Restore US: Make Your Face to Shine Upon US

Today I was struck by the beautiful refrain in Psalm 80...

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

What a beautiful prayer. The first thing that stood out to me what the lovely imagery of the shining face...reminding me of all those lovely glowsticks shining at the same time at Annual Conference. But then I noticed... "Hey! It's not 'restore me.' It's not 'save me'." It's us. How often do we forget the others involved in our own personal struggles? Evens something that disheartens you probably upsets your parents and brothers and sisters, friends who care for you, church family... so many lives touched. And what about the ones who are causing the pain? Is there not some pain for them as well? Or perhaps they have pain in their lives or there is something causing them to act this way.

Again I come back to the challenge. It is a challenge to continually live out what Christ called us to... "Turn the other cheek. Pray for those who persecute you." Yes, pray for them. Include them in the 'us.' They are a part of us and we are a part of them. When we were asked to love our neighbor, there was no clause, no by-line. There were no 'ifs.' Love your neighbor... love your enemy. In Jesus, enemy, friend, neighbor and stranger no longer make a difference. In fact, we are all of those at some point, so we pray for restoration... for us.


Restore

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. (Psalm 80:3-7)

Again I am amazed at the freedom of expression in the Psalms. I hope to do a study of the Psalms someday. If we were as open and honest as the Psalmists, then perhaps we would feel the truly wonderful freedom, that will set us free. For our Father doesn't only love us if we 'say the right things' or if we 'feel the right things'. No. He's soooo much bigger than that. Our heavenly Father looooves us. He loves us when we're having mood swings or when we're bitter or frustrated or deeply saddened or angry. And He encourages us to run to Him for comfort... to cast our cares upon Him. I know I've said it many times, but I believe we really do hide our tears. We force them back in and ignore them. After all, society tells us to 'be happy', and that 'guys can't cry' and that 'girls should be docile.' There are shoulds and shouldn'ts about our feelings in society... but not with God. In fact, when we recognize our true feelings is when we can come before the Lord and truly ask Him to restore us. How could be restored from what we hide from Him? How could we even ask for it?

And this prayer is one that I will remember for its inclusive nature. It recognizes that we are not individual bubbles no matter how hard we may try in this individualistic society. We are the stew in which the flavors all combine and affect one another. Or perhaps a kaleidescope with one color fading into and changing another. Our sins, our trials, our joys... it is not solitary and individual when we are living out the Christian community that Jesus describes. So it only makes sense to ask the Lord not just to restore me... but to restore us- family, friends, neighbors, enemies, all.


Us

16If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you (Romans 11:16-18)

And the 'us' is a vital part of the New Testament teachings of the beginnings of the church. I once heard a sermon on the term 'one another' and how many times it is used in the New Testament. The number evades me now, but I remember the conclusion... a lot!

Here Paul is not just teaching 'tolerance' but appreciation, respect, and inclusion. He doesn't settle for separate and equal. He encourages the Romans to remember that they are all equally holy- no matter what part of the tree they are, for the roots (Jesus) supports them all... whether broken or upright, strong or twisted, choked by vines or bearing fruit. We are all in this together. It's interesting that I believe other cultures have a much better cultural schema for this sort of mindset... the culture from which the Bible comes. In the Middle East, you would not picture a network as single circles connected by lines. Instead, you would envision a network as overlapping, moveable, all connected to one another. For instance, to take out a loan, you could go to your friend, or your friend's friend, or your friend's friend's... you get the idea. We're connected... no matter how far apart, we're connected. Like Brad's trees in the Amazon, no matter how many layers above the roots, we're all a part of the same tree.

So Lord, restore US, make your face to shine upon US.