“An appropriate response”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, March 7, 2024
Psalm 85 (Forward, p. 38) CEV p. 607
Consistency and steadfastness are rarely a pattern for God’s human creatures, for we certainly can be quite fickle and variable at times, both in our actions and in our intentions. Today’s psalm reflects something of this, especially in verses 4-7. In these the psalmist reflects on how God’s people have become estranged from God, how they have ‘erred and strayed’ from God’s ways. And so, he pleads to God to let go from His fully appropriate and righteous anger and ‘bring them back home.’ Indeed, he yearns for the new life and joy that only God can bring.
All this he sets in the context of God’s past mercies, as explained in verses 1-3. In them, he recounts God’s past blessings and forgiveness. “You have forgiven the sin and taken away the guilt of your people. Your fierce anger is no longer aimed at us” (verses 2-3). His thinking is this: if God could do this for us back then, then surely He can do it for us now.
And so, in response to this mercy, the psalmist pledges, on behalf of himself as well as the others, to do several things:
-to listen to what the Lord God is saying (‘let me hear’).
-to be faithful to God and turn his heart (their hearts) to Him. -to honour and respect and worship Him.
And surely, the psalmist supposes, certain things will follow from these actions, steadfast love, mercy, truth, righteousness, prosperity, justice, and peace. And, all of it, of course, was rooted in what he already knew and had experienced of the steadfast love and mercy of Almighty God. And, certainly, should this not be our motivation as well: as we have known God’s love, should we not respond in kind? Amen.
Forward notes: “Show us your mercy, O Lord, and grant us your salvation” (verse 7).
Commemoration: Perpetua and Felicity
“The appalling ordeals experienced by Perpetua and Felicity in the third century reveal an imperial-sanctions persecution of Christians that was relentless and without mercy. The women had already experienced hardship in life. Perpetua lived as a single mother, and Felicity was most likely her slave. The Christian faith that appealed to the women was one of self-sacrifice and hardship. The glory of the cross meant that everything in life must change at its core. Some of Perpetua and Felicity’s practices were so rigid that church authorities questioned their extreme piety.
“However, the women knew exactly to whom they belonged. They knew, with every fiber of their being, that they were held in the loving hands of God, no matter what horrors awaited them. Their faith was not blind because they knew what had happened to those who opposed the Romans. Nevertheless, the women persisted in their faith.”
Moving Forward: “How can our faith shape our character so that no matter the earthly outcome, we commit to pursuing the peace and love that comes from Jesus, our true salvation?”