An Unexpected Kiss

“Lovingkindness and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other”
Psalm 85:10 (NASB)

Psalm 85 is a prayer praising God for His favor: release from captivity, forgiveness of sin, and the turning away of His wrath. It is a plea for continued restoration, forgiveness, and salvation. Like us at times, they needed reviving so they could rejoice in the Lord. We, like they pray, “Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation” (85:7).

An interesting thing happens in verse 10. After saying, “I will hear what God the Lord will speak” and having confidence that “He will speak peace to His people and to His saint” (85:8), it says,

“Lovingkindness and truth have met together;
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other”
Psalm 85:10

It is hard for us to balance love, kindness, and truth. We sometimes don’t tell people the truth to try to be (or appear to be) loving or kind. And when we do tell people the truth we are often accused of being unloving or unkind. But it’s different with God. He is where love and truth meet, where what He does and says is always loving and always true. Throughout the record of Biblical history, He has demonstrated His love and truthfulness. Ultimately in sending Jesus to be the “way, the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6) pointing us to God, He merged love and truth in the cross of Christ.

It is hard for us to balance righteousness and peace. Trying to be righteous (conforming to God’s character and will in our hearts and actions) is both challenging and frustrating. Peace feels out of reach without giving in to the temptation of downgrading Biblical righteousness. But it’s different with God. He is where righteousness and peace kiss each other – they deeply connect. God is by nature both righteous (Ps 11:7) and peace (Ro 15:33; Ph 4:9). He is the perfect one to bring them together in our lives. It is forgiveness in Christ that produces righteousness, and from that we find peace. Our lack of peace often comes from relying on our own righteousness rather than trusting God to forgive us in Christ. And false peace is sometimes created by people compromising and downgrading righteousness so that they can lower the bar to obtain a false feeling of peace. True righteousness and true peace kiss each other only in God through Jesus Christ.

Some are tempted to give up, thinking that loving kindness and truth can’t meet. Others struggle with blending righteousness and peace. Only God can possess and provide these in our lives. They will “meet” and “kiss” in our lives if we will come to Him through Jesus.   dd