"Rising from Discouragement" (Hitchings) | Psalm 85

Fellowship Hall
07.12.2026

Transcript

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Please stand for a reading from Psalm eighty-five. Lord, you were favorable to your land. You restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people. You covered all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath. You turned from your hot anger. Restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put away your indignation toward us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints. But let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. 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 yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps away. This is the word of the Lord. Please be seated.

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I want to uh pray, but before I even do that, I want to mention one more thing. On the page that has the outline in your bulletin, you'll see a QR code down in the bottom corner. And that will take you, if you go on the internet, that will take you to resources for continued study that go deeper into the passage and deeper into all of scripture related on this sermon this week. Jennifer Thompson, my assistant, our staff writer, works hard on these every week, and people use them for individual devotions. They use them in small groups, and we just want to remind you that they are there and they're available to you. Now let's pray and then we'll look at this passage. Lord Jesus, you tell us that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Your word tells us that the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. We know these things are true. Lord, we know that this word of God is living and active, as Paul tells us in Timothy, that it can judge the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. We know that you've used it for generation upon generation to grow your people in grace and faith. And we ask this morning as we study this psalm that you would use it once again, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, he's best known for being the first boxer to ever go the full distance with Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson, known as iron Mike Tyson. Tyson's record at the time was 19-0, with all 19 fights being knockouts. Only five boxers ever went the full distance with Tyson. I'm talking about former heavyweight boxer James Tillis. His nickname was Quick Tillis. He was a heavyweight boxer, but he was really, really fast. He came out of Oklahoma. He fought out of Chicago in the early 1980s, and Tillis still remembers his first day in Chicago, his first day in the Windy City after he got off the Greyhound bus from Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is his account of his arrival. He said, I got off the bus with two cardboard suitcases under my arms in downtown Chicago. And I stopped right in front of the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the world at that time. I put my suitcases down and I looked up at that tower and I said to myself, I'm gonna conquer Chicago. And when I looked down, my suitcases were gone. He goes on to talk about how discouraging those early days of his fighting career, how discouraging they were. But then he also talks about how he rose from that discouragement. Discouragement is common to all of our lives. It comes to all of us. It comes in a lot of different forms. Often it's related to our circumstances, like maybe health issues or health issues of someone we love. It may be related to our finances or our careers that aren't going the way we want them to go. It may be about our marriage or relationships or friendships. It may be even about our children. Discouragement, it almost always has a spiritual aspect to it, a spiritual dimension. And sometimes our discouragement is directly related to our own choices, our own sinful choices, our own patterns that we just don't seem to be able to break. Here's the question, though. What do we do when we're discouraged? What do we do in the circumstances of our lives when we would say, once I was on a spiritual mountaintop? I've known and experienced the blessings and the favor of God, and now I find myself in the valley where it seems as if I no longer have the blessing of the favor of God. How do we rise? How do we recover from discouragement? Well, the psalmist, here in Psalm 85, the psalmist is giving us a blueprint. He's describing his longing, he's describing the Israelites' longing for renewal. And we're not told what the occasion was for the writing of this psalm, but in the evidence in it, it fits that season in the life of Israel when they had returned from the Babylonian exile from 70 years of captivity. Exile that's directly related to their disobedience. That's at least a great illustration of the purpose of this psalm. They returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC after the decree of King Cyrus. And as soon as they returned, they laid the foundation for the temple, for the new temple, but the work bogged down, and the people soon became discouraged. The city was still in ruin, the temple was in ruins, the people were still very vulnerable to their enemies. The prophet Haggai rebukes them for withholding their tithes that he says resulted in the Lord not blessing their harvests. But eventually they complete the temple and they start work on rebuilding the city walls. And again, that work bogs down also. And spiritual discouragement abounded during those days. What they experienced, what the Israelites experienced, is not unlike what many believers today experience. When we're spiritually discouraged, how do we recover? How do we find our way back to that place of renewed relationship and blessing with the Lord? That relationship and blessing that we once had, that we once felt we had it every day. Well, that takes us to our outline. Look in your in your bulletin. We're going to spend the time actually in this text this morning seeing these three points. But the first is this renewal for the people of God comes as we look back with humble gratitude at God's past mercies. Look at the first three verses. And notice the tenses. Lord, you were favorable to your land. You restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people. You covered all their sin. You withdrew all your wrath. You turned from your hot anger. Notice all the verbs. They're all in the past tense. The psalmist says he begins this prayer. He starts by reflecting back upon all that God has graciously done for his people. When he says, Lord, you were favorable to your land, that's just not a kindly word. It's not nostalgia either. It's so much more than that. The psalmist is not pining for the past glories of Israel. He's remembering the past mercies of God. And I think he's really on to something here. The way to be encouraged about God's grace in the future is to remember