Psalms 85:8 - Meaning and Application

This is an answer to the prayers and complaints in the verses before it. In general, it is an answer of peace. The psalmist notices it quickly in Psalm 85:8, because he goes to his watchtower to listen for what God will say, like the prophet in Habakkuk 2:1-2. He says, “I will hear what God the Lord will speak.”

This shows two things. First, it shows his passions are being calmed, his grief, his fear, and the unrest in his spirit. He is, in effect, saying, “Quiet yourself, my soul, and wait humbly for God. I have spoken enough, maybe too much. Now I will listen to what God says, and I will welcome his holy will. What does my Lord say to his servant?” If we want God to hear what we say in prayer, we must be ready to hear what he says to us in his word.

Second, it shows his hope is rising. Now that he has prayed, he expects something great and kind from the God who hears prayer. When we pray, we should then look for the answer and wait for it. He expects God to “speak peace to his people, and to his saints.” There are people in the world who belong to God, are set apart for him, and will be saved by him. All his people are his saints, made holy by his grace and devoted to his glory. These people may sometimes lack peace, when there are troubles outside and fears inside, but sooner or later God will speak peace to them. If he does not command outward peace, he will give inward peace, speaking to their hearts by his Spirit what he has already spoken to their ears through his word and ministers, and making them hear joy and gladness.

This hope should bring comfort, and it should also call for duty. We must receive with humility and thanks the peace God speaks. But the saints must also be warned not to turn again to folly, because peace is promised only on that condition. Peace is spoken to those who turn from sin, and to them alone. If they go back to sin, they do so at their peril. All sin is foolish, but backsliding is especially foolish, because it is a return to sin after seeming to leave it, and a return after God has spoken peace. God is for peace, but when he speaks, such people choose war.

The rest of the answer gives the details of this peace. The psalmist is sure that things will soon be well, so he looks ahead to the flourishing state of the church in the closing verses of the psalm. These verses describe the peace and prosperity God finally gave to the children of the captivity, the exiles who returned after much toil and trouble and at last were settled in their own land. They may also be understood as a promise to all who fear God and do what is right, that they will be made calm and happy, and as a prophecy of the Messiah’s kingdom and the blessings that would fill it.

First, help is near, as Psalm 85:9 says. God’s salvation is close, closer than we think. It will be brought about soon, however great the trouble may be, when God’s time comes, and that time is not far off. When the brick quota is doubled, then Moses comes. Salvation is near to all who fear God. When trouble is near, salvation is near too, because God is a very present help in trouble for all who belong to him, while salvation is far from the wicked (Psalm 119:155). This can also point to Christ, the one who brings eternal salvation. The Old Testament believers took comfort in knowing that, even if they did not live to see the redemption in Jerusalem they were waiting for, it was still near, and it would be welcome to all who fear God.

Second, honor is secured. “That glory may dwell in our land” means that God’s worship would be settled and established among them, for that is the glory of a land. When it goes away, Ichabod means “the glory has departed.” When it stays, glory dwells there. This may also refer to the Messiah, who was to be the glory of his people Israel and who came and lived among them (John 1:4). For that reason, their land is called Immanuel’s land, the land of “God with us” (Isaiah 8:8).

Third, the graces meet and embrace each other happily in Psalm 85:10-11: “Mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, kiss each other.” This can be taken in more than one way. It may describe the reform of the people and the government, where these qualities would be seen clearly and would guide everything. Rulers and people alike would be merciful, truthful, righteous, and peaceable. When there is no truth or mercy, everything falls apart (Hosea 4:1; Isaiah 59:14-15). But when these meet in public life, when they shape decisions, when truth is so full it rises like grass from the earth, and righteousness comes down like rain from heaven, then things go well. When mercy and truth meet in every meeting, and righteousness and peace embrace in every greeting, and plain honesty is truly common, then glory dwells in a land. Reigning dishonesty is a shame to any people.

It may also describe the return of God’s favor and its continuing presence. When a people return to God and remain faithful in duty, he returns to them and stays with them in mercy. Some understand this as human truth and God’s mercy, human righteousness and God’s peace, meeting together. If God finds us faithful to him, to one another, and to ourselves, we will find him merciful. If we live with care for righteousness, we will enjoy the comfort of peace. If truth springs up from the earth, that is, from people’s hearts, which are the proper soil for it, then righteousness, meaning God’s mercy, looks down from heaven like the sun shining on the earth and nourishing what grows.

It may also speak of the harmony of God’s own qualities in the work of the Messiah. In him, who is both our salvation and our glory, mercy and truth meet together, and God’s righteousness and peace kiss each other. The great work of our salvation is arranged so wisely that God can have mercy on poor sinners and be at peace with them without violating his truth and righteousness. He remains true to his warnings and just in his rule, and yet he pardons sinners and brings them into covenant with himself. Christ, as mediator, a go-between who brings two sides together, joins heaven and earth again after sin had set them at odds. Through him truth springs up from the earth, the truth God wants deep inside, and then righteousness looks down from heaven. God is just, and also the one who justifies, or declares righteous, those who believe in Jesus. Or this may mean that these graces will flourish and rule widely in the Messiah’s kingdom.

The Lord will give what is good, everything he sees is good for us (Psalm 85:12). All good things come from God’s own goodness. When mercy, truth, and righteousness have real power in people’s hearts and lives, we can expect every good gift. If we seek God’s kingdom and its righteousness, other things will be given as well (Matthew 6:33). When the glory of the gospel lives in our land, it will bring growth and blessing, because true spiritual prosperity will either bring outward prosperity with it or make lack easier to bear (Psalm 67:6).

There is also a sure guide in the good way (Psalm 85:13). The righteousness of God’s promise, that is, his faithful promise of happiness, and the righteousness of sanctification, meaning the good work God does in us, go before him to prepare his way. They raise our hope in his favor and fit us to receive it. They also go before us and guide our steps, so we may walk in the way he leads and go out to meet him when he comes to us with mercy. Christ, the sun of righteousness, brings us to God and puts us on the path that leads to him. John the Baptist, a preacher of righteousness, went before Christ to prepare his way. Righteousness is a sure guide both in coming to meet God and in following him.