Restore Us

Passage: Psalm 60

This psalm begins with the paradoxical statement,

You have rejected us, O God, and burst forth upon us; you have been angry – now restore us!

The Psalmist goes on to list the specific troubles of his people:

• Brokenness of the land.
• “Desperate times.”
• Intoxication of the people.
• Vulnerability to enemies.

He attributes these problems not to chance or the caprice of a cruel world, but to the hand of God. Regarding the upheaval of the world around; the desperation of his people’s circumstances; and the intoxication of the people, the Psalmist concludes, “This is God’s doing.” God has brought difficulty upon his people. God has given them over to the vices that make them stagger. And God has left them to their own devices, leaving them helpless to fend off the attacks of their enemies. For what sin has God allowed his people to struggle? The Psalmist doesn’t say. He merely places his people’s trouble in the context of their relationship with God.

So doing, the Psalmist identifies the solution to his people’s problems. The God who has brought trouble upon them has the power to alleviate it. Instead of trying to get themselves out of trouble; instead of turning to some other power to save them, they turn to the only one who is truly able to do so. Instead of being an indictment of God, Psalm 60 is an invitation to renewed relationship with God. God’s people have fallen out of right relationship with God. Only God can restore that relationship. When the relationship is restored, so will be the people themselves.

Any trouble that we face, whether we like it or not, comes to us at the hands of God. God brings us through trouble not to hurt us or to punish us. God’s purpose is always to draw us into right relationship with him. If you’re in trouble; if your community is in trouble; if your world is in trouble, make Psalm 60 your prayer: Restore us, oh Lord!