If you were asked what are the benefits of salvation, what would you say? Perhaps you would note that the righteousness of Christ is credited to us so that we stand before God with the imputed righteousness of Christ rather than our own sin. Perhaps you would speak of the fact that we’re actually being conformed to the image of Christ so that there is a growing holiness and growing awareness of sin in our lives. Perhaps you would mention the benefit of knowing that the Son in interceding for us before the Father or that in the midst of not knowing how we ought to pray, we can rejoice in the fact that the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Perhaps you would speak of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the promise of an inheritance, the fact that God is working all things together for your good, or many others. The benefits of salvation are simply too numerous to list in the introduction to a sermon. Yet, what if we were charged with this task and given time to write all of them down as they came to our minds? I wonder, if that task were given to us, how many of us would write down “God’s fatherly discipline.”

Discipline is simply not something that comes to the forefront of our minds when we consider the blessings of being a child of God. When I first held my children in my arms, I never said to any of them, “You are so blessed because you’re going to be disciplined.” When people asked Lili and me what moved our hearts to adopt Nick, I never remember us answering, “We just want to be able to give him a chance to experience discipline.”

Yet, discipline is a sign of fatherly love, isn’t it? In fact, in the book of Hebrews, the author reminds the readers that God only disciplines those whom he loves, that he is treating them as sons when he disciplines them, and that he is doing it so that their lives might yield the fruit of righteousness. One of the rich blessings of salvation is that we’re transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Christ so that we might be lovingly disciplined by a Father who loves us so much that he will not give us over to live a life of condemnation. In fact, God loved the Corinthians so deeply that he actually disciplined them to the point that some of them died so that (as the text says) they might “not be condemned along with the world” (1 Cor. 11:32).

Yet discipline is never pleasant in the moment, is it? We typically don’t think back to our childhood and feel all warm inside when we think about our parents disciplining us. And the Scripture tells us why, reminding us that “for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant” (Heb. 12:11). It is no doubt for that reason that we might not list discipline among the great benefits of salvation. So, how do we handle moments where we’re walking through the Lord’s discipline, whether formative or corrective discipline?

After all, we can feel quite confused when, on the one hand, we can acknowledge that this is for our good and, on the other hand, in the moment it is quite painful. So, how do we walk through times of God’s loving and painful discipline of us in a way that keeps us honoring him, not losing sight of his goodness and love for us, and that doesn’t send us into some kind of self-condemning tailspin?

Well, I believe that Psalm 85 aids us in answering this question. And the reason I think it’s helpful is because it seems to be written in a time when the Lord’s people were facing the Lord’s discipline. Now, perhaps this isn’t discipline because of some specific sin but simply the discipline of the Lord in allowing great hardship into their lives in order to form and shape them.

And the reason I say this is mainly because of verse 4 where the psalmist says, “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us!” Obviously, the psalmist looks around at the destruction of the land, perhaps being in exile, or something else that shows the Lord is disciplining them, and he cries out for God to deliver them from these present circumstances even as he had done it before, putting away his indignation against them.

The psalmist, thus, sees and feels hardship around him, understands that it is from the Lord, but wants it removed. And, therefore, he cries out to God.

Perhaps, then, many of us are in a similar place. Maybe you know the Lord is using your circumstances to discipline you, to shape you, mold you, and train you. Yet, as the Scripture says of all discipline, it is painful in the moment, and you desperately long for it to go away, for relief to come, for your circumstances to change. So, what do you do? Let’s learn together from Psalm 85.

First, . . .

We remember that we are forgiven and God’s wrath has been removed

Let’s first look at how the psalmist deals with this. In verses 1-3 he writes, “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 returned from your hot anger.”

From the platform of his present situation and the distress he currently feels, he reflects back on some moment in Israel’s history where the Lord showed them great mercy and grace. Oftentimes, when Israel sinned and the Lord brought judgment on them, it showed itself through the suffering of the land. The land might not yield produce so that there would be a famine, or the land would be scorched, or numerous other things so that the land itself showed suffering. But this sign of the land suffering signaled the judgment of God toward his people.

