A BASIC PLEA

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

You, Lord, showed favor to Your land; You restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people and covered all their sins. You set aside all Your wrath and turned from Your fierce anger.

Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away Your displeasure toward us. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger through all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?

Show us Your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

Psalm 85:1-7

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

What questions would you ask God if you could today in your present circumstances?

As we read the opening verses of the 85th Psalm, we find the psalmist asking more than his fair share of questions to the Lord based on the present circumstances of his day. They included:

Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger through all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?

The psalmist clearly indicates that the Israelites had sinned in some way and fallen out of God’s favor. And as he asked God for restoration and a subsiding of His displeasure, he also wondered how long it would take for God to once again forgive and set aside His wrath.

The psalmist clearly knew that God had shown His willingness to forgive through multiple displays of mercy and grace to past generations of the Israelites. Surely God would do the same for the Israelites of David’s time. But when? When would the Israelites find revival again, a place where they once again could be in a spirit of rejoicing instead of despair and hardship? The questions ring clear.

But note that at the end of this passage, the psalmist chooses to end the questioning and instead make one simple plea:

Show us Your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

Eleven simple words but words we should use in our prayers every day. Call it a daily plea.

Here’s how the psalmist could have structured his words in a way that would use the plea more effectively:

Set aside Your wrath and grant us Your favor once more Dear Lord.

Show us Your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

Forgive our iniquities and grant us Your mercy and grace we pray.

Show us Your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

Restore us and deliver us from Your displeasure.

Show us Your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

And guide us in Your ways everlasting God so our ways might be pleasing in Your sight.

Show us Your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

Amen.

One basic plea because it sticks to the most fundamental things we need from God. His love and His salvation. Strip away everything else you have in life and as long as you have God’s love and salvation then you are set. Nothing else matters.

We should ask God for His love and salvation and when we receive it, we should thank Him for it. Too often, God grants us His love and salvation and we remain silent, despite receiving the greatest gifts known to mankind. If you gave someone a gift of value, you would expect at least some expression of gratitude in return. If you didn’t receive it, you would get offended.

Don’t think God doesn’t get offended too. And so when the psalmist wondered when God would remove His displeasure from Israel, perhaps God’s answer would be, “Whenever you and your people choose to honor me with your gratitude for the deep love I give you and the salvation promise I have offered.”  You see, love goes both ways. We can’t plead to God for His love when our behavior is sinful and warrants His anger and disciplinary action.

Friends, God expects us to turn our lives away from sin and toward Him. When He searches our hearts and sees that this has happened, then and only then will He consider restoring us into His favor. And so as we pray our daily prayers, here’s one other plea from the psalms to add to the one today. It is as follows:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

Combine this with the eleven words from the 85th Psalm and you get something like this, an extension of our basic plea:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Show me Your unfailing love, Lord, and grant me Your salvation.

If we speak these words from our heart every day, we can be assured that God will do just as we ask Him to do. He will test us and expose the offensive ways within us. He then expects us to be rid of them and follow His lead on the way everlasting, the narrow path that Jesus spoke about that leads to life, and not just any life but life eternal (Matthew 7:13-14). When we commune with God in this way, asking Him to lead us ever more toward righteousness and away from wickedness, then we can be confident that we will feel the full extent of His love and approval as we seek to glorify and honor Him in all that we do.

That’s the place where we all should want to be. We can if we just exercise one heartfelt, genuine basic plea each and every day.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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