Psalm 80: 1-19
In numbers 6: 23-27 God instructed Moses on the priestly prayer. One of the key prayer points in life is found in verse 25. It states: “The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee”. The phrase “his face shine upon thee” means God’s favour be upon you. No member of this Possibilitarian Family could claim ignorance of the definition of favour. We define favour as being served first when it is clear that “it” will not go round. It is a notorious fact that in this family, we have enjoyed favour over and over again.
When it comes to favour, one day of favour can erase hundreds of years of slavery and surfering. Favour makes your competitors incompetent. If a man is favoured, it looks as if he is the only one who knows how to do “it”. When favour rules, the lines fall into pleasant places for you. Our prayer is that you shall never be out of favour.
In the text today, we see the Psalmist pray earnestly “Turn us again, O God and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved” (vs 3). Where favour is out, suffering and endless struggle take over. May you never lose favour. When favour is withdrawn, the “dog that wagged its tail to greet you before would start to bark and move to attack”. Things that have been working smoothly before suddenly become difficult. Doors that used to open of their own accord would shut. “And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron”! Deuteronomy 28:23. This is the experience of a person out of favour.
If you have been going through something akin to this, you need divine intervention. In the place of prayer, analyse the situation. Submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit in dealing with known sins and causes (including curses). Go the way of genuine repentance and ask for forgiveness. Then pray for restoration. In many instances, the Holy Spirit would guide you with specific instructions. Whatever He says to you, do. We see you enveloped with favour again and again in Jesus name.
PRAYER: Turn us (me) again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Verse 19.
