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When Mercy and Truth Finally Meet.

Psalms 85 — A prayer that starts in memory and ends with the most beautiful reunion in Scripture

5 min read

Key Takeaways

Righteousness and peace finally kiss — no more choosing between justice or mercy, truth or kindness. They stop competing and just embrace. That's the world God's building.

The psalmist builds their case from memory, not panic — pointing to what God already did before asking him to do it again.
Restoration comes with a warning: don't slide back into old patterns the moment things stabilize.

📢 Chapter 85 — When Mercy and Truth Finally Meet 🤝

This lives in a tension most people know well. The writer had seen God do something extraordinary in the past — real , real , wrath completely withdrawn. It wasn't a theory. It was history they could point to. And yet here they were again, in a season that felt like God's had gone quiet.

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So they did something wise. They didn't start with the complaint. They started with the memory. "You've done it before." And from that memory, they built a . And from that prayer, something remarkable happened — they caught a glimpse of what full restoration would actually look like. What they described in those final verses is breathtaking — a picture worth reading three times before moving on.

You've Done This Before 🔙

The opened by looking backward — not out of nostalgia, but out of confidence. The psalmist recalled a specific season when God moved decisively for his people:

Lord, you showed such favor to your land — you restored the fortunes of your people.

You forgave their guilt. You covered every single one of their sins.

You withdrew all your wrath. You turned completely from your burning anger.

Three things: , covering of , and the complete withdrawal of anger. That's not a partial fix. That's total. The psalmist wasn't being sentimental — they were making a case. "We know what you're capable of, because we've already watched you do it." There's something powerful about praying from memory instead of panic. When you can point to a time God actually came through, it changes the way you ask him to come through again.

So Why Does It Feel Like This? 🙏

And then came the pivot — from remembering to asking. Because something had shifted. The past was real, but the present felt heavy again:

Restore us again, God of our salvation — let go of your displeasure with us.

Will you be angry with us forever? Will your frustration stretch across every generation?

Won't you revive us again — so your people can actually rejoice in you?

Show us your steadfast love, Lord. Give us your salvation.

Feel the honesty in those questions. "Will you be angry forever?" That's not rebellion — it's someone who knows what God's feels like and can't understand why it went quiet. Most of us have been here. You've experienced a season where everything felt close and clear — where God's presence was obvious and your faith felt alive — and then it faded. Not because of some dramatic failure. It just... dimmed. And you're left wondering: was that a one-time thing, or can it happen again? The psalmist was essentially saying: I'm not asking for something new. I'm asking you to do what you've already done.

The Pivot — Learning to Listen 👂

Right here, the shifted in a way you might miss if you're reading too fast. The psalmist stopped talking and started listening:

Let me hear what God the Lord will say — because he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful ones. But let them not turn back to foolishness.

His salvation is near to those who honor him, so that glory can dwell in our land.

Catch the confidence mixed with the warning. God will speak peace — that's certain. But "let them not turn back to foolishness." The psalmist knew something important: isn't just about God showing up again. It's about his people actually staying this time. Not sliding back into the same old patterns the moment things feel better. We're all familiar with that cycle. The crisis brings you to your knees, God meets you there, things stabilize — and slowly, quietly, you drift back to the version of yourself that got you into the crisis in the first place. The psalm says: when God restores, don't waste it.

The Most Beautiful Reunion in Scripture 💛

And then the psalmist saw something. Whether it was a prophetic vision or a poetic imagining, what they described next is breathtaking — a picture of what happens when God's is complete:

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 produce its harvest.

Righteousness will go ahead of him and prepare a path for his steps.

Read those first two lines again. and faithfulness meeting. and peace kissing. These aren't just pretty words — they're describing something that rarely exists together in the real world. Think about it. We usually have to choose. or . Truth or kindness. Holding the standard or extending . In human relationships, in courtrooms, in every hard conversation you've ever had — those things pull in opposite directions.

But in God's restoration, they don't compete. They embrace. Love doesn't cancel out truth. doesn't compromise righteousness. They run toward each other and meet in the middle. And the result? growing from the ground up, righteousness raining down from above — and earth finally working together the way they were always meant to. The land producing again. The path made clear.

That's the vision. Not just , but wholeness. Not just relief, but everything finally in its right place. And whether the psalmist fully realized it or not, they were describing something that wouldn't fully arrive for centuries — until a moment in history when mercy and truth actually met, in a person, on a , and changed everything.