85:1 LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of
Jacob.
85:2 You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned all their sin. Selah
85:8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
85:9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell
in our land.
85:10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each
other.
85:11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down
from the sky.
85:12 The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
85:13 Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.
Those folks in the Isaiah and Mark discussions should be trying to preach from the Psalm, and discover what it is like really to be "in the wilderness." Where are you, fellow poets?
Does the Psalm suggest that after waiting for the coming of the Lord, God's presence is demonstrated in the lives of us waiters, who embody the love and faithfulness we await. Faithfulness squirting up out of the ground (v.11) joining gifts from above.
Joe
I am titling my sermon, "Love and Faithfulness's romance, Righteousness and Peace's Kiss". I read on further in Isaiah, especially since we were moving on to other text in the next few weeks, and I find the tread of God's plea for his people to take seriously their need to be reconciled to him, to understand that he "weighs nations" and finds them as nothing, the islands as mere grains of sand. What is important is a right relationship with him: were love is combined with the glue of faithfullness, and the peace that comes from knowing one in 'right'eous relationship with God. There is no peace outside that relationship.
The theme is repentence, and the good news is, God is not holding our sins against us anymore, he chooses to relate to us when we do not deserve it. But if we want to grow, we have got to move beyond love as just an emotion, and learn about a love that is faithful. And we need to know about the peace that comes from the righteousness that is of faith, a right relationship with our heavenly Father through his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rev. Byron in Tenn.
