Psalm Meditation 877
Palm/Passion Sunday
April 9, 2017

Psalm 85
1 LORD, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people; you pardoned 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 toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again, so 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 faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
9 Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky.
12 The LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him, and will make a path for his steps.
(NRSV)

“God has no grandchildren.” It means that each generation accepts the personal relationship God offers to us. We are children of God. We cannot depend only on the relationship between our parents and God, we need to form that relationship ourselves. All that to say that it appears the psalmist is calling on God to honor the relationship with a previous generation for the sake of the current one. As you did all these wonderful things for our parents, we are ready for you to do all those same things for us. The psalmist’s generation opens the bargaining by asking God to do wonderful things. Once that happens we will be a thankful people.

While it is true that God is always the first actor, there is a sense here that the people are making the first move by asking that God restore and revive them before they turn to God in faithfulness and awe. It is always tempting to make demands on God as if we are the ones opening the negotiations. ‘God, you do this for me and I will do this in return.’ I am not sure what kind of counter offer we can make in the event that God decides not to do as we ask. One assumption is that if God doesn’t act according to our instructions there must not be a God. Who is most damaged by that assumption?

Yes, this is an unusually bleak reading of the psalm. Our requests for God’s attention are not bargaining chips so much as acknowledgements that we have wandered off and now want to be drawn back into a heartfelt, heart changing relationship with God. We are not in a position of power so that we can negotiate, we are in a position of desire. Our desire is to have the kind of relationship with God that we have seen from previous generations. What we don’t know is that as we come into the presence of God knowing that something is missing we are repeating the process of each generation before. God is waiting to save us, love us, and give us peace.

April 3, 2017
LCM