November 2 thru November 8 2009

Day One, Psalm 85:8a,b; Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people. This Psalm is one of the litanies used during temple worship when the nation was in the grip of droughts, plague, etc. In Biblical times many people believed that problems such as these were a sign of God’s disfavor toward the nation. The first seven verses form a prayer said in unison by the worshippers. Today’s verse begins the response by the priest to the people’s prayer. I can almost hear someone saying, “Nice history lesson, but what does that mean to me today, I mean, I’ve got my own problems.” And that is exactly the meaning of this verse! Whether we are talking about a national calamity or personal situations that threaten to overwhelm us we need to take time to pray about them, but we also need to remind ourselves to be quiet and hear what God would say to us. Too often, we pray about a problem, say “AMEN” (with an attitude of “Okay God, you fix it for me, I’ve got things to do”) and then get busy doing other things. My own experience and that of others is that when we pray about a problem, we need to remain quiet, in an attitude of prayer. When we do this we will often receive insight, assurance and answers before we leave the throne of grace.

Day Two, Psalm 85:8c; To his faithful people, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Recently, someone complained about a mutual friend who failed to assist him in solving a problem. He told me that he had gone to the person, sincerely asking for advice and was simply told, “I’m not sure I can help you…” I sympathized with the complainant, but also knew why the mutual friend had failed to help him. The fellow doing the complaining had on two occasions refused to help the other fellow with a business situation, and another time had stolen a customer from him based a conversation they had the previous day. In other words, his lack of loyalty and sincere friendship had created a wall between the two of them. If we expect God to be loyal to us (faithful), we need to be loyal to him, and our loyalty needs to be from the heart, not just our head.

Day Three, Psalm 85:9a; Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him. This passage reminds us of the glorious fact that we can be certain that God’s “salvation” is close by (at hand). Many Christians have so spiritualize the concept of “salvation” that they limit its meaning to a personal saving of the soul, which is important. However, for the Hebrew people the word had a much broader meaning. Salvation means liberation, deliverance, a sense of prosperity (yay’shah) that comes because an opening has been made in a seemingly hopeless situation through which they could escape, thereby giving them freedom (yawshah’). What this verse tells us that even when we are faced with harsh circumstances, difficult decisions and seemingly impossible situations that we can be certain that God will show us (or make for us) an opening that will enable us to escape to freedom, all we have to do is avail ourselves of it by truly reverencing (the meaning of fearing) God and asking for his assistance. Too many of us are like the woman whose car wouldn’t start, but was too embarrassed to try to flag down the two tow trucks that drove past her. She wound up walking three miles to get home and complained to her husband that the two tow trucks didn’t take the initiative to stop to ask if her car was broken down somewhere!

Day Four, Psalm 85:9b; That His glory may dwell in our land. I asked a friend of mine how a big business deal he had been working on was going. He said he just sign the contract, but that at first it looked like a larger firm was going to get the deal. Then a well respected business leader had written a letter recommending his firm and “with his weight behind the deal, it went through.” In other words, the weight of this business leader’s reputation influenced the buyer to select my friends company. In its purest form, that is the practical meaning of today’s passage. God will provide the opening that liberates us and empowers us (salvation), but he does it in order that the weight of his influence can be evident to others. The Hebrew word “glory” refers to the weight of God’s splendor. God does not “save our soul” or deliver us from difficulties, or heal us from diseases just because of who we are. God gives us his salvation to enhance his reputation as a loving, caring Heavenly Father so that others can see what he has done for us (and hear us tell what he has done for us), and desire to have the “weight of his love and concern” shown in their lives.

Day Five, Psalm:85:10a; Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet. A few days back our devotional centered around the last part of verse 8 (November 1), in it we saw that God would speak peace to his loyal (faithful) people. This verse harkens back to that concept, telling us that God’s glory is seen at the intersection where our loyalty meets God’s unchanging, unshakeable love. Picture yourself traveling down a dark foggy road filled with potholes.
it is too narrow to turn around so inch along, headlights shrouded in fog, carefully watching the road. The only thing you know about this road is that eventually it will intersect with a four lane highway. You consider stopping to wait for the fog to lift or daylight to come, but you realize that could prove hazardous. You consider abandoning your vehicle and striking out on foot across country, but you realize you would probably get lost. So you keep inching forward, knowing that if you keep going you will eventually come to the highway. Life is full of difficult roads, we get on some of them intentionally (trying to take a shortcut to happiness, etc); others we get on accidentally (circumstances we didn’t anticipate). This verse assures us that if we keep faith with our commitment to God we will eventually intersect with his steadfast love—and when that happens all will be well.

Day Six, Psalm 85:10b; Righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Several years ago, I was on a rather tumultuous flight. We had bad weather all the way and when we finally landed the man going down the jet way in front of me was walking unsteadily. Then he saw his wife standing in the waiting area and literally ran to her. As he kissed her I overheard him say, “That’s the sweetest kiss I’ve ever had because on that flight I realized just how right for me you are!” I don’t know the meaning behind those words, but I assume the flight had made him realize just how lucky he was to have his family. I saw them again as we waited for our luggage and his countenance was completely changed. On the flight, he had been nervous and actually turned pale, but now he seemed peaceful and calm. As you recall, our October 31st meditation assured us that God would speak peace to those who take the time to listen to him. Over the years, I’ve discovered that many times in the midst of difficulty God has spoken peace and assurance to me—but things didn’t change that much outwardly—I just had an inner calmness that things would work out, if I kept trusting him. And when they did work out, it was usually much better than I had hoped for. At those special times, the righteousness of God (his doing what he said he’d do) took on special meaning because the peace he had previously spoken was validated by his actions—and it was “the sweetest kiss I’ve ever had.”

Day Seven, Psalm 85:11,12a; Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky, and The Lord will give what is good. What a confession of faith this verse contains—God who is pictured as being high above us, is the epitome of the one who does what is right (righteousness) for his loyal (faithful) earthbound people. But this confession contains something we often overlook. We are told that God is looking down from the sky. The word that has been translated “look” really means “leaning out”. The picture is not of God surveying his world, rather of God making an effort to see and find those loyal to him, in order to “give what is good.”