Come to save us!
[Psalms 80]
I think you all know the news about the election of (formal) President Lee Myung-bak. In the Korean media, while delivering the news of his election, I saw how President-elect Lee Myung-bak came from the past to the present. Interestingly, President-elect Lee Myung-bak's birthday is December 19th, the same as my wife. It is also said that December 19th is the wedding anniversary of President-elect Lee Myung-bak. The reason why he got married on his birthday is not to forget his wedding anniversary. My wife and I got engaged on my wife’s birthday, December 19th. The reason I got engaged on my wife's birthday is so that I didn’t have to give two gifts to my wife (birthday gift and engagement gift), but just one gift. Haha. After receiving the news that Mr. Lee Myung-bak was elected president, I received ‘Go Dowon’s Letter’ by e-mail, and the title was ‘True Leadership’. This is what the parts of the post said:
‘What is true leadership? Leaders are not just those who do things efficiently.
Leaders are people who do ‘the right thing’. Leaders are not people who can
choose between means and methods to achieve their goals, but people who move
according to the right values. Leaders are people who know their strengths
and weaknesses and try to overcome their weaknesses.’
[Gary McIntosh, in Samuel Lima's ‘Shadow of Leadership’]
‘A leader is a person who walks on the tip of a sword of light and shade.
He always looks at himself with his sharp eyes to see if he is walking the right path.
There are two ways to do that. One is the way of self-reflection, another way is
to see himself through other people. If the leader doesn't walk the right path,
he will cast big shadow before the people and history.’
Probably this article came to me by e-mail knowing that Congressman Lee Myung-bak was elected as a president.
When I heard President-elect Lee Myung-bak's words through the news, it seemed like he promised three things: (1) Saving economy, (2) Reconciling divided society, and (3) Humbly serving the people. It is now the responsibility of President-elect Lee Myung-bak to keep these promises faithfully. I wonder if he can save the Korean economy or reconcile a society that has been divided for a long time. We, Korean Christians,should pray for the new president-elect when he leads the Korea. And also we must keep praying for our home country, Korea. I would like to receive three lessons from Psalms 80 on what we should prayer for.
The first prayer topic is ‘O God, may Your face shine upon us’.
Look at Psalms 80:1, 3, 7, 19 – “Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth! … O God, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. … O God of hosts, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. … O LORD God of hosts, restore us; Cause Your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.” The reason why the psalmist prayed to God four times “shine forth” (v. 1), “shine upon us” (vv. 3, 7 19) was because it was a dark time for the psalmist and the Israelites. In other words, the dark time refers to a situation in which they were in an extremely miserable situation (Park). To what does the extremely miserable situation refer? That situation refers to the situation in which strong nations in Israel's neighbors compete to eat Israel each other (v. 6) because of God's wrath (v. 4). In a word, it refers to the situation in which at the God's rebuke, His people perished (v. 16). Why did the Israelites get to the point where they were rebuked by God and perished? It was because of their sin. The text Psalms 80 doesn’t say what those sins were, but it is certain that they bought God's wrath for their sins and were disciplined by God (Park). Therefore, in such dark time, the psalmist felt that God was hiding His face because of the sins of the Israelites. So he prayed to God, ‘O God, may Your face shine upon us’.
This Monday, there was a Westminster Seminary Alumni Association meeting. So I went to a one of the alumni’s church and received another pastor's sermon CD as a gift. So when I was coming back home, I listened to his sermon in the car. And I received God’s grace and I want to share with you. That grace is that the pastor said in his sermon ‘Christian religion is what God seeks for us, and our life of faith is what we seek for God’. One example that the pastor gave during his sermon was ‘hide and seek’. It is said that if parents play hide and seek with their younger children, they hide so that children can find them to some extent. If they hide so tightly that their children can't find them at all, the the parents are a little weird. Hahaha. Usually parents hide for their children to find or give hints when they can't find them. When God hides His face because of our unrepentant sins, our God is never a God who hides from us so that we cannot find Him. He is the God who wants to reveal Himself to us. Therefore, when we are subject to God's discipline for our sins, when everything feels so dark, like the psalmist, we should ask, ’O God, may Your face shine upon us’.
