"Grant Us Your Salvation"
[Psalm 85]
The phrase "Go and fulfill your salvation" offers us several valuable lessons. (1) The lesson to be faithful to God in even the small things. Many people waste most of their lives regretting their bad habits. They talk about being reborn to a new life, but they never actually take the steps to work out their salvation. You have the privilege of entering into your salvation more fully in every moment. Use that opportunity when God gives it to you at each instant. (2) The lesson to listen to God. We must live in God’s presence and avoid things that cause us to drift away from Him. We must discover the One who dwells in us and pour out our hearts to Him. We must love God more than anything else. We must offer our plans to His will. We need to discover what He desires for us and quickly carry out that work. Even the small things, when done according to God’s will, become great. (3) The lesson to do what God lovingly requires of us and obey Him. That is enough. No matter how difficult or uncomfortable your situation becomes, you are free because you have accepted everything from God’s hand. The greatest thing is to accept suffering without discouragement (Internet).
Last night, I remembered something from the book of sermons on Ephesians 3 by Pastor Martin Lloyd-Jones. It’s the fact that we, as believers in Jesus, are people who rejoice and delight even in suffering… We do not merely accept the suffering given to us in our reality with the hope that it will get better. We receive it with joy. We must receive it all from God’s hands. When we do that, we are free. Therefore, when we face suffering, we should not become discouraged or despair, but instead, we should long for God’s salvation.
Today, in Psalm 85:7, we can see how the psalmist longs for God’s salvation: "Show us Your mercy, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation." Based on this verse, I want to reflect on how, when we ask for the Lord’s salvation, God delivers His salvation to us in four stages.
First, the Lord who saves us turns away His anger from us.
Look at Psalm 85:3-4: "You have taken away all your wrath; you have turned from your fierce anger. Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease." As those who long for the Lord’s salvation, the first thing we must do after sinning is to ask for His mercy (v. 10). Even though we deserve punishment as a result of our sin, we should ask God not to punish us, but rather to turn His anger away from us. The psalmist, as he asks God, "Grant us Your salvation" (v. 7), prays for the Lord to turn away all His wrath from us (vv. 3-4). Then, with the faith that God will not remain angry with His beloved people forever, he pleads, "Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?" (v. 5). Look at what the psalmist confesses in Psalm 30:5: "For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime..." Our God is slow to anger. His wrath is brief. Therefore, when we sin and bring God’s wrath upon ourselves, we must ask for His mercy and plead with God to turn away all His anger from us. When we ask, we should do so with a heart of reverence (85:9). In that reverence, we must cry out for God’s salvation. When we do, the God who saves us will turn away all His wrath from us.
Second, the Lord who saves us covers all our sins.
Look at Psalm 85:2: "You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin (Selah)." In the work of salvation, the first thing God does is turn away His anger from us, and then the grace He extends to us (v. 1) is to cover all our sins. In other words, when God saves us, the second thing He does is forgive all our sins. Just as in the past, our loving and gracious God forgives our sins and covers all our transgressions (v. 2), He is still willing and pleased to forgive the sins we commit today. Why does God want to forgive us and delight in doing so? The reason is that He desires to show His lovingkindness (v. 7). That is why the psalmist prayed to God: "O Lord, my iniquity is great; for Your name's sake, pardon my sin" (Psalm 25:11).
Even though our sins may be great, God's love toward us is even greater.
For this reason, when God saves us, He does so with His great love, forgiving our immense sins. And God speaks peace to us (85:8). Therefore, we must resolve to listen to this word of God, just as the psalmist did (v. 8). We must not return to foolish ways (v. 8). In other words, we should not return to sin. Concerning the truly blessed, the psalmist David says in Psalm 32:1-2: "Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them, and in whose spirit is no deceit." Those who have received the forgiveness of sins and the covering of their transgressions are blessed. Those whom God does not accuse of sin are blessed. These blessed ones are without deceit in their hearts. In other words, they do not hide their sins before God but confess them honestly and sincerely, asking for forgiveness. This is our responsibility. We must confess all our sins to God with a sincere heart and ask for His forgiveness. When we do this, our loving and gracious God will cover all our sins.
Thirdly, the Lord who saves us gives us new life.
Look at Psalm 85:6: "Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?" After God saves us, removing all His anger toward us and covering all our sins, He gives us new life. In other words, He restores and revives our souls. A soul that has sinned needs to be restored after repentance. A soul burdened by sin needs to be restored and revived through God's forgiveness and His word. In today’s passage, the psalmist specifically describes how God’s salvation brings revival in the latter half of verse 1: "...You brought back the captives of Jacob." Here, "the captives of Jacob" refers to the Israelites who were taken captive by Babylon or other nations (Park Yun-Seon). When the psalmist longed for the salvation of God, he was asking for the Israelites to be freed from their captivity. In other words, he was asking for their "restoration." Therefore, he prayed for the Israelites to return to the land of Canaan. In short, the psalmist prayed for "restoration" [“… You brought back the captives of Jacob” (v. 1); “O God of our salvation, restore us...” (v. 4)].
Our God of salvation is the Lord who makes us rejoice by restoring us (v. 6b). First, of course, we rejoice because we have received restoration (salvation), but ultimately, God makes us rejoice and delight in Himself (v. 6, Park Yun-Seon). This reminds me of the first question from the Westminster Shorter Catechism:
Question 1: What is the chief end of man?
Answer: The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
In His love, God makes His chosen people glorify Him, and through that, He makes them rejoice in Him. He revives us and lifts us up so that we may live in His presence (Hosea 6:2).
Finally, in fourth place, the Lord who saves us gives us good things.
Look at Psalm 85:12: "The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest." The God who restores us makes us live before Him and gives us good things generously. He is a truly good God. He is not only the God who blesses us spiritually but also the God who gives us material blessings abundantly. He does not withhold good things from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).
See Romans 8:32: "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" The God who did not spare His only Son but gave Him up on the cross for our salvation is the same God who gives us all good things generously. According to the Apostle Paul, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). He chose us before the foundation of the world, predestined us, and gave us redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:4-5). He also adopted us as His children (Ephesians 1:5). These spiritual blessings were given to us freely (Ephesians 1:6). So, you and I live enjoying the blessings that God gives us freely.
What kind of God is our God?
First, God is the one who knows me best (Psalm 139).
Second, God is the one who loves me the most (Romans 8:32).
Third, God is the one who gives me the very best things right now (Psalm 84:11; 85:12).
This God poured all His wrath onto His only Son, Jesus. All the wrath that should have been poured out on us, He turned away from us and poured it out on Jesus instead. And to forgive all our sins, He placed our sins on Jesus and had Him die on the cross. But on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead. And in Jesus, God has generously bestowed on us every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3).
Praising the God of salvation,
Pastor James Kim's Sharing
(We live another day thanks to this good God!)