Psalm 80: Shine

Restoration is biblical language; it is a biblical thought. David prayed “restore to me the joy of your salvation”. Peter preached about a time for “the restoration of all things”. After Jesus’ transfiguration He told Peter, James, and John that Elijah “does come, and he will restore all things.” We hope, pray, and often wait for restoration, but I am not sure we understand what it really means to be restored.

For most of us, myself included, our idea of restoration sounds like Joel 2:25, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—” We think of getting back something that was taken from us. We envision being robbed, treated unfairly, even unjustly and then God, turning it for our good and taking back from our enemy what should have never been taken from us. Some of us do not even want to stop with restoration, we want restitution, payment for our suffering, interest upon your return. Some of us grew up singing, “I’m gonna take back what the devil stole from me”. The problem is restoration is rarely God giving us back what someone else took, it is often God turning us back to the place we wandered from.

In the Psalms, the prayer for restoration is often a response to God’s correction. I mentioned David’s prayer earlier. In Psalm 51, after David’s sin had been revealed, he prayed for restoration. In the book of Joel, God’s promise of restoration is connected to His call for Israel to return to Him. God brings correction, even judgment and if they will respond with repentance, He then promises restoration. In Psalm 80, the author prays three separate times, verses 3, 7 and 19, “Restore us, O God of hosts, let your face shine, that we may be saved!” Restoration is not when God gets back what we lost, but when He puts us back where we belong.

Israel had hardened their hearts, they had gone their own way, they had loved the world, they had found more joy in their reputation than in their relationship and God had responded with discipline. God’s discipline is not a sign of His displeasure, it is a revelation of His love. If God were angry, He would destroy us. If He were fed up, He would move on from us. He disciplines us because He is committed to us, He is faithful to His promises, He is unwavering in His love. Hebrews 12:6 says, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Many people talk about “love languages” how we give and receive love. God’s love languages are obedience and discipline. He receives love from us through our obedience (John 14:15) and He gives love through discipline (Hebrews 12:6). His discipline is not how He punishes us, it is how He loves us, it is how He remains committed to us, it is how He protects and provides for us.

The Hebrew word that is translated “restore” in this psalm is “shuwb”, its literal meaning is “to turn back”. The author is not saying, “God give us back what we’ve lost”, but rather, “put us back where we belong”. Once again Israel was experiencing the judgment of God, the outcome of their sin, the high price of doing what was right in their own eyes, of going the way that seemed right to them. They were suffering persecution, probably captivity. They had lost their land, their position, their pride, but suddenly, in all the loss, the author realized that the only thing that mattered was that they had lost sight of God’s face.

When he prayed, “let your face shine” he was in no means accusing God of having left them. The old, sometimes corny, church sign reads, “If you feel far from God, who moved?” The prayer to restore is immediately a confession. God is faithful. He does not wander, He pursues. He is not distracted, He is dedicated. He does not give up, He holds on. When the sheep go astray, He comes looking. When the prodigals depart, He prepares for their return. As much as “restore us” is a confession of departure, “let your face shine” is a statement of faith. The psalmist was acknowledging that if God would put them back in their place, they would discover that God had always been in His.

This is the great truth of God not being slow to His promises, of Jesus Christ being the same yesterday, today and forever, of God being faithful, our choices do not change His character. In Luke 15 Jesus told us a story about a young man who asked his father to give him his inheritance. The father, rather than being offended by the idea that his son only viewed him by what he was worth after his death, gave the son what he asked for. The young man who made the request in impatience and immaturity, moved far away, and spent all of his money in foolishness. After he was broke, a famine broke out in the land and the young man had nothing to live on and no one to live with. He got a job feeding pigs, but the job paid so little that he found himself wishing he could eat the pigs slop as he fed them each day. Finally, Jesus said, the young man “came to himself” and remembered his father’s house. He knew that he had wasted his father’s fortune and ruined his father’s reputation, he was sure that he was no longer recognized as a son, but he thought maybe his father would be merciful enough to allow him to become one of his servants. He got himself together, wrote out a speech and started on the long journey home. Jesus said that when the young man was “still a long way off”, that his father, “saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” The young man discovered that his father had never stopped loving him and was waiting for him. He discovered that even though he had stopped being a son, his father had never, for a moment, stopped being his father. When he was restored, when he returned to his place, he found out that his father’s face had always shined.

This prayer hearkens back to the priestly blessing of Numbers 6. God told Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons, the priests of Israel, to pray this blessing over the people: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.” It is a beautiful blessing; one I use in some part almost every time I pray with or for someone. God explained the purpose of the blessing, “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” What does it mean to put your name on something? It signifies possession, partnership, ownership, and commitment. We put our name on things, so they do not get lost, so that others know that it belongs to us. I gave my last name to my wife to show that I had chosen her to be a part of me and that I would no more forsake her than I would forsake myself. She took my last name to make us one, not just joined together, but never to part from each other. God put His name on Israel so that when they wandered, they would remember that He would remain still. He put His name on them so that when they sinned, they would remember that they could be forgiven. He put His name on them so that they would know that every time they turned back, they would find Him in His place, loving them, correcting them, forgiving them, and restoring them.

Three times the author of Psalm 80 prayed to be turned back. He was not asking to have the temple back, the greatness of Jerusalem, or even the reputation of Israel. He was asking to be restored to his Father’s house, to go back to where he had wandered from with full confidence that God had never moved from His place. In our lives there are many things, even many people that come and go. There are many things that we hope to be permanent that were meant to be temporary. There are seasons that we hope will never end and there are some that we hope to hurry through. The only thing that we ever really need to get back is the one thing that will not be taken away, the promise that if we will turn, God will be right where He promised to be. Today you can be restored because God’s face has never stopped shining.