Shining upon us

DEVOTION

PSALMS

SHINING UPON US

Ps 80

80:1 For the director of music. To [the tune of] "The Lilies of the Covenant." Of Asaph. A psalm.

Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock; you who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us.

3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

4 O LORD God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful. 6 You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.

7 Restore us, O God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. 11 It sent out its boughs to the Sea, its shoots as far as the River.   12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? 13 Boars from the forest ravage it and the creatures of the field feed on it. 14 Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, 15 the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. 16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. 17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.

19 Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

NIV

There are several truths that pop out at us right away, although all of this song is truth as it is the word of the Lord. The first is this song is a combination of lament and wisdom. Israel is in a bad place and this psalmist is prayer in song for God to restore them to their once before glory. They were in the land of milk and honey, the place God had planted them. But he also allow other nations to come along and pick them off the land, take them into captivity. The phrase or chorus of this song “Restore us, O God Almighty, make you face shine upon us, that we may be saved” Is repeated three times. This has to have great importance. However, first let us consider would we ever be in the position that Israel is in so we have to petition God to restore us? Certainly our life before salvation was a mess and we needed to be restored and saved. Even though we did not choose to serve the Lord, in fact were somewhat rebellious or refused to acknowledge him as God, we were still his creation in need of restoration and saving. But now, would we ever be trampled on by our enemy and taken captive away from the place God has placed us? Temptation or the tempter is in fact making every effort to ravage us, to break us down to crumble our walls, to destroy the temple of the Lord. At times we might get led down the wrong path, the wrong way of thinking about the world, and the things of the world. We might get entangled in wanting, or having envy or jealously toward those who have so much and care not about God. It is a scheme of the devil, he wants us to want what he has to offer, fame and fortune. We are always seeing the lifestyles of the rich and famous everywhere we turn. We cannot even sit in a doctor’s waiting room without watching “House hunter” or something like that with huge wonderful homes filled with the best of everything. He wants us to want. He wants us to lust after, he wants us to leave the land God has placed us in. But restore us, O LORD God Almighty, make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. The enemy is after us, pursuing us, trying to grind down our defense. But we have the armor of God, we have the best defense in the land. No offensive play could beat the plan of our defensive coordinator. We stand firm, and not a single yard is gained, in fact with God we are able to run a great defense and sack their quarterback, Satan. Restore us O Lord God Almighty. Let not a single play go his way, but keep us in the palm of your hand, watch over us, restore us, save us from those temptations, those wants, those lusts, those desires, those moments our weakness sneaks in. Your face does shine upon us, we are lite up with your radiance, reflecting your glory to a sick and dying world. Thank you Lord for your salvation, thank you Lord for making your face shine upon us. Thank you Lord for planting us in your garden, your paradise. Thank you Lord for being a branch in your vine, Jesus.  He is the vine and we are the branches, apart from him we can do nothing. But in Christ, remaining in the vine, being established in or by the root, we will bear much fruit and will be able to share with all who are in need. Remaining in the vine, planted exactly where you have planted us, we will have all the fruit others will need. Thank you Lord, O God Almighty, for shining upon us. Where would we be if your face did not shine upon us? Thank you Lord for shining upon us.