"To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
Lord, you were favourable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.
4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation towards us!
5 Will you be angry with us for ever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 Yes, the Lord will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way."
Psalm 85
What a word it is that this waiting and trusting saint hears and receives from the Lord! It is the promise and assurance that revival and renewal will come (8). This is the answer to the prayer in 6, 'Wilt thou not revive us again...'. Some scholars take 9ff as a prophetic utterance stating what would happen from God in the fulness of the time. It is true, of course, that the striking words in 10,11 about mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, find their fulfilment in Christ and His atoning work, and that in the last analysis what the Psalmist looks forward to - that is the Golden Age - is consummated in Him and brought about by Him. But in its immediate reference, in the answer it gives to the prayer of the Psalmist these 'graces' are the 'gifts' that accompany the coming of the glory of God upon the land. Mercy, truth, righteousness, peace - what a need for these things in the world, in our society today - in industry, in politics, in the media, in public life. For this we should surely pray, 'Wilt Thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?'