us again in the future. Parents and grandparents do the same thing; we remember what God has done for us and we hope that God will do the same thing for our children and grandchildren. Observe how Korah talks about the past, the present, and the future in this psalm…

GOD’S PAST MERCY - 85:1-3:
Since Korah has mentioned a “restoration” to the land, it appears that perhaps we have in view the return from the exile in Babylon. That exile, of course, was because of sin, specifically not not exclusively idolatry.

God has showed “favor” to the land.
God has “restored” the captivity of Jacob.
God forgave the iniquity of His people. There can be no restoration or revival until there is forgiveness.
God covered their sin.

Notice too (ver. 3)…
God withdrew all His fury. This is rage that overflows.
God also turned away from His burning anger.

This is what God has done in the past.

GOD’S PRESENT ANGER - 85:4-7:
Korah believes there still needs to be restoration as he asks for it in verse 4. He acknowledges that if they are going to be saved, it must be by the hand of God.

He still feels the weight of God’s indignation on Israel for he asks for it to cease in verse 4. He feels like God is still angry and wants to know if God will be angry forever (ver. 5). Did you feel that way when you were a child? You did something that seemed to be so bad that you wondered if Mom or Dad would stay mad forever? Thankfully, I never experienced that nor, as far as I know, did Jewell or Ana. Korah asks God if He will prolong His anger to even future generations.

In Deuteronomy 24:16, God promised Israel that the children will not be punished for the sins of their fathers. No, God will not keep His anger forever, to future generations. That’s not Who He is.

But, Korah asks again in verse 6 to revive Israel again, so that His people could “rejoice” in Him, to worship Him. God alone is the source of all life, all good, and we do not want to be separated from that. So we come to God, rejoicing, worshipping Him, being reminded, notice verse 7, of His

Lovingkindness - His steadfast love - His loving loyalty; he will mention it again in verse 10. Based on that steadfast love, God will grant salvation.

GOD’S PEACE - 85:8-9:
Speaking of worship, it must begin with hearing what the Lord has to say. We can never worship God properly if we do not listen to what He has to say. Our worship - both publicly and privately - needs to be saturated with the word of God. He is the one who speaks peace to His people, to His godly ones, His saints.

But we cannot presume upon His grace. We cannot sin so that grace may abound. Here, Korah says that God’s people do not need to turn back to folly, to stupidity. Sin is stupid. It is self-destructive. The world does not recognize that, because the world loves sin.

In verse 9, Korah speaks again about the salvation of God. It is near to those who - fear - Him. We have to respond to God appropriately. Fear is one of the fundamental responses we give to God - deep respect and reverence for the authority, power, and holiness of God. If we fear the Lord, then blessings will come. In Korah’s words, “glory may dwell in the land.” That likely refers to the glory of the Lord that had dwelt in the tabernacle of Moses and then in the temple of King Solomon.

With revival, we will once again feel the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith.

CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS - 85:10-13:
Notice in verses 10-13 that “righteousness” is mentioned three times. When will we experience a revival? When we get our minds and our lives refocused again on the righteousness of Jehovah God.

In verse 10, Korah anticipates the coming of the Messiah because it is in Him and Him only that the lovingkindness and truth of God have met; it is in Jesus and Him alone that the righteousness of God and His peace have kissed each other. John writes, “the law was given by Moses but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). That simply means that all these qualities of Jehovah God were epitomized and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Truth springs from the earth, righteousness looks down from heaven. We can live in a world, if we walk with Christ, which is characterized by truth - truth on earth - and righteousness - the righteousness that comes down from heaven.

Yes, verse 12 reminds us that the Lord gives the good. He keeps blessing me over and over and over and over and over again. It gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by; oh what a love between my Lord and I! He keeps blessing me over and over and over and over and over again!

For Korah, the land of Israel will once again yield its produce. For you and me, our lives will once again bear fruit and give glory to the God of heaven and His Son.

When we focus on the righteousness of God and our desire to live that righteousness (ver. 13). It will flow before us to lead us to the Promised Land in the presence of our God and Savior.

Take home message: When you feel the anger (or absence) of God in your present, remember His mercies of your past and anticipate His peace and righteousness in your future.