Lent Meditation: Thursday in the Fifth week of Lent

Pause:

As I enter this time of prayer, I put away all distractions, take a deep breath, and listen to what the Holy Spirit is going to speak to me about today.

Pray this Psalm, repeating the words slowly, a few times:

Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

                                                ~Psalm 80:3

Reflect:

You ever feel like you’re in need of restoration? Perhaps in your relationship with God? Maybe you feel like you have lost a sense of intimacy with God? Or joy in God, or peace with God, or strength from God? “Restore us, oh God.” Restore our joy, restore our peace, restore our strength in you. This applies to other facets of life. Restoration in our relationships, in our marriages, relationships between parents and children, relationships between friends We may need restoration of health, restoration amidst brokenness, or difficult circumstances.

Psalm 80:3 is a reminder that God is the Restorer. Whenever we need restoration in any of these ways, we can look to God our Father. I love this phrase, “Restore us, oh God. Let Your face shine.” What an amazing experience we can have today in our lives! What we need most is the face of God to shine upon us.

Where do you need restoration from God to turn you around, and make his face shine on you?

How would this experience change your life today?

Prayer: Dear Lord, today I echo the prayer in Psalm 80. Turn me again to yourself, O God! Though I haven’t wandered far from you today, I still need you to reorient my life, to keep me walking in your path.

Who reveals God’s loving presence to you? Do I spend enough time with them? Do they know how deeply I value the comfort their presence brings?

(pause)

Yield (A prayer of St. Francis of Assisi)

O Master, let me not seek as much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.