The Fringes of Faith

Psalms 85

Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps. (v.9-13)

The believers walk in faith does not come easily and often seems to be threatened by the fringes of hardships. Faith implies that we learn to trust God despite the lack of evidence in our circumstances of life. Faith was never meant for us to understand without its applied practice within life’s challenging situations. Faith is not the exercise of mental effort for the hope we possess. It is the calm assurance that our God is in control of all things while acknowledging his unconditional love toward us as his children.

The psalmist shares how such a ‘salvation’ is “nigh to them that fear him”. This is not the kind of fear that we may think of as ‘being scared’ or frightened. It is the expression of awe and wonder, while embracing the highest level of honor toward our creator and an almighty King. This

“awe” is the very orientation of our hearts that is required for God to work in us and through us as his children. When we recognize God in truth, our spiritual nature becomes stirred and awakened to his presence in our lives. Just as children learn to balance and walk in their early stages of development, so it is with our maturing faith. Walking requires the use of our senses to adapt to different types of terrain. This is also true with our spiritual walk. Our spiritual senses need to develop adequately for us to adapt to each situation and circumstance in life. Living our lives as believers means to sense two realities. We are in the world, but not of the world. Our

maturity becomes optimal when we can perceive that our reality is both physical and spiritual.

The delicate balance of mercy and truth can never be fully met through human efforts. We often see undeserved mercy offered by corrupted legal establishments where justice requires firm consequences for criminal acts in truth. But for a God who knows our hearts, mercy is proportioned to those who deserve reconsideration where only justice under the law would

frustrate or obstruct true sorrow from wrongs done. The words, righteousness and peace have kisses each other”, is further described in the passage when it says, “ Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven”. Righteousness only occurs in truth. Just like rain comes from above and refreshes the ground, truth is born from the ground when it receives the truth from heaven. The harvest of the earths rich vegetation born from heaven do not compete for survival, but share a common yield of produce which is peace.

When the righteousness of heaven is received it produces truth, and such truth assures peace. God is already providing his righteousness to the world. If peace is our shared goal, then it requires that we accept the revelation of himself as we cultivate the truth that is produced in our lives. As believers, our lives do not need to be threatened by the fringes of our faith. We just need to be willing to turn our receptive hearts toward God’s righteousness and allow truth to be produced toward his peace for all mankind. May we all keep our eyes on his righteousness, my friends.