Restore Us

Restore us, O God;
    let your face shine, that we may be saved.

O Lord God of hosts,
    how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
    and given them tears to drink in full measure.
You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
    our enemies laugh among themselves.

Psalm 80:3-6

Restore us, Oh God. The first few times I read this I thought it said, “Restore me, O God.” Living in an individualistic society, many times I think of things as being personal. I struggle against this tendency, and when I realized I was reading I instead of we I could not believe myself. I struggle against this tendency because I know the culture that the bible was originally written in and to was a more communal society. There was more concern for the group and less concern for the individual.

That being said, I know of so many people who are struggling with setbacks this year. Some have been medical, some relational, and others financial. This has been a rough year for many people, but it has also been a rough year for the world as a whole. This psalm can be prayed for many individuals in our world, and it can be prayed for the world as a whole.

Last week I went to a drive-in prayer meeting. The focus verse for the prayer meeting was 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Our land is hurting right now. All of the Earth is hurting right now. The Coronavirus has not just hit one nation, but the whole world. The prayer for restoration might begin as an individual prayer, it quickly moves to a prayer for our nation, and then a prayer for the whole earth.

• What in your life needs restored?
• What needs to be restored in your community?
• What needs to be restored in the world?

-please take a moment to do one of these questions.-

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