But the psalmist remembers a moment where God was favorable to the land, blessing the land as a sign of grace (v. 1). He thinks back to that time when God forgave Israel of the sin they’d committed against him and covered all their sin (v. 2). Again, note the totality here. God forgave all their sin. He didn’t hold on to a bit of their sin that he might throw in their face at some future moment when they needed to be reminded of their wickedness. He forgave all of it. And, similarly, he withdrew all his wrath from them. As he removed all their sin, he held on to none of his wrath. They were forgiven and needed not fear God’s wrath. He was showing them great grace. The psalmist thinks back on that moment in Israel’s history, and this is going to serve as a starting point for his prayer – a foundation for his communion with God in the present.

This, then, is a good point of instruction for us. When we find ourselves in the midst of the Lord’s discipline – whether formative or correction (that is, whether for a specific sin or just a time of hardship that is forming and shaping us) – we must consciously remember what God has done for us in Christ and where we stand in relation to the Lord.

I’ve said before that it doesn’t take much to expose that many of us are legalists at heart. That is, we confess with our mouths perhaps that we are justified before God by faith in the finished work of Christ alone. However, when we are pressed or in a pressured moment, we quickly reveal that our hearts are shackled with legalistic thoughts. So, for example, we sin and then try to get past it by trying to go a few days without sinning in that particular way or really beating ourselves up over it day after day, thinking that if we can do one of those (or perhaps both) enough, then we’ll be okay before God, forgiven of our sins and acceptable to him. But that’s trying to be acceptable on the basis of our works – which is legalism.

And one of the times in our lives when this legalistic response can be especially tempting is when we’re facing the Lord’s discipline. It can be tempting for us to instantly heap condemnation on ourselves, right? We sin and feel the Lord’s discipline and instantly move to a place in our hearts where we think we’re all of the sudden standing in condemnation before him. Or, we walk through times of deep pain and difficulty and begin to think, “God, what do you want me to do to be acceptable to you again?” And in each case, the reality is that God is treating you as sons. That is, he wouldn’t discipline you if you weren’t already forgiven, already an object of his grace, already loved by him, if you didn’t already belong to him. Therefore, you can begin at the point of recognizing that you’re loved by God if your faith is in Christ, forgiven by God, and standing before him credited with the perfect righteousness of Christ. That is the point where we must start as we approach God in the midst of discipline.

Second, . . .

Cry out to God in the midst of your circumstances

In verses 4-7 the psalmist reveals that though God had done all of this in the past, right now there was evidence that they were facing the Lord’s heavy discipline. Therefore, the psalmist asks for deliverance from their present distress. He prays, “Restore us again, O God of our salvation and 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.”

Again, the psalmist is simply wondering if the circumstances will carry on forever. Will God be angry forever? Will this be the case throughout all generations? But he doesn’t just wonder about this; he asks God to do otherwise. There is a request for God to restore them, save them, put away his indignation, revive them, show them his steadfast love, and (again) save them.

Now, at first, notice what is so odd about such a prayer. Whose indignation are the people facing? Obviously the psalmist tells us. It’s God’s indignation. The psalmist says, “Put away your indignation toward us!” Yet, who is he asking to deliver them? Again, it’s God. So the psalmist knows that he is facing the Lord’s judgment and yet cries out to the Lord for deliverance.

Now, there are two settings in which people would respond this way. One setting is one in which no one else can help. That is, if someone is against you and no one else can overpower them or stop them, then you simply turn to that very individual and ask for mercy, don’t you? And, that would fit this scenario because no one is greater or more powerful than God. But there’s another setting where this kind of thing happens as well. And it’s in the relationship between a parent and child.

In the best of cases, what will happen when a child is disciplined (which is painful in the moment), is that the child will hurt and want comfort. But who does the child reach out to for comfort? In many cases, the child reaches out for the parent – the very one who just enforced discipline. Why? The reason is because there’s a relationship there that consists of love. The child knows two things in that moment ideally: 1) the parent has shown love to the child again and again and again (that is, the relationship doesn’t solely consist of parental corrective discipline toward the child but there’ve been many hugs, etc.) and 2) that the discipline itself is for the child’s good as an act of love from the parent to the child. That’s why we don’t say, “I love you, but . . .” when we discipline our children but rather explain to them that this is an expression of our love and care for them.

