Restore us, oh God. Let your face shine that we may be saved.
– Psalm 80:3
Oh, what a prayer. Just picture the imagery here. Don’t you love all this imagery in the Psalm? It’s like every phrase just feels so rich.
Psalm 80:3 Is a Plea for Divine Restoration
So from the very beginning of this verse, the psalmist cries out, “Restore us, oh God.” You ever feel like you’re in need of restoration in so many ways, and first and foremost in your relationship with God? Where maybe you feel like you have lost a sense of intimacy with God? Or joy in God, or peace with God, or strength from God. “Restore us, oh God.” Restore our joy, restore our peace, restore our strength in you. Or then restoration in other facets of life. Restoration in relationships, in marriage. And relationships between parents and children. Relationships between friends. Relationships in the church. Or then restoration of health, or restoration amidst brokenness. Or difficult circumstances.
And Psalm 80:3 is a reminder that God is the Restorer. Whenever we need restoration in any of these ways, we look to God. He’s the Restorer. And then this phrase, “Restore us, oh God. Let Your face shine.” Isn’t this what we want today in our lives? What we need most in our lives is the face of God to shine upon us.
Even as I’m praying this, I see the sun coming up over the horizon. It just lights up everything. And it changes perspective on everything. It enables you to see the sun shining, changes everything. So God, let Your face shine upon me. Let Your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. Oh, our only hope of salvation is in the shining face of God. Our only hope of restoration is in the goodness, and grace, and power, and strength, and peace, and mercy of God.
Psalm 80:3 Encourages Us to Pray for Restoration All Around Us
So can we just pray this to Him in light of our need for restoration in all kinds of ways. God restore us. We pray just like Psalm 80:3 says, we need you to restore us in so many different ways. God, as I think about my life and others who are listening to this, we need restoration in so many different ways. God, I pray for all who need a restoration to you, to intimacy with you, to peace from you, to joy in you that supersedes circumstances. To strength amidst weakness. God, for healing amidst brokenness. Lord, for restoration of health. God, we pray for healing and restoration of health.
We pray for restoration of relationships that are broken. God, please, restore our relationships. Restore marriages where they are broken or hurting, fractured. God, we pray for restoration of relationships with children, or with parents where there is brokenness or fracture there. Restoration in Your body, in the church where there is lack of restoration and reconciliation.
God, we pray for Christ-centered restoration and reconciliation. We pray for that with friends. We pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. That we would live in restored relationships by your grace. And God, we pray for restoration of people’s lives all around us to you. God, we pray for the salvation of people all around us today. God, so much need for restoration. And You are the God who alone can give it. So let your face shine we pray in all these ways. In our lives, over others, around us who need restoration, God that we and they might be saved.
Praying for the Unreached
God, as we pray for unreached people on this podcast, God, we pray for their restoration. Let Your face shine.
We pray that the light of the gospel would shine upon them, that Your face and Your favor would reach them. In Christ, God, we pray, help us as your church to spread the good news of Your restoration, Your salvation to them, that the sun might rise in the middle of darkness among people who’ve never heard the gospel, who are living in darkness right now. Cause Your face to shine on them. And God use our lives, our resources, to get the good news of the gospel to them. That through our lives, Your face might shine upon them. God, we pray all of this according to Your word, which we love. In Psalm 80:3, “Restore us, oh God. Let your face shine that we may be saved.” In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
