Bible Studies

---

The Psalms
Psalm 85 – Restoration Revisited
Key Verses: (NCV)

• 1-2: “LORD, you have been kind to your land; you brought back the people of Jacob. ²You forgave the guilt of the people and covered all their sins.” – God faithfully restores His people following times of difficulty or distraction.
  
  
• 4: “God our Savior, bring us back again. Stop being angry with us.” – God may become angry but it is an anger of disappointment and hurt when we drift from Him and do the things we know that we should not do.
  
  
• 6-7: “Won’t you give us life again? Your people would rejoice in you. ⁷LORD, show us your love and save us.” – A prayer of restoration to that place and time of rebirth when we first believed.
  
  
• 8: “I will listen to God the LORD. He has ordered peace for those who worship Him. Don’t let them go back to foolishness.” – Listening to God is the first and most important step to restoration.
  
  
• 10: “Love and truth belong to God’s people; goodness and peace will be theirs.” – God has a plan for our lives and when we immerse our selves into His love, that plan is good.
  
  
• 13: “Goodness will go before God and prepare the way for Him.” – Goodness or righteousness is personified by the psalmist as a guide that will lead us on the pathway to God.
  

Points to Contemplate:

• Have you been restored? Have there been times in your life when you have drifted or fallen back into a sinful way that you had once left? Were you saved and then reverted to you old sinful ways? Remember the number of times the Israelites did this same thing. How often was God faced with bringing them back into in His loving faithfulness? If you have fallen, have you given up? Do you wonder why God bothers with you? Pray for His restoring love. He will lift you back into His arms because He never gives up on you.
  
  
• Does God get angry? Many people do not like this concept of God; that this is an Old Testament viewpoint of God. Do you think God is angered by your sinful ways? Is He angry at you or at the sin? Does the image of an angry parent at an errant child give this anger the psalmist is discussing a new perspective? Isn’t the parent angry at the deed and disappointed with the child? But does the parent stop loving the child, even in the midst of this anger? Can you beseech God to set aside His anger and frustration with you and ask Him to restore your life?
  
  
• Do you listen for God? When things are not going well and you wonder which way to turn, do you seek God? Do you recognize that no matter where you are or what mess you find yourself in, that the first step of restoration is listening? Do you pray for His help? Do you ask Him to lift you from your sinfulness and give you strength and wisdom to follow His righteousness?
  

Promise of the Gospel:

The countless stories of the Israelites falling from the favor of God are in illustration for our own lives. Hope is inspired when we see that no matter how often they failed, God was always there to reach back into their brokenness and restore them into His love. This lesson shows us that God never gives up. He is always available to send His love, truth, goodness, and peace into our lives. The psalmist provides us a prayer we can use to beseech God’s forgiveness and to ask that His righteousness lead us out of the pits of despair and back into the light of His glory.

FUMC Devotionals

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE