Scripture: Psalm 85:1-13
These are dangerous and unsettling times. With the incidents of mass shootings in Mother Emmanuel AME Church (June 17, 2015), in Charleston, SC; in the concert hall in Paris, France (November 13, 2015); in the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, CO (November 28, 2015); and in the state run facility for individuals with developmental disabilities in San Bernardino, CA (December 2, 2015), life as we have known it has radically changed.
According to the December 2 edition of the Washington Post online, there have been 355 mass shootings in the 336 days of 2015 with mass shootings being defined as four or more persons being shot in one incident.
As one of the leading countries in the civilized world, we have been uncivilized in our ability to pass common sense gun control legislation. The Second Amendment constitutional right to bear arms has trumped the merciless acts of terrorism and loss of life of innocent people. The US Senate again last week failed to pass such legislation. How many more lives will it take to prick the moral conscious of our legislators to act more responsibly in this matter?
Fear has gripped our nation and people are responding in like manner. While the national conversation of our president and elected officials is one of not being afraid and not allowing such incidents of terror to change our way of life, the reality of the matter is that people are afraid. They are fearful, and frustrated and frantic.
Fear has driven up the sales of guns. Just last week alone in San Bernardino County following the mass shooting that left 14 dead and 17 wounded, gun sales increased more than 30%. We are more cautious of our surroundings and the real threat of terror everywhere; in the malls, in the schools, in the movie theatres, in the hospitals, and yes even in our churches.
It is to this context that the Advent message of peace speaks. God, says the psalmist in this 85th Psalm, speaks peace to God’s people.
In this liturgical prayer, the psalmist reminds these ancient believers of what God had done in their past. Then, the psalmist appeals to God in the present to do again what God had done in the past. And then psalmist concludes this psalm by promising the faithful that God will do what God had been known to do.
The psalmist says to these believers that God has been good to them. In Verse 1, he says that the Lord had been favorable to the land and brought them out of captivity. God, the psalmist says in Verse 2, had forgiven their iniquities and covered all of their sins. God, he says in verse 3, had taken away the wrath and anger of God towards them.
The psalmist suggests to the faithful that a good point of departure for their prayers is remembrance of what God had already done. Remember the favor of God in how God has blessed you. Remember the grace of God in how God has delivered you. Remember the forgiveness of God. In essence, the psalmist tells the faithful that before we ask for anything, we should thank God for everything. He reminds them of what God had done.
Then the psalmist appeals to God to do again what God had been known to do. Turn them and cause your anger to cease towards them (vv.4-5). Revive them that they may rejoice in the God of their salvation (v.6). Have mercy on them and grant them your salvation (v.7).
The psalmist appeal is a genuine appeal acknowledging their humanness and their inability to turn themselves. To turn is the biblical act of repentance. It is the turning away from our will to the will of God.
And then, the psalmist promises to the faithful that if they listen to God, God will do what God had been known to do. In verse 8 he says, I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for God will speak peace to God’s people and to the saints of God. Salvation is near to those who fear the Lord that the glory of the Lord may dwell in the land (v.9). Mercy and truth will meet together and righteousness and peace will kiss each other (v.10). Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven (v.11). The Lord shall give that which is good and the land shall yield its fruit (v.12). Righteousness shall go before the Lord and shall set us in the way of His steps (v.13). God will do again in the future what God had been known to do in the past.
God has a track record and God will do what God has been known to do. I’m confident in God’s promise to heal, deliver, save, to make a way out of no way and to bring peace on earth because God has done it all before.
God has a track record and because God has done it before, God will do it again. This is God’s advent promise of peace. Amen.