(upbeat music)
- Hi, this is Pastor Tom, and I want to welcome you
to our look at Psalm 80 today.
It really does follow up on Psalm 79.
It's more truth for those who have been taken captive
after Israel falls.
This time, he's speaking to the Northern Kingdom.
You remember Israel had been divided into two kingdoms,
Southern Kingdom, where Jerusalem was,
and the Northern Kingdom up where Sea of Galilee
and a lot of other things are.
First, the Southern Kingdom falls,
and now the Northern Kingdom falls.
And they need the truth of God's word as well.
Once again, we're gonna hear some truth for those moments
when we feel like everything's falling apart.
And while we all have that one moment,
which we really focused on yesterday,
those moments of devastation,
maybe today we could think in a different direction.
'Cause the truth is,
it can feel like everything's falling apart
day to day sometimes.
We don't even know why we feel devastated.
We didn't even know why,
because our child cried this time,
or it didn't happen right at school this time.
We just feel like hopeless all of a sudden.
But it happens to all of us.
So even if you're not going through
the worst of circumstances in life,
you may be going through the worst of feelings
in your own heart.
And again, as I said a few Psalms ago,
you need to check that out sometimes
with a doctor or with a counselor.
But you also need to check it out
with the truth of God's word.
That's part of your healing in life.
There's times in life
when you just have this devastating thought,
life is not turning out like I want it.
And this Psalm gives us what we need
when we're facing those moments.
Here's what the truth of this Psalm tells us.
When you feel this way,
you need to say these things to God.
Hear me, restore me, return to me, and revive me.
Let's walk through how the psalmist lays this out
and let the Lord speak to our hearts through this Psalm.
First he says, "Hear us, hear me."
Verse one and two, "Hear us, O shepherd of Israel,
"you who lead Joseph like a flock,
"you who sit enthroned between the cherubim.
"Shine forth before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
"Awaken your might, come and save us."
So we're back to that picture of God being our shepherd
that Psalm 79 ended with.
When we talk about meditating on the truth of God,
one of the truths behind meditation
can be remembering how God has been your shepherd
through the years.
And he says he's talking to the one
who sits enthroned between the cherubim, the angels.
This is the one who is in control, hear us.
And there's this two word prayer.
I love this prayer, "Shine forth."
God, shine forth even in this situation.
Shine forth even in how I'm feeling right now.
Shine forth even in this mess.
You have the power to shine forth.
You're more powerful than even this.
Show your power in this circumstance.
Hear us, O God.
Hear us, he prays, and then he prays, restore us.
You pray, restore me.
Verse three down to verse six.
Restore us, O God, make your face shine upon us
that we may be saved.
O Lord God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?
Have you fed them with the bread of tears?
Have you made them drink tears by the bowlful?
You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors
and our enemies mock us.
Make your face to shine upon us.
Shine forth, he prayed, and now he prays,
make your face shine upon us.
Let my heart know, make your face shine upon me.
Let my heart know that I have your full attention
and your favor is upon my life.
That's true for every single human being
that has ever lived, is living right now,
or will ever live.
That's the greatness of God.
You have his full attention.
His full favor is lying on your life.
It doesn't go from person to person to person.
God is greater than that.
It's always there for you.
When he says, make your face shine upon me,
one of the things he's praying here is,
my greatest need is to be connected to you, God.
You know, when you're looking at someone,
you're talking to them and their face is shining
and your face is shining, you are connected to that person.
I'm connecting to some of you right now
who are experiencing a first love in your life.
You are connected to that person.
And he's praying, God, restore that connection.
Restore that relationship.
Restore us because we need restoring.
He expresses his need, his deepest need here.
Most of us spend too much time asking God for answers
and not enough time expressing our greatest need.
We should ask God for answers,
but we should also express our greatest need.
Which is God?
Which is our relationship with him?
Because it is often in expressing our need
that our faith is awakened to see God's answers.
We're saying, I need an answer.
I need an answer.
I need an answer.
I need an answer.
And God is saying, if you just be quiet
and look at me and appreciate me,
you would have the answer that you need.
And so he prays, restore us.
Restore us.
He starts verse seven with the same words as verse three.
He says it again, restore us, O God Almighty.
Make your face shine upon us that we may be saved.
And then he gives them a picture in verse eight.
You brought a vine out of Egypt.
You drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared the ground for it.
And it took root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shade
and mighty cedars with its branches.
It sent out, it bows to the sea,
it shoots as far as the river.
Why have you broken down its walls?
So that all who pass by pick its grapes.
Bores from the forest ravage it
and creatures of the field feed on it.
So he's given them the picture of God's flock.
And now he talks about this picture of God's vine.
It's all throughout the Old Testament
that Jesus talks about in the New Testament.
And he's saying, restore us to be
what you planted us to be.
We're your vine.
We're meant to fill the land.
So there's this picture of a garden
that has been neglected.
And because of that, that we are back into your life
so that he can restore you to the purpose
for which he created you.
Hear us, he prays.
Restore us, he prays.
And then return to us.
So you and I pray, God, return to me.
In verses 14 to 17, return to us, O Lord Almighty.
Look down from heaven and see.
Watch over this vine.
The root your right hand has planted.
The sun you have raised up for yourself.
Your vine is cut down.
It is burned with fire.
At your rebuke the people perish.
Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand.
The son of man you have raised up for yourself.
So return to us, he says.
Give us this refreshed sense of your presence.
Return to us.
Where's that gonna come from?
Well, he writes prophetically about exactly
where that refreshed sense of God's presence
comes from in every one of our lives.
He talks about the root, the root of Jesse.
Well, we know who that is.
That's Jesus.
The son that you have raised up for yourself.
Out of David's line, that is Jesus.
The man at your right hand.
Jesus sits at the right hand of God
also interceding for us.
The son of man.
That was Jesus' favorite name for himself.
The son of man that you've raised up for yourself.
Return to us.
Well, he has through Jesus.
In Jesus, you and I have our relationship
with God refreshed.
We are brought back into his presence.
Return to us.
And then out of that, he says, revive us.
Revive us.
Even on these days of personal devastation.
Revive us.
Then we will not turn away from you.
Revive us.
And we will call on your name.
I have a great heart for revival.
And you can read about, I have,
maybe you have read about church revival
and national revival and historic revivals.
All of them.
All of them begin with personal revival.
New life springs from God's new promise in your life.
A renewed spirit to call on his name.
And a revival can happen in a moment.
A revival doesn't have to happen after years
and years of not following Christ.
And then I turn my heart back to him.
It can happen at the end of a bad day.
This was a stinky bad day.
I revive my spirit to call on you, Lord,
even as I go to sleep.
And I look to you to be with me tomorrow,
no matter what the circumstances.
Have a lot of revivals in your life,
is what I'm saying.
He ends again by saying, once again, restore us.
In fact, if you really see what this Psalm says,
hear us, restore us, restore us,
return to us, revive us, restore us.
Verse 19, restore us, O Lord God Almighty.
Make your face shine upon us that we may be saved.
So I have to ask you the question,
is there something that needs to be restored
in your relationship with God?
Let's pray together.
And Father, we ask that question of you.
Is there something that needs to be restored
in my relationship with you?
The way that I think about you,
the way that I serve you,
the way that I love you,
the way that I consider you,
the way that I'm grateful to you.
Hear us and restore us and return to us and revive us.
You are a God who will do all of that
again and again in our lives.
Do it today, one more time.
Revive us today, one more time.
We pray it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
(upbeat music)