Psalm 90:14-16 - Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let Your work be shown to Your servants, and Your glorious power to their children.
These psalm verses are a prayer for the restoration of all the good that was lost. The people of Israel lost their nation and their freedom when they were taken away into exile. Their land was often occupied by foreign powers. They longed for the promised Messiah to come and restore to them their land and freedom and the glory of their kingdom. God had promised His people, "I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten" (Joel 2:25a). This may have been the disciples' hope as they asked Jesus before His ascension, "Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6b).
God, in His grace, has restored to us what was lost. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit forbidden to them, the image of God was lost to them and to all of their descendants, to all of humanity. The perfect relationships we would have enjoyed—with the created world, with one another, and above all, with God—were shattered and corrupted. We sin against God and know what it is to experience guilt and shame. In fallen sinfulness, we no longer seek to conform our lives to God's will. The psalmist prayed, "Make us glad ... for as many years as we have seen evil" and God in His grace planned a greater restoration than we could ever imagine. The blessed image of God that was lost at the fall into sin in Eden has begun to be restored in us through faith in Christ Jesus.
The apostle Paul writes, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17a). Baptized, we put off the "old self" and "have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator" (Colossians 3:10). We still struggle against our fallen selfishness and pride, but through repentance and forgiveness the image of God is renewed and strengthened in us. Finally, when Jesus returns on the Last Day, we will experience the full and glorious restoration of all that was lost. God will create a "new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13b). As our first parents once walked with their Creator in the garden paradise of Eden, we will be raised to life to live forever with our God and Savior in the new creation. In the bright dawn of that day of resurrection, we will be satisfied with God's steadfast love, and we will rejoice and be glad forever.
WE PRAY: Lord, I rejoice already today in Your steadfast love and Your glorious saving power. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Carol Geisler.
Reflection Questions:
1. Jesus spoke of things that were lost and later found (see Luke 15:8-32). What are the lessons for us in these three parables?
2. The people of Israel were often at war with nearby nations. How important do you think it was for them to know that God would one day restore their land?
3. How is it that "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation"? What does this mean for you and me?
Today's Bible Readings: Hosea 1-4 Romans 14
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