Read Psalm 80:1-7. 1Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. 2Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us! 3Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved! 4O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? 5You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure. 6You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. 7Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
Why do we pray if God already knows everything? Have you ever asked this question? I have.
It is quite true that our prayers do not increase God’s knowledge, and our requests do not encourage his action. Worse yet is the feeling that God is angry with our prayers – O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
So what can we learn about prayer from this prayer?
God wants boldness in our prayers. We never come to God as peasants pleading for divine action, but as sons and daughters claiming what is rightfully ours in Christ. And so here, in spite of the Lord’s anger over their sin, Asaph will three times (verses 3,7, and 19) claim the covenant promise of God. The promised restoration of his people. The promised gracious shining of his face. The promised salvation of our very souls. All fulfilled in Christ, and in us in Christ.
To live is Christ is to come and pray boldly before the throne of grace. Never pleading for the unknown but claiming the promises of Christ in us.
You: Do you struggle to pray? Why or why not?
You in Christ: Union with Christ alone allows us to come boldly to the Father as his sons and daughters. Is this how you approach God?
Christ in you: Spend some time praying today. Talk to God about what he has already promised to you in Christ.
Pray: Father, in your Son we haves seen your shining face; we have experienced your restoration; we have been saved! Conform our lives to yours by this salvation. Amen.
To Live is Christ 