Are you feeling a bit weary? Have all the holiday preparations temporarily taken control of your life? Are you ready for a little injection of hope to revive you?
Perhaps the opening verses of this psalm will help you. Meditate on the message here for you. “LORD, you poured out blessings on your land! You restored the fortunes of Israel. You forgave the guilt of your people—yes, you covered all their sins.” Look around. We can see God’s blessings everywhere.
It’s hard to feel anything but joy when you focus on your blessings and rally up your gratitude for being forgiven and free. We often take our salvation for granted and allow the enemy’s lies to creep in. When that happens, we feel weary, burdened, and lost. It’s like we’re off course, and the way back to safety seems hard to find.
We simply need to ask, like the psalmist did, “Now restore us again, O God of our salvation.” Our journey of faith is bound to take some detours from time to time. Isn’t it great to know that God is standing by to help us get back on track? He is ready to restore and revive us. It must break his heart when we stray from his loving protection.
This Advent we can take intentional strides to ready ourselves and find our way back into God’s loving arms. I heard a great quote today from a young pastor and podcast host. He said even his kids will always remember this. “Stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.” How many times they must have showed up at the ball field for practice or a game without their glove or ball or socks!
The problem is, we don’t stay ready. We get all serious about our faith leading up to big events, like Christmas or Easter, but then what happens? Life happens. We get caught up in the routines. Despite our best efforts, our routines have not always included drawing closer to our Creator, Savior, or Guide. We forget what it means to be “ready.”
Our psalmist is crying out for revival. He wants to feel God’s unfailing love. The salvation he is seeking was given to us in Jesus! God’s anger was put aside when he sent his only son to save people.
Is your heart crying out for peace? Are you feeling an overwhelming sense of fear or dread because of some life circumstance? The holiday season can zap the peace out of us when you’d think just the opposite should be true.
I remember when we were actively serving a church. I always imagined that a pastor’s family would be super in tune to God and his many blessings. It was a real struggle to stay focused on keeping Christ in Christmas. We were saying the words, singing the carols, leading the Christmas plays and all the things, but often zapped from feeling any sort of peace.
I think that’s why I’m especially driven this year to stay hyper focused on Jesus. I want to surround myself with so many reminders of what this season is all about. We won’t see snow here in Mexico, and that’s totally fine with me. That’s one Christmas tradition I’ll happily leave behind. What sort of reminders do you like to surround yourself with?
There is a great line in this psalm that we can apply in every season of the year. “I listen carefully to what God the LORD is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people.” Listen for God’s voice. What is speaking to you today? How will you respond? Let the beauty of this psalm of revival touch your spirit today.
Let’s pray. Lord, I stand amazed yet again at your power and wisdom. My heart needs revival and refreshment. Thank you for these words of encouragement. Your salvation is near. Thank you for holding me and guiding me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
