A Word in Season: The smile of God (Psalm 80:3, 7, 19)

Psalm 80 and the Cry for Restoration

Three times in the 80th Psalm, Asaph uses this simple but profound refrain, verses 3, 7 and 19. He says, He's calling upon the Lord God as the shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock. He's asking God to stir up his strength and to come and save his people.

It's the cry of a man who is among a distressed people, beaten and cast down. Now they've certainly been delivered. They are undoubtedly the people of God. You can see that because Asaph goes back and pleads what God has done before and the mercies and deliverances that he has previously bestowed upon his people to make them his and to keep them his.

But now they are distressed once again. God has dealt with them righteously because of their carelessness, their sinfulness, their thoughtlessness, their worldliness. And now they have been brought low once more.

So he talks about the breaking down of the hedges and the plunder by the world of those who pass by. And the response then of God's people in a time of distress is to go back to the God of their salvation, to turn again to him and to plead, restore us, O Lord God of hosts, cause your face to shine and we shall be saved.

The earnestness of the plea is undeniable. Three times it's repeated in its essence. Restore us, restore us, bring us back to where we have been. Lift us up again from the depths to which we have plunged.

Help us in our weakness. Forgive us for our sinfulness. Bring us again to a point in which we are walking closely with you. And the imagery that is used is the beautiful language of God's shining face.

It's the smile of God upon his people. It's the lifting up of the light of his countenance upon us. It may very well be a deliberate echo of that priestly blessing, the Aaronic Benediction, the cry to God as the people go forth that he would lift up the light of his countenance upon them and show them his goodness and his glory.

And in that there is restoration. That's why the psalmist here says that if the Lord God of hosts, if the God of the armies of heaven, if the most high and the most majestic will only make his face to shine upon us, we shall be saved.

It is not possible that it should be any other way. The smile of God is salvation. The smile of God is his favour. And when God smiles, the frowns of anyone and anything else cannot harm us, cannot touch us.

Yes, there still be pains. There'll still be sorrows. There'll still be battles. But if God is smiling, we shall be saved. Now, churches at this time, many of us still are struggling with the implications of our situation.

The Need for Restoration in the Church

But even if it weren't the case, have we no cause to cry out to God in this way? Are we where we want to be? Are we what we want to be? Are we what we ought to be? Are we reflecting the holiness and the beauty of the God whom we serve?

Is there no decline among us? Has there been no drift into carelessness and carnality? Can we all say that our worship has been characterised by the fervour that it ought to have been? That our witness to the world about our Lord Jesus Christ has been as courageous and clear as it should have been?

That our appetites for God have been as developed as they should be? No, we need to be restored. We need God himself to draw us back to him, to lift us up out of the mire and to set our feet once more upon the rock.

Praying for God's Face to Shine Upon Us

And so it is good for us as we come to worship to cry out to the Lord God of hosts, Restore us, bring us back, lift us up. Don't deal with us as we deserve, but having made us your people, draw us closer to you once more.

Make your face to shine upon us. Cause your face to shine. Lift up the light of your countenance upon us. O God, smile once more upon your people and we shall be saved.