YESTERDAY (THURSDAY ): THE PLEA!
TODAY (FRIDAY): THE PRAISE!
(The Praise)
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
Yes, the LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.
(Psalm 85:10-13 ESV)*
This passage contains both the Mechanics and the Fruits of Salvation! It is so beautifully written that we have to look up the original language, then reread this about 5-10 times to get it!
For this, we should be on our face thanking God, because there is a major privilege to just being able to do this! Why do I say this - well, there is a serious unique prerequisite - you must have the Spirit of God alive in you, driving you to grab unto these 13 verses and not let go until you both get the meaning and the blessing of the psalm/prayer!
This sort of exercise in devotion is very similar to what Jacob did when he wrestled with the Angel of God and refused to let Him go until the Angel blessed him. This is the Wrestling Match of all Ages as God then renamed Jacob, Israel and set him and his family on a path to a coming eternal glory! This is how you and I MUST get the Word of God into our solid closed fists, draw it into our hearts and never let it go!
Let us now examine Psalm 85:10-13 closer:
A. Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other (verse 10)....every English translation says the word "Kiss"...it actually stronger than that. This verse explains two attributes of God - His Enduring Love and Commitment to His Promise as INTERLOCKED permanently, not just a temporary kiss!!
B. Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky (verse 11).....after we understand that attribute of God from item A. we should have a response to that Fact!! Yes, we should! Since this prayer is a loving petition to our Abba Daddy in Heaven, we respond to item A. with a complete and firm commitment to our God up in Heaven Who has looked down in His Perfect Holiness on us! Not just respond, but it must explode out us upwards IN PRAISE! This explains the use of the words "spring up"!
C. Yes, the LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase (verse 12)....therefore, because our PRAISE has shot out of our very souls, like a geyser out of Yellowstone National Park, God will pour out His Blessings....like rain! This rain will soak the fertile soil of our humble and submitted hearts. Then, because of God's Truthfulness, we see Fruit! God grants the increase or the Growth He wants us to have as His Adopted sons and daughters!
D. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way (verse 13)....Items A-C above are incredible! Do not take them for granted! A Holy God in Heaven gave His Own Son to fulfill this promise and it is only through loving prayer and intercession, after Salvation, we can even approach Him. Therefore, this final verse underscores that the previous three we looked at, are only possible because God's Righteousness in Christ has mapped out the path for us, by the very fact that Christ's Divinity and Birth as a mortal Man, showed the way Home!
Again, do not miss this! This psalm is an amazingly intense cry out to Holy God from verses 1-9. Then God responds with the Process in verses 10-12. Then God shows how all of this is Possible in the first place - CHRIST...and the Perfect Holiness and Righteousness of Christ!
Is this YOUR PRAYER today? Why not claim this incredibly, worshipful prayer as your own today?! He has promised the increase of you just look up and let His Mercy rain down on you! All around the world....let it rain down on you this day, because His Perfect Love endureth forever! Amen.
*English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
(Image courtesy Google Images)
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