how gracious he's been in our past. Calvin said this. Calvin said, nothing contributes more effectually to encourage us to come to the throne of grace than the remembrance of God's former mercies. And he's absolutely correct. There's a renewed spiritual confidence that comes when we stop and reflect upon God's grace. We see it all through the scripture, his past mercies. We see it throughout church history. We see it in our own lives, in our own families, in our own being brought to faith in Christ. Verse 1, I love verse 1. It deals with the land and the people's restoration. And so that's one reason scholars think this is about the post-exilic time. But then it skips in verse 2 and what follows. It's not speaking about restoration of the land anymore. It's speaking about forgiveness. The forgiveness of sins, the removal of God's wrath. Thinking about it. If you're a believer and you're with us this morning, think about that. What's the greatest of the past mercies of God that believers in Jesus have received? What's the greatest of the past mercies? It's forgiveness. The forgiveness of our sins, the restoration of our relationship to God. Well we were once at war with God, now we're at peace with God. That's the foundation of all the other mercies that flow into our lives each day, and yet how little we sometimes value it. I was reading James Boyce's commentary this past week and was quite convicted by this. This is what Boyce writes. He said, if God gives us good health, a happy and supportive family, a good job, and praise from our employer and our friends, we think we're blessed. But if we lack any one of those things, we begin to suppose that God has somehow forgotten us or does not care. We do not think how blessed we are to have our sins forgiven and to be delivered from the just wrath of God through the atoning death of His Son. I think He's right. Sadly, maybe appallingly, I think He's right. We tend to live with an attitude of, what have you done for me lately, God? Why have you not fixed this situation, God? Do you really care? When we are seeing in our lives undesirable circumstances, we almost see that as evidence that God doesn't really care. In our discouragement, we can go there. The question is, when we catch ourselves thinking that way, what do we do with that? Do we turn towards God in those circumstances and realize that what we're thinking is not the correct way to think? Or do we turn away from Him and say, You fix my circumstances and we'll talk about a relationship? And I love the language there. It's so strong, it's so clear. You covered all their sin. That's the language of atonement. You covered all our sin. You withdrew all your wrath. That's the language of what we call propitiation. Propitiation is about the turning away of the wrath of God, the wrath that we justly deserve, the wrath that was poured out on Jesus in our place. Here's the point. If we will pause and reflect deeply on the past mercies of God shown to us through our forgiveness and the enormous cost of that forgiveness being the life of Jesus, if we do that, a humble gratitude will start to mark our lives. And we'll rise above our discouragement far more quickly, and we'll find ourselves praising God even if our circumstances don't change. Renewal for the people of God comes as we look back with humble gratitude at God's past mercies. But then, secondly, renewal comes as we look up with desperate longing for God's gracious renewal. Look at verses 4, and let's just read down through verse 7. Restore to us again, O God of our salvation. Or excuse me, restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put away your indignation towards us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. You can almost hear the desperation in the psalmist's words. These verses really are the heart of the Psalm. Restore us again, God of our salvation. Show us your steadfast love, O Lord. The psalmist's idea of restoration is that of God's people turning away from their sin and turning back to God. In fact, the word, the Hebrew word that's translated as restore comes from the root word meaning to turn, as in repentance. I love what Sinclair Ferguson, who now lives in Aberdeen in Scotland, he points this out. He says, faith cannot exist where there is no repentance. They are two sides of the same coin. Faith cannot exist without repentance. There are two sides of the same coin. He's right. And repentance cannot exist without God working in us, without our pleading with Him to work in us. Despite the past mercies of God here, the people of God are now experiencing a real spiritual dryness and affliction. And the psalmist laments as he asks these three questions. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again? But it's almost like those are rhetorical questions to him. Rhetorical questions for our younger listeners. A rhetorical question is really one that's asked to make a point rather than to gain information and get an answer. A rhetorical question is like when you're little and it's snowing outside and you want to go outside and you're barefoot and have no coat on, and your mom says, Are you really going outside like that? She already knows the answer. The answer's obvious. The psalmist knows the answer to these questions. He knows that answer because he knows the character of God. God's not going to leave them in that situation if they will turn back to him. And he's pleading with God here. It's a desperate longing for God's gracious renewal. He's not saying, Lord, please change our circumstances. These circumstances are the pits. He's not saying, just help us to change our behavior. He's pleading with God for inward renewal. Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Sounds like King David, doesn't it? In Psalm 51, create in me a pure heart, a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit in me. He's looking for inward change. I recently was at General Assembly and I bought yet another commentary. Not sure what I'm going to do with all these commentaries come January, but Richard Phillips is a pastor in Greenville, South Carolina, and he said this. I love this. This is how he put it. He said, it's possible for us not only to be outwardly led away from wrong and harmful behavior, but actually to have our minds and hearts renewed in the purity of Christ. That is our calling in Christ. I love that. It's not just that we want to be led away from the wrong behavior, from the sinful behavior. We want our hearts and minds changed. And that's possible through Christ's work. That's what we need most when we're discouraged, when we've lost the joy of our salvation. That's what we need most. And then look at verses eight and nine. After he's reminded himself of the mercies of God in the past, he's prayed for the renewal of those mercies in his own day. And in verse eight and nine he says, Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints. But