Restore us to yourself, oh Lord, that we may be restored.
– Lamentations 5:21
That is such a loaded verse. It’s such a loaded phrase. Just think about it with me.
Lamentations 5:21 reminds us true restoration begins with God.
Here we are at the very end of Lamentations, in light of sin and all of its catastrophic effects that have been lamented throughout this book. The prayer that rises from the end is “Restore us to yourself, oh Lord, that we may be restored.” Think about that. There’s so much that needs to be restored among the people of God at this point… Their land, their families. Everything has been destroyed. Everything needs to be restored. But where does it all start? Where does restoration in any way begin? It begins with restoration to the Lord. Restore us to yourself, oh, Lord, that we may be restored in all kinds of ways, but all of it flows from restoration to you.
God, this is a truth we see all throughout the Bible, that we know from the very character of God as the Creator of our lives. The author of everything that is good, every good gift in our lives. What we need more than anything in this world is restoration to God. From God flows everything that we need. But without God, no matter how much we have, no matter how much we work toward restoration in all kinds of different ways and our lives, we will not be restored if we are not ultimately restored to God.
Lamentations 5:21 encourages us to ask God to restore us to himself.
So when we pray for our lives or for others’ lives, for restoration in all kinds of ways. For restoration of health, restoration of relationships, restoration of peace, restoration in the middle of conflict, restoration from a place of shame to a place of honor for restoration, from a place of guilt to a place of righteousness or innocence. We can think of all kinds of different pictures of restoration. But at the bottom of them all foundational to them all is our need for restoration to God.
As just one example, I think about marriages that are hurting. Or really any relationship that feels broken that needs to be restored. Fundamental to that is a husband and a wife or two different people or groups of people to be restored to God. And as we’re restored to God, then restoration and all kinds of other ways will flow.
I’m not saying it will be easy. I’m not saying there won’t be work involved. But Lamentations 5 is saying here… I am saying that it will be futile ultimately if we try to restore anything in any way apart from ultimate restoration to God. And so we pray… Oh God, we need full restoration to you in each one of our lives. God, we pray you’d help us to walk closely with you. God, we pray you’d help us to be quick, to confess sin, receive your forgiveness, and be reconciled to you.
This verse reminds us our lives will be restored as we repent before God.
Lord, we pray that you’d help us to walk in peace with you. God, help us in each one of our lives today to examine our hearts and if there’s anything that is in need of confession, any areas where restoration to you is needed, God help us to see those things and we pray that you would do your restoring work in us. Restore us to yourself, oh Lord, and flowing from this… God, we pray for restoration in all kinds of ways.
God, we pray for any broken relationships. We have, Lord, for any kind of brokenness in us, around us. God, we long for restoration. We long for restoration of health, amidst sickness of joy, amidst sadness and sorrow. We long for the restoration of relationships that have been broken. God, we pray for you to do your restoring work as we seek you, as we draw near to you.
This verse reminds us of the final restoration of all things.
God, we pray that you would bring healing in our lives and our relationships, and you would show your healing power in the world around us. You’re restoring power, your saving power in all kinds of ways around us. God, please bring restoration ultimately in our lives and others’ lives to you, and then flowing from that… God, we pray for the fruit of that restoration in this world, knowing that we are waiting for the day when our full and final restoration to you will be complete.
Jesus, we praise you for making that possible, for the hope we have, that that reality is coming and not just restoration to you, but restoration of all things. God, we long for a new heaven and a new earth free from sin and suffering in all of its effects. Come Lord Jesus, come quickly. We pray, we place all our hope in you.
Prayer for the Bushi People
And God, we pray for the Bushi people of Otte, the island of Otte, who have never heard the good news of your love in Jesus for 90,000 or so of them, God who need restoration to you, and you’ve made it possible through Jesus’ death on the cross for them.
Please bring about the restoration of the Bushi people of May Otte Island to you. Please, oh God, we pray for their good, for your glory and oh God, for the restoration of all peoples ultimately to you. Yes, God, please bring it about all peoples gathered around your throne restored to you and to one another. Oh God, bring it about we pray. Revelation 7:9–10 to you, the God who alone can restore. We pray all these things in Jesus’ name. 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.
