We Got Forgiveness

Meaning in Psalm 85

by Alfred D. Byrd

LOOKING behind us, we see the blessings
Showered by God on paths of the past.
Although we'd fallen, our God revived us.
Finding us dirty, our God made us clean.
When we turned from our sins, we got forgiveness,
Sending our guilt away from our hearts.
With mercy and grace from God in our lives,
We knew good fortune, the joy of peace.

When we live on hilltops, it's easy for us
To fall from the heights we knew at first.
We've gone astray and earned rejection.
Anger is what we perceive from our God
When we turn from the light to go our own way.
A time of judgment appears unending.
Misery lengthens the hours of a day.
We shout to our God, "Please help us again!
Don't beat us until we turn to powder!
Show us Your love, which saves us from fear!"

Let's listen to what our God has told us:
"Faithful servants will savor My peace—
Not merely an absence of war, but joy
That comes from neighbors who trust each other
(Speaking the truth will bind us as one)
And trust in Me as the Source of justice.
Living a lie is the path of a fool;
Seeking the truth is the path of the wise.
Whoever respects the will of the One
And works for glory for God, the King,
Will live in the peace that flows from the truth."

A love that bears fruit can transform the world.
Good works will build a household of peace.
The hand that points from the earth to God
Will find a hand from heaven to clasp it.
Harvest is coming — rewards from our God.
In a land of peace that comes from justice,
Righteousness covers the path to the Throne.

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.