Restoration

Psalm 78 resonates way too closely with my life. Reading it, about how the Israelites rebelled over and over again, inherently elicits emotions of anger and frustration. STOP SINNING!!!! I've always wondered why God chose the Israelites to be His chosen people, until my eyes were opened to the intense similarities between their journey and my/your journey. Day after day God longs for intimacy with Him and He longs to provide for us. "But again the continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved...When He struck the rock, water gushed out and streams flowed abundantly. BUT, can He also give us food? Can He supply meat for His people?" (vs. 17-20). God gives us water, and we complain because He didn't give us a fat juicy steak to go with it. We are no different from the people of this time. We gyrate through valleys and mountains and continue on in a perpetual cycle of disappointment, repentance, forgiveness, and disappointment. After several thousands of years of experience and history, how have we learned nothing? "Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power..." (vs. 41-42). So how in the world are we supposed to combat this addictive and destructive lifestyle? How and why is God even trying anymore? Ah, but now we reach Psalm 80, and that glorious and incomparable word comes into play...RESTORATION. In His sovereignty, He has the power and desire to restore us to our former glory as we had in the Garden of Eden. Without restoration, we would be marred and rotten and less valuable than dust in the wind. Take the time today to ask God to restore you. Ask Him to wipe your slate clean and to forgive you of your trespasses. We will never be fully restored until the Day of Second Coming is upon us, but God is desperate to restore us daily. All we have to do is fall to our knees and ask.