“Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.” (vs4-7)
We want to be saved. We've been saved in election, redemption, and Spirit power, but we've also been chastened sore. We've lost the experience of our inheritance in Christ. We've been defeated, given to the enemies of the gospel, and made to feel the wickedness and worthlessness of sin. Now, we WANT God's help!
Bless His name. We've done wrong, been deservedly punished, and yet He will return to us. He says, “I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly” (vs8). He is not a God who once offended can never be persuaded to love again. He is GRACIOUS, forgiving, and what He did in the past - saving us FREELY from our sins, electing us in love, dying for us while we abhorred Him, and then teaching us distinctly and savingly when we were too foolish to even know that we're blind - He will do again. He said, “Lord, You have been favorable to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah. You have taken away all Your wrath; You have turned from the fierceness of Your angers” (vs1-3). This evidences His love, and even though we've challenged His rule and smarted for our behavior, He is a returning, reconciling, reviving God. He says, “Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him that glory may dwell in our land” (vs9).
He didn't die for the angels who sinned, but He CAME BACK to Adam, even after he'd chased God away with his sin. He will return to you, graciously. He will give you blessings that Christ died to give, and He does it by chastening us, restoring faith, and then answering the request of His people for obedience to Christ, joy in the Spirit, and thereby praise unto God. I'm thankful that God is GRACIOUS to the people who've spit in His face.
Bless God for assurance. He says, “Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed [God's attributes of mercy and faithfulness]. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, the Lord will give what is good; and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway” (vs10-13). We don't look at our past, see failures, and say, “I can't have Christ tomorrow”. It isn't so! We may have the fullness of grace, not because we have been good, for we've been chastened for sin, but because He is GOOD, hears the prayer of faith, and will do us good for Christ's sake. His Son earned the desires of your heart, even righteousness and peace!
The gospel is God doing us undeserved goodness through Christ who put away our sins, and it's Him working in us mightily by the Spirit, rather than our own contributions. What you may have tomorrow, and what you may become in due time is NEVER merely dependent on who you were today. You can be forgiven and have fellowship restored.
Be bold, optimistic, and confident. We are not saying, “I'll fix myself, and see what I earn”, but we're beholding the exalted Lamb of God, the promises of the gospel, and the Spirit is our boldness for expecting obedience that we haven't yet rendered. I praise the Lord with you because I am assured. I am not doubtful about tomorrow, but hopeful. I am not looking at what I deserve, but my eyes see the gospel of God.
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