Restore us Lord

Ps 80 / Luke 1:39-45

8 &10am church

St Stephens 3 Dec 2017

Imagine a scenario where a dominant foreign power was systematically dismantling Australia, confiscating businesses, land, homes ….. taking families captive, other Aussies fleeing.The car, the house, super rendered worthless, freedoms & rights become a thing of the past as the world economy is restructured by new power politics - I would cry out to God in that situation.Seems an unlikely scenario but one not dissimilar to white Zimbabwean farmers in recent decades, more recently the testimony of Syrian & Afghani refugees, or Aborigines in the past 200 yrs. Much injustice. The people who have undergone such displacement are traumatised, their familiar comfort replaced by desperation & uncertainty - a yearning for restoration is understandableOur reading from Ps80 relates to people feeling something of this sort of pain, & this is compounded because Israel as a nation knew their unique specialness in God’s purposes yet felt abandoned.Israel, the northern kingdom, had lived under the shadow the powerful Assyrian Empire for many years.(Slide1) See slide of the northern(Israel) & southern kingdom(Judah) of the Jews - Assyria to the north dominated the political landscape.(Slide2) See a stone obelisk’s a depiction of King Jehu of the northern kingdom of Israel in 842BC paying tribute to the Assyrian king.(Slide3) By 734BC Assyria was asserting its authority, invading & taking the population of Israel captive(Slide4) finally, in 722, the northern city capital of Samaria was taken after a 3 yr siege & according to the Assyrian foreign policy the 10 tribes were dispersed & integrated into their empire. 2 tribes, Judah & Benjamin remained for another 125yrs as southern kingdom of Judah with their capital Jerusalem (Slide5) see the brown bit on the map) - they would be taken into exile by another world power, Babylon, in 598BC.This is the backdrop for Ps 80. It is a psalm of Asaph, a song of the Temple singers (even the tune mentioned). This psalm seems to have been written in the years when the 10 northern tribes of Israel were being taken captive. This was the judgement of God upon a nation that had rejected his word, become corrupt, sacrificing to pagan gods.

It is tragic that these descendants of Abraham had gone the way of the world in which they lived.The southern kingdom, with the 2 remaining tribes(Judah & Benjamin) mourned the tragic downfall of Israel, saw their own state of affairs, & sang this psalm as an expression of lament & petition to God. It is about identity, loss and prayers for the return of a life that once was, but is no longer - Restore us Lord is a refrain 3 times (vv3,7,19)vv1-7 A call to God their shepherdThe psalm begins with the cry for God, their shepherd, to ‘hear them’(v1), the image of God as their shepherd reminds us of David’s Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd” - a celebration of God leading: green pastures, quiet waters, refreshment & comfort, God’s presence in the face of & beyond death. God’s presence with his people is evoked by a reference (v2)to the glory of God between the cherubim on the ark of the covenant. If you look back to the 40yrs in the wilderness, how as Israel broke camp they would travel in their tribes with the ark in the centre preceeding the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin & Manasseh….. yet here in (v4), the sheep feel God’s anger smouldering against them, (v5) that their ‘daily bread was hardship’(‘bread of tears’ was a Mesopotamian expression for hardship)- & they were drinking these tears by the bowlful - this sort of hardship & sorrow is beyond what most of us can identify with yet we have each had a share of life strugglesAgain & again in this psalm is a cry for God’s presence to be experienced again: v1 Hear us, shine forth, v2 come & save us, vv3,7 restore us, “make your face shine upon us” (evokes the Aaronic Blessing from Num6:25)- But what strikes me about in this psalm/song to be sung in the

Temple is that there is gut-wrenching sadness & a cry for help to God, yet there is no acknowledgement of their failure to live God’s way …. the demise of the northern kingdom of Israel came following warning after warning.(Hos 14:1-2 “Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall Take words with you & return to the Lord.)- a call to repent yet here the focus is on what God needs to do.

vv8-19 A call for God to tend his vineIn vv8-19 the sheep & shepherd metaphor of vv1-7 gets replaced by another agricultural metaphor. Israel is the vine taken from Egypt & planted in the promised land.Israel is described as a vine that dwarfed & shaded the mountains, branches to the Mediterranean Sea, its shoots to the Euphrates River (Echoes of Hosea Ch10, God’s prophet who said "Israel was a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit". Hosea meant that Israel increased in prosperity. But he went on to say that Israel's prosperity unfortunately led to increased idolatry: "The more his fruit increased the more altars he built."- There is a presumption that God would keep blessing them & so in

Ps80:12-14 there is confusion when things go belly-up: Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? Boars from the forest ravage it, & insects from the fields feed on it. Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven & see!- I often wonder if part of our trouble is that we work hard to have the

nice things of life & apart from wanting a bit more we are largely content being able to supply our families with all the things they need & want - sometimes we work at this more than we work at learning from Jesus, cultivating a deep devotion.

- When things happen that cause grief we feel that God has abandoned us … I have seen many people, church, friends here & afar we reach our middle age years & there is a sense of emptiness - I see people responding to this disappointment in different ways:

i) Some cry something like: “Restore us Lord” constantly wanting a quick fix, others

ii) Have little expectation of anything from God drift from following Jesus retaining a vague faith that is little more than superstition.

- Others a better approach, that in wanting to keep our faith moving forward make decisive steps to grow a relationship with God: know his Scriptures, learn to pray & find ways to serve God … and see God at work in their life - restoration & salvation

Back to Ps80 - Despite Israel’s waywardness, despite wanting restoration without repentance & personal transformation, at least the final vv of the psalm look in the right direction:

God had promised an eternal kingdom in the line of David - so v18, the cry goes out for a deliverer king…. if that happens Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, & we will call on your name.- We’ll get it right! We never get it fully right "Two steps forward, one back" .... God's grace prevails as God works with willing humble people to bring restoration & salvation to his people & his worldGod has heard the cry of his people, He has raised up his king, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the True Vine• He has established a new kingdom which spans all nations - much

richer & broader than Israel ever imagined! Jesus is king• He has brought restoration to his people by taking the burden of sin

& granting new life• His face does shine upon us - his presence by his Spirit who moves

us to trust & obey - Salvation has come, so:Will you cry “Restore us Lord”?What does it all mean to you as we head towards Christmas - How hungry are you to know God’s restoration & salvation?Will you be encouraged that God has acted to bring the restoration to his people and his world?1) Will you celebrate with Elizabeth & Mary as they marvel at that the

Lord’s promise was fulfilled with the birth of Jesus: “My soul glorifies the Lord & my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” - These women knew something of God’s promises & they were excited to be involved.

2) I want to encourage you to see that we are part of this grand story & have a chance to play a role in God’s salvation for the world. Restoration has come, restoration will be fully seen & we get a chance to share the hope & joy around this Christmas.

3) Don’t just wait for the ‘quick fix’, don’t have a low expectation of God & drift away

4) Do resolve this Christmas to grow your relationship with God so that you know his restoration & salvation and can be a blessing to your family & friends.

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