"God, Provide Me Restoration"

Scripture: "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." -Psalms 51:12, NIV

Many of us, at one time or another in our lives, have been on the search for a place to call home. Some of us have found some beautiful homes that is practically brand new. Others of us have found homes that needs minor tweaking here and there. In addition, another set of us have found homes one would consider "diamonds in the rough". Because these houses were considered "diamonds in the rough", you checked everything out and made mental notes of the things that needed to be done. As you begin to count the costs of the little things here and there, you come to the realization that your home is in need of restoration. When you look at this thing from a spiritual standpoint, there are times where we are in need of restoration. There are times where the workplace has zapped us of our Spirit and we need just a little restoration. There are times where home has zapped us of our Spirit and we need of a little restoration. There are times where our families have zapped the energy out of us and we are in need of restoration. One thing is for certain, we have a God that can provide you and I the restoration we need during the time we need it. Today's text will expound on this point.

Like yesterday's devotional, our focal book is found in the book of Psalms. Also like yesterday's devotional, this particular division of Psalms was penned by King David. In writing this chapter, we find that King David was heartbroken after the prophet Nathan and he had a conversation pertaining to his committing of adultery with Bathsheba. If you go back to 2 Samuel 11 & 12, it gives you the story of David and Bathsheba and then the eventual conversation with Nathan and David. Once David and Nathan had this conversation, Nathan provided David with the punishments God had in line for him. These punishments included David's wives sleeping with other men in public and the loss of David and Bathsheba's baby. Throughout this time in David's life, he felt disconnected from God and disappointed in his actions. If we were to keep it real with ourselves, haven't we all felt like David in the sense that we have disappointed God and not worthy of being in His face? Through this pain and anguish, David writes this psalm and gives us clarity that God can provide restoration.

David begins writing the text by saying, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation". Because of this sin David committed, he wanted God to restore his joy. Ladies and gentlemen, if you think that you are going to walk around life joyful all the time, I got news for you: you are lying to yourself. If David went through this, so will we! Because of the fact that you won't always have joy, we know that we always have a God that can restore our joy back! When you lose your joy because of financial problems, God can restore your joy back! When you lose your joy because of marital problems, God can restore your joy back! When you lose your joy because of physical ailments, God can restore your joy back! When you lose your joy because of problems with people from the church, God can restore your joy back! No matter what you go through, God can restore your joy!

Not only did David ask for his joy to be restored, but he also asked the Father to "grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me". Brothers and sisters, there are times in your life where you have lost your joy and zeal that you also lose your ability to serve God and be willing to do His will. Since David felt like this, he asked the Father to grant him a willing spirit. He did not want to stay on the same street because of this incident. He wanted the ability to serve God and most importantly, he needed it for his sanity. There are times in our life where we need the willing spirit to sustain us. We need it because if we dwell on our own problems, we cannot focus on the tasks in front of us. Our greatest blessings come when we focus our energy on others and not ourselves. Ask Job because God blessed him with DOUBLE for his trouble and he got that when he prayed for his friends and took the emphasis off of the things he was going through. When you emphasize God and de-emphasize self, God will allow the willing spirit to sustain you. It will provide you joy and happiness. It will give you the things you need in order to survive.

In closing, life will tap you out in one form or another. The blessing is that we serve a God that is strong and mighty and that when we need Him, He's right there to provide us restoration. All you have to do is ask. That's what David did and after that, David got on with his life and lived to be 70 years old and serve Israel as king for 40 years. Isn't it a blessing to know that God can restore you?