Our psalm reading this week is a prayer or plea to God that He would restore His people. This psalm is believed to have been written shortly after the fall of the northern Kingdom of Israel, when the Assyrian Empire came in, overran the Kingdom, and took the people captive. This occurred between 732 - 720 BC.
After King Solomon had died, during the reign of his son, King Rehoboam, the northern tribes rebelled and broke off, forming the northern Kingdom of Israel, leaving the Southern Kingdom of Judah loyal to Rehoboam and the Davidic monarchy. One of the first things that happened in the northern Kingdom of Israel was that the majority of the people turned away from the true worship of Yahweh, and started worshipping pagan idols. Though God sent multitudes of prophets and preachers to them, seeking to bring them back to true faith, the majority of the people persisted in their wickedness.
Our psalmist sees what has happened to the ten northern tribes of Israel, as they had removed themselves from God’s blessings through their apostasy. Also, the southern Kingdom of Judah was swiftly following in their footsteps. The psalmist sets down in this prayer-psalm a plea to God to restore His people, identifying himself with the people who have been overrun by the enemy, though he is a worshipper of Yahweh alone, and probably from the southern Kingdom.
Three times throughout this psalm we hear the plea repeated for God to restore us, His people, to cause His face to shine upon us, and we would be saved (vs. 3, 7, and 19). The idea of God’s face to shine upon us is that He would be pleased with us, no longer having an angry, glowering face. He would be benevolent and willing to bless. The psalmist reminds God of how He brought His people out of Egypt and planted them like a plant in the land (vs. 8-11). Now, though, the kingdom is overrun by the enemy, and the people are in great sorrow, and they know that this is from the hand of God (vs. 4-6, 12-13).
When we are going through a difficult time in our life, either in our life individually, or as a people, we can cry out like we read in this psalm for God to restore us. Where have the good days gone? The psalmist here knew that what had happened was a result of the people’s sins. The people had renounced the true worship of Yahweh and abandoned His Word, and instead gone following the pagan religions of the neighboring lands. Before restoration can occur, there must be repentance, and a turning away from sin. The psalmist’s cry for the people to be restored could not occur until the people, both individually and as a nation, returned wholeheartedly to Yahweh. This is the same, not only in Biblical days, but also today. We must humble ourselves, turn to God, and receive His forgiveness before restoration can occur.
Just like in Biblical times, we can turn away from God and go off on our own way, straying further and further away from Him and His Word. Then when troubles arise we turn back to God and cry out, “Help me!” We want Him to come and deliver us from the troubles that have befallen us. But just as it was at the time of this psalm, there must be genuine repentance and a turning from the sins in our life before God can bring restoration, either to us individually or collectively. Both the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah learned this. Today, so often in many religious circles, repentance and turning from sin are brushed aside as relics of a former time, remnants of a more sterner, puritanical age. The message of repenting and turning from sin, though, is still the message of God, not only in the Old Testament, but in the New as well, and is still His Word today.
Thank you Sarah. Your post reminds me that our God-given free will can sometimes take us on the wrong path :-(
ReplyDeleteThese days I pray with more thanks than before. I’m still not sure that I “hear” God’s quiet voice in response as others do ? ...though believe sometimes receive signs. I continue to talk to God, read my UR Daily Devotional, learn from my URFamily, and give with love in daily life without requiring in return to build a closer relationship each day.
Thank you xo, Lisa
I agree; people seem to consider repentance and even sin itself as remnants from the past.
ReplyDeleteBut how will we change from the path that we are on (individually or collectively) if we never repent? If we don't acknowledge or even notice our errors, we don't repent, we don't change course, and we just keep layering muck upon muck as our poor choices accumulate, until we can't see God, or even the person that we were created to be, through the layers of muck.
Yes, we need the restoration that repentance and forgiveness bring.