A great thing about walking with God is that He will always seek us even when we have lost our way so that we might return to Him and be saved!
Psalm 80 is another one of the Psalms written by a descendant of Asaph that calls Israel to repentance and restoration in a psalm that was intended to be sung to our Lord by the Temple congregation. Music is a very high form of spiritual thought and expression and I am forever in the debt of these whose gift is to write inspirational lyrics and put them to music as Asaph’s family was able to do. Psalm 80 was written after one of the devastating losses of God’s people most likely after deportation of the northern tribes to Assyria. What a great tragedy for the people of God to lose it all because they refused to love and obey the God of their fathers. The result was the destruction of Israel and the irretrievable loss of their national identity for those who went into exile. Let us view this Psalm with a mind toward understanding the overwhelming cost of sin to a nation and to a people. We live in a hostile world in which the Evil One and those who serve him rampage seemingly without restraint. As a result we live in a broken world and we must always remember to cling to our God and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In our devotional text we have the third refrain of the beautiful thought from Psalm 80:
Restore us O Lord God Almighty;
Make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.
When we sing this verse it is predicated on the words found in verse 18 where the people resolve not to turn away from God as they repent. The people by faith count on God to revive them as they call on the Lord’s name! The Lord will be faithful to restore us no matter how many times we might slip from the straight path IF we will return to Him and call on His name. Never quit on the Lord for He is always there IF we return to look upon His face. The Apostle Paul remembers that when anyone turns to the Lord the veil is take away and as we look at the Lord’s face we are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory by Him (2 Corinthians 3:16-18). God’s grace is inexhaustible even when we are at our very worse IF we will repent, return and reflect the Lord’s glory as His face shines upon us. God knew this verse was so important to our perseverance and resilience as Christians it is repeated three times in Psalm 80 which is a Psalm of hope and restoration for lives that have gone wrong.
MY FATHER, MAY I HAVE THE CONFIDENCE AND COURAGE TO SEEK YOUR FACE EVEN WHEN I MAKE MISTAKES AND FALL AWAY BECAUSE YOU WILL REVIVE, RESTORE, AND SAVE ME. AMEN!
Thank you for the words of encouragement.