April 6, 2020

TURN US O GOD

Psalms 84 (85)

O Lord, You were pleased with Your land; You turned back the captivity of Jacob;
You forgave the transgressions of Your people;
You covered all their sins. (Pause)
You ended all Your wrath;
You turned from the wrath of Your anger.
Turn us, O God of our salvation,
And turn away Your anger from us.
Will You be angry with us forever,
Or will You prolong Your anger from generation to generation?
O God, You will turn and give us life,
And Your people will be glad in You.
Show us Your mercy, O Lord,
And grant us Your salvation.
I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me,
For He will speak peace
To His people and to His holy ones,
And to those who turn their heart to Him.

His salvation is very close at hand to those who fear Him,
That glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth met together;
Righteousness and peace kissed each other;
Truth arose from the earth,
And righteousness looked down from heaven.
For the Lord will give goodness,
And our land shall yield its fruit.
Righteousness shall go before Him
And establish His footsteps as our pathway.

Encouraging Words

This is a Psalm that could apply to our lives today. First of all, I will not jump on the bandwagon proclaiming that God is using this pandemic to punish us for our sinful ways. That is not the God that I worship. Secondly, if we proclaim to be followers of Christ then we must remember that we are citizens of the heavenly kingdom and now living as ambassadors for Him on this earth. It is our responsibility as ambassadors to represent Him, especially in times such as this pandemic. How do we do this? By loving our neighbor and taking care of those in need around us. By being beacons of hope showing to everyone around us that our God has our eternal lives in His strong and protective hands. By being obedient to the laws of the land that He has placed us in, as His representatives. Now is the time for His followers to turn to Him and really follow in His footsteps, even to the cross, for Him and our neighbor. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!