let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. What does he do? He waits. He waits on God. He waits on God to speak, to answer. He says, Let me hear what God the Lord will speak. And then he really kind of helps us understand, giving us a bit of a glimpse at what does that entail? To wait on the Lord, what does that entail? And the first thing there is you see the confidence there and the expectation that the psalmist, God's not yet sent the renewal that he's praying for, that he's longing for, but look at the confidence in his words. He will speak peace to his people. Not I hope he speaks peace, he will. Surely his salvation is near, verse 9, to those who fear him, to those who have a holy reverence and awe for him. Surely the salvation of God is near. So it's confidence, it's expectation when we're waiting on the Lord. But it also entails that warning at the end of verse 8. Let them not turn back to folly. A warning that in our waiting we have to be careful. We have to be careful that now that we've wandered away, we've cried out to God, and we're waiting on him, we have to be careful that we don't return to old habits while we're waiting on fresh mercy and grace. Because we don't wait well. And let's be honest, we don't wait well when we're discouraged. But lastly, I love the last part there. On what is his heart set? He says, surely salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. His heart is set on God's glory dwelling throughout the land. Does he want to see Israel restored? Absolutely. Does he want to see his circumstances change? Absolutely. But his chief aim is that the glory of God would fill the land. More than his desire for peace, more than his desire for prosperity, his desire is for God's glory to be known. I was thinking about that this week. Can that be said of us? Probably a lot of us in this room are waiting on something. We're discouraged in some area. We're waiting on the Lord for something. Can that be said of us when we're discouraged? Is we what we is we what we slow down, Frank. Is what we want most to see God's glory throughout the land, or do we simply want to change in our circumstances? Renewal for the people of God comes as we look back with humble gratitude on his past mercies and as we look up with desperate longing for his renewal. And lastly, it comes as we look forward with confident hope in God's sure promises. Look at the last few verses, starting in verse 10. 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 yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps away. We could spend a whole week just looking at these verses. He's moving from that position where he's looking back at the past mercies of God. Now he's been looking up for God's gracious renewal, and now he's looking forward in confident hope at God's promises. These surely these are the blessings that surround us as believers. They point us directly to Jesus, where God's steadfast love and faithfulness meet. Righteousness and peace. He does it through the cross of his son Jesus. Remember the plea of verse 4? Put away your indignation toward us. Where did that happen? Did that happen through the Old Testament sacrificial system, through the blood of bulls and goats? No. It happened through the cross of Jesus Christ. Remember the plea of verse 7. Show us your steadfast love. Where do you see the steadfast love of God most clearly in the scripture? At the cross. You might argue the incarnation and the cross, but definitely the cross is in there. And I love his confidence in verse 12 and 13. Yes, the Lord will give what is good. Our land will increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps away. Confidence rooted in the promises and the character of God. Confidence that's fulfilled, all those promises fulfilled in Christ. You and I, we make promises all the time. Promises that we may really intend to keep, but sometimes we don't keep them. Sometimes they get broken. But friends, God never breaks his promises. I'm going to end this message on discouragement with a wonderful definition of discouragement. Thought I should have started there, but I really like the Quick Tillis illustration better. A definition of discouragement. I came across it this past week. I was looking for illustrations and definitions, and I found this definition. There's no attribution from who wrote it. It came from just a webpage that I found. It's almost as if this is the condition for which this psalm would have been written. Here's how it defines discouragement. Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future. Discouragement is ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportunities of today, and insecurity regarding tomorrow. Let me just read it again because I know it's a lot. Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future. It's ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportunities of today, and insecurity regarding tomorrow. Friends, if you're with us this morning and you're not trusting in Christ, that may very well be how you feel this morning. But that is not where you need to stay. The psalmist would say, put your faith in Christ. Put your faith in Christ. Ask him to raise you up out of the discouragement into the light and the joy and the peace of his presence. And if you're in Christ, we still get discouraged because we live in a broken world and there are pressures from outside on the world on us, and there is sin that remains in us, and it's easy to get discouraged. And yet, discouragement need not be our address either. The psalmist says, here's the antidote. Look back at the past mercies of God. Look up and cry out for his renewal and look forward with the sure and certain hope that all of his promises are true in Christ. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful for the gift of the Psalms, Lord, for the time that you've given to study them, to linger in them this summer. They are so good for our hearts. As Jesus said to his disciples after the resurrection, everything must be fulfilled that's written about me in the law and the prophets and the psalms. Indeed, they point us to Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of all of them. They inspire us, Lord, to praise you. They help us to grow in our knowledge of who you are and how you work in creation and how you work in the hearts of mankind. And we specifically, Lord, want to thank you for this psalm that we studied this morning, for we know that we will all face discouragement as we live in a broken and fallen world and as we wrestle even with our own hearts. And we ask that you would take these truths and press them deeply into our hearts. That indeed we would grow in our faith, we would deepen in our repentance, we'd be lifted above our discouragements, and we might be able to live lives that by your grace better reflect you to a lost and needy world. We ask all of this in Christ's name. Amen.