Restore Us, O Lord

 Things wear down over time. They wear out, get rusty, and don't work well, like they are supposed to work. I see people who restore old cars by making them like new mechanically and giving them a great paint job. The same goes for houses. They get to need new trim, paint, and other parts that get degraded. I am afraid the same thing is true for people. This is not just true because of age. This happens to younger people over time, too.

Asaph, the psalmist,  noticed that God's people had drifted from God, and they were not righteous like they had been at one time. He wrote a psalm about what needed to be done. (Psalm 80:19) He cried out to the Lord God of hosts to restore them. He asked God to cause His face to shine on them, so then they would be saved or delivered from the bad things that had crept into their lives. We all need this from time to time.

I believe this is why we need to ask God every day in our "Unhurried Time" to show us any sins of omission or sins of commission, so we can confess them right off the bat, and be cleansed. If we don't do that, the sins build up in our life, and we are separated from God little by little, until we need real restoration. When it gets to that point, we can't do it by ourselves. We need God's intervention to restore us in our righteousness before Him and others.

That is why we beseech God to cause His face to shine on us. That means we need God to bless us with the light of His face to show us our sins, and to show us the way to correct what is wrong. We need God to intervene to bless us in this way, or we will get worse and worse. However, God is always ready to intervene if we sincerely call to Him in humble confession. Then, He will cleanse us, deliver us, and make us like new. I pray that we all will be living the abundant life that God designed for us all the time.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 81-83.