"Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." Psalm 80:19 (Read all of Psalm 80)
Israel was the church in Old Testament times. The outward nation was the visible church in this world which included believers as well as unbelievers and hypocrites. True Israel was made up of all those who shared in the faith of Abraham -- genuine believers who looked to God for grace and mercy in the promised Messiah and Savior -- and includes believers yet today who trust in Christ Jesus and His cross for pardon, forgiveness and life everlasting (cf. Gen. 15:5-6; Rom. 4:1ff.; Gal. 3:26ff.).
Thus, when the visible church turned away from following after the LORD God, He sent trouble and affliction, as described in the psalm, that His elect might repent and look to God for mercy and forgiveness. The same happens today, and we might expect to see it happen to an apostate visible church in our land and time (cf. 1 Pet. 1:3-9; 2 Pet. 3:9).
In the days of Asaph, the psalmist, God afflicted His people for turning away from Him by sending Shishak, king of Egypt, with his armies to afflict God's people and bring them to see their sin in turning away from the LORD God (cf. 2 Chron. 12:1-9). As the psalm described, God allowed Israel's enemies to ravage and destroy her -- the vine which God had planted -- and God would not listen to His people's pleas because they had turned aside from the Law of the LORD.
And like the plea of Jeremiah 31:18, "Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God," so the plea of the psalm used by God's church in worship was: "Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved" -- a plea which should be on our lips and the lips of faithful Christians everywhere today as the outward churches forsake the Word of the LORD and the Messiah whom He has sent.
Only God can bring us to genuine repentance and faith. Only He can turn us from our sinful ways to Him for mercy in the Messiah and Savior -- the Man of His right hand. Without the Spirit's mighty working through the Word to convince us of our sin and to assure us of forgiveness and life in Christ Jesus and His blood shed for all sin upon the cross, there is no hope. But God can turn us!
And when God turns us back to Him, and when His face shines upon us, we shall be saved -- not only from the afflictions of this world but from the eternal sufferings of hell!
"Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." Amen.
[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture from the King James Version of the Bible. More devotions at goodshepherdrogers.org.]
Editorial on 11/05/2014