Friday, December 18th Billie Teague
Psalm 80:1-7
Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us. 3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. 4 How long, Lord God Almighty, will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful. 6 You have made us an object of derision[b] to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us. 7 Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
It can sometimes feel during times of falter and failure that you are alone or that God is not with you. We are overwhelmed with our circumstances. You may ask yourself if you have angered God, if He remembers you, or even if we deserve to be remembered.
The psalmist cried out to God for Israel to be restored after it had been ravaged. The psalmist knew the people weren’t currently in God’s favor because they had turned away from him but he also knew that only through God could they be made whole again, so he asked to be restored.
The hardest part of my biggest mistakes has been acknowledgement that, yes, I made a mess of it. I have to be willing to admit that I probably didn’t do what I should have or what God had in mind for me. Just as the writer of this psalm indicated, we need to acknowledge that God is needed. Through God, we can be resurrected from those mistakes.
Surrender your failures to God, forgive yourself, and let him forgive you. He is always as close to us as we allow him to be. He will restore us if we let him.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, please help me to remember that I am not alone even when I make mistakes. Always, Lord, let me humbly ask for forgiveness and your healing power. Remind me Lord that you love me so greatly that you can forgive me. Amen.