“Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!” Psalm 80:3 ESV
Reflection: what it the purpose of restoration?
In a small town on the border of Nebraska and Kansas, there is a car dealership which specializes in old cars. I mean, really old cars. And they have parked many of these cars in the field by the highway, in hope of someone driving by that is interested in a project car. To restore a 60-70 year old car to its former beauty. We have driven by dozens of times, and every time I think about these old cars, what they used to be. How fun it would be to take just one of them to restore it. To save it, in a way, before it is taken to a junkyard for parts and scrap metal. In the meantime, these old cars are just sitting there, in the field, rusting away. And this dealership is just one of many that have old, rusty cars needing to be restored. Needing to be saved.
In a way, these rusty old cars are not so different than people, who are also “rusting away” in the world. Never fulfilling the full purpose for which they were born. They might have had a few good years, but then the evil, the cruelty of the world started breaking them down until they were left in a field, abandoned. In our focus verse today, Asaph cries out to God to restore His people, to bring them back to life, so that they can be saved. He has seen how the enemy has “eaten away” at the people. “Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.”Psalm 80:12-13 ESV
Asaph continues, “Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself. They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face! But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!”Psalm 80:14-18 ESV
Have you looked recently where you work and where you live? Perhaps even within your own family? Can you see any “rusty cars” around you, that need restoration so they can be saved? To bring to new life? Maybe you feel a bit “rusty” yourself, set aside? God can restore you, bring you new life, you know, if you cry out to Him. And maybe He has called you to be His hands and His feet in one of His projects, to help Him restore someone. So that they too can be saved, and given a new life.