In this Christmas season that celebrates and rejoices in the birth of Jesus, we look forward to the Second Coming of Jesus, especially new Jerusalem and new earth. In Revelation 21:23, this is what the apostle John said about the new Jerusalem and new earth: “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” There is never darkness in heaven that we are heading for. There is no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it. It is because the glory of God, Jesus is the Lamb, has illumined it. I hope and pray that with this hope, even if we are in a dark situation while living in this earth, we don’t lose hope and pray, ‘O God, may Your face shine upon us’.
The second prayer topic is ‘O God, restore us’.
Look at Psalms 80:3a, 7a, 19a: “O God, restore us … O God of hosts, restore us … O LORD God of hosts, restore us …” The psalmist prayed, ‘O God, restore us’. This prayer seems to be a prayer that the psalmist wished to bring the Israelites from another country back to their home country (Park). What this tells us is that because of the Israelites’ sins, God’s wrath came upon the Israelites, and they were greatly shamed by the strong nations of their neighbors, and in the end, Israel was destroyed and taken captive by one of those countries. Therefore, the psalmist asked God, ‘O God, restore us’, that is, the Israelites would be released from captivity and restored to their homeland by God (v. 3). In particular, as the psalmist recalled the fact that at the time of the exodus the Israelites were rescued from Egypt and moved to Canaan, the promised land, and the golden age of Israel during the days of David and Solomon, he prayed to God for the grace of restoration (Park) (vv. 8-11). Here in verses 8-9, the psalmist compares the Israelites as “a vine” and tells that the Lord took this vine from Egypt and planted it in the land of Canaan. And verses 10-11 speak of the golden age of Israel, when God increased the population of the Israelites and enlarged the land, especially in the days of David and Solomon. We see that the psalmist tells the fact that the Israelites, who were blessed with the grace and power of God, have declined in verses 12-13, and he acknowledges that this has been done by God's intervention. The psalmist is saying this with a heart of self-confidence and repentance, with the heart of believing in the sovereignty of God (Park). Why was Israel so declined? It was because of the Israelites’ sins. So, in the wrath of God, the Israelites were disciplined.
When we apply these words to ourselves, it is a lesson that we must first repent of our sins to God before we pray to God, ‘O God, restore us’. About two or three years ago, at the New Year Eve worship, I preached 5 “R’s”: Repentance, Restoration, Reconciliation, Reformation, and Revival. There can be no true restoration without the prayer of repentance offered by a broken heart and a contrite spirit before God. If we want real revival, we have to start with repentance. Then there can be true restoration, reconciliation, reform, and revival. What must we do to repent? We must not take God's rebuke lightly (v. 16). In other words, when we receive God's rebuke, we must watch and fall down before the Lord and repent our sins. And we must also pray to God, saying, ’Make us strong for Yourself, O Lord’ (v. 17). As the psalmist asked God, we should also pray to Him, “… Revive us…” (v. 18).
The third and the last prayer topic is ‘O God, come to save us!’
Look at Psalms 80:2, 3, 7, 19 – “… tir up Your power And come to save us! … and we will be saved (3x).” For the Israelites who were in a very dark situation that was extremely miserable, the psalmist asked God, ‘Cause Your face to shine upon us’, ‘Restore us’, and his final prayer topic was ‘O God, save us.’ In offering this prayer, the psalmist relied on the power of God: “… stir up Your power And come to save us!” (v. 2). Why did the psalmist rely on the power of God? The reason was because the psalmist and the Israelites lost their strength in the very dark situation that was extremely miserable (Park). In the very dark situation that was extremely miserable, they were gradually realizing that they couldn’t save themselves by their own strength. So they eagerly longed for the grace of God’s salvation by relying on His power more and more. As the psalmist prayed to God for salvation of the Israelites, he recalled the golden age of the dying Israelites and once again asked God to strengthen His people for Himself (v. 15). When God's people experience God's saving power in answer to this prayer of the psalmist, they experienced God's strength.
We need to be little weak. In other words, we need to realize deeper and deeper how weak and helpless we are. As we do so, we must rely on the power of God and live our life of faith with the strength He gives us. Otherwise, if we try to live our faith with our own strength, we will hide the glory of God in our pride. Therefore, even in the adversity and suffering given to us in God's sovereign providence, or because we are disciplined by God's love for our sins, like the Israelites, we need training to cut or loose our strength and rely on the power of the Lord. And further, we must pray to God, relying on God and earnestly longing for His saving grace.
‘O Lord, save us’,
James Kim
(On my wife’s birthday)