In the same way, then, we turn to our heavenly Father for comfort and relief in the midst of our pain, in the midst of our difficulty, in the midst of our discipline. And God wants that. God is always driving us more to himself. Remember, his greatest commandment is that we love him.

So, in the midst of your pain, the Lord wants you to turn to him for comfort, for help, for relief, and even for deliverance. Paul was obviously not wrong to ask the Lord to remove the thorn in his flesh that he refers to in his letter to the Corinthians, and though God didn’t remove the thorn, the Lord was anxious to give him sufficient grace so that God’s power might be shown forth in him. So, in the midst of our discipline, turn to the Lord, and ask him for comfort, relief, and even deliverance from your circumstances.

Third, . . .

We should approach the Lord with confidence and humility

Notice how verses 8-9 combine these two elements of confidence and repentance. The psalmist is anxious to hear the Lord’s response because he believes it will be good. He is confident because he knows God’s character. So, he says, “Let me hear what God the LORD will speak.” But why is he so eager to hear the Lord speak? It’s because he believes he knows what the Lord will say. Thus, he continues, “For he will speak peace to his people, to his saints . . . Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land” (vv. 8-9).

The psalmist comes with confidence because he knows the Lord’s character. He is a God who is full of steadfast love and faithfulness, so the psalmist knows that God’s faithfulness will continue to show forth.

At the same time, however, the psalmist notes in verse 8 of God’s people – “but let them not turn back to folly.” So, here you have a heart that is repentant – one that wants to honor the Lord and fears the thought of not living in accord with the Lord’s commands.

It seems that these two characteristics should characterize us in our approach to God. In the midst of our discipline, we approach the Lord with confidence, sure of our relationship with him and sure that God will not turn back from his faithful promises never to leave us or forsake us. And yet at the same time, we approach him with humble repentance. That is, we recognize that we are prone to sin, do not want to, and are repentant for where we have sinned. These two characteristics are not opposed to each other – confidence and humble repentance. One simply recognizes the faithful character of our God and the other the weak and frail nature of our own hearts which are prone to wonder.

Finally, . . .

We move forward in sure hope

Note how the psalm ends. It’s as if the psalmist takes all the characteristics of God’s nature and brings them together in what the Lord, he believes, will do. He writes, “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 a way” (vv. 10-13).

The psalmist ends by walking forward in certain hope. His prayers have not been answered yet. His circumstances have not changed it appears. Yet, he is confident of what God will do because he knows who God is. You see, the Lord had revealed himself in Exodus 34:6-7 as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty
. . .”

And this understanding of God determined how God’s people interacted with him in the Old Testament. Why, after all, is it that Jonah told the Lord he didn’t want to go preach to the people of Nineveh? It was because, Jonah said, that he knew that God was a God who was merciful, gracious, slow to anger, keeping steadfast love and faithfulness, and forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. The problem? Jonah didn’t want Nineveh to be forgiven and spared. He wanted them to be punished.

But how clearly did he believe that he understood God? Clearly enough that he ran the other way when he was told to go to Nineveh. Therefore, when the psalmist writes Psalm 85, he writes this understanding what God is like. It seems obvious that he has the characteristics of God from Exodus 34:6-7 in his mind in these final verses. He knows in his heart that if God is who he says he is (and who he’s proven himself to be), then he will bless his people and give them what is good.

Similarly, as we approach the God who has reconciled us to himself, we approach him as one who has already proven his devotion to us. He’s the one who tells us that he has known us before the foundation of the world, predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son, called us to himself, justified us, and who will certainly glorify us. He’s the one who tells us that nothing can separate us from his love. He’s the one who reminds us that if he did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, then he will also with him graciously give us all things that we need. He’s the one who not only justified us but justified us in a just way, allowing his Son to bear the punishment for our sin, so that we might know that our forgiveness is a just action by God and not one that he will turn away from tomorrow.

Therefore, as we approach God from the place of discipline, remember that you’re forgiven and no longer condemned, seek him and ask him for comfort and deliverance from your circumstances, come to him with confidence and humble repentance, and walk forward after you pray with sure hope because you know who your God is and what he has done for you in Christ. In fact, even now, we’ll come to the table to eat a meal that he has given us so that we might always remember that Christ has lived, died, and been raised so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life in him. Amen.