Psalm 85:4-5 Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Restoration.
It is a consistent refrain in the Word, where the people of God, having slipped (or run headlong) into sin, have fallen victim to bondage and captivity. When Israel finally came to it’s senses, the plea to God was always for restoration, for the Lord to rescue the people who knew Him, back to a place of favor before Him.
I am not sure of when this Psalm was written, whether after the captivity of Babylon, or possibly during one of many spiritually low spots previous to the captivity. Either way, it is a telling psalm of the nations knowledge of their standing before their God.
The people of God needed restoration. They called out to the God of their salvation, seeking restoration to their salvation experience. They were a people of covenant, who had broken ties with their God and reaped the result of having no hope! The people of God understood they were experiencing the anger of a holy and righteous God – which if truth be told, is an enviable position to be in.
Now hold on Carl. To be under the judgment of God is an enviable position to be in? Are you smoking crack? Let me repeat my thought. It is an enviable position to rightly understand their position before God. It is that we are in an enviable position if we know the truth of our position before God.
Many in our day think they are in a great standing before God, and yet live a life of utter disregard to the will of God, the Word of God and the Son of God. The folk in this psalm, of whom we read this morning, understood their position before God and reached out the the only One who could restore them.
A short phrase in verse 4 catches my eye, when the psalmist admits that even their best efforts are of no use before the Mighty God. Do you see what I speak of?
put away your indignation toward us
The psalmist is not claiming that they will do better, that the people of God could earn their position back with the Eternal Father, that some action on their part could assuage the anger of God.
He begs God to put away His own anger, the anger that is towards His own people. God only can put away His own anger. Amazing!
Does that not scream of the crucifixion, of the Father smiting the Son, striking Him, crushing Him and placing all the iniquity on the Servant of God. God did put away His own anger. Jesus carried the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:4,5,6
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Is Jesus the restoration provided by God? Is the crucifixion the very solution God has provided for those needing salvation, revival and restoration?
To ignore Him and to turn to religion, or good morals or to be socially acceptable is simply to spit in the face of God. We are stating by our actions of religion, morals or social graces that His solution is not good enough for us! How repugnant it must be in the nostrils of our God for us to abandon His solution for beggarly efforts such as those!
Think about it, for if those in the Old Testament, having the light they had and yet rebelled, knew of the anger of God and the need for His mercy, how much more do we who have come after the resurrection need to turn to Him for our restoration and salvation.
My friend. Jesus truly is the answer to this Psalmist’s request for God putting His anger away. That anger was consumed in the cross, in the death of the Messiah.
It is truly an enviable position to understand your position before God. Can you admit of your weakness, your poverty, your inability before Him? Do you understand the separation between Him and you, the gulf that can’t be crossed by your own efforts?
If you are of this condition, knowing you will have to answer to Him someday, are you seeking to put away God’s anger on your own? Are you trying to be good enough? Are you rejecting the very solution God has provided?
My friend, without a living faith in the One who has consumed the anger of God, having come out of the grave to prove His victory, there is no safety. Without God’s provision, there can be no true restoration, no true salvation, no true life.
Realize your need, understand your position before God. Consider the tremendous gulf between the Holy One and yourself. Understand your true condition before God. Agree with that ol’ hymn ” Amazing Grace”.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!
God reveals not only our dire situation, but also of the complete and full rescue He has provided in His Son Jesus, the Resurrected One.
Run to the One who has put away His own anger!
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