Ready:

“Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.” – Psalm 51:12

Set:

King David penned this heartfelt cry to God after he sinned against God, himself and many others in his circle of influence. His heart was bare and completely honest before the Lord about his sin. Verses before this, David was asking God to create a clean heart within him, to not banish him from His presence. He recognized his sin and the weight of it, and he was coming back to God. His words in verse 12 have been sitting on my heart for the last few weeks. “Restore.” David once had the joy of God’s salvation, but he forfeited it in order to hold onto his sin, wants and desires. When we do any sort of trading off with the enemy, we will always land in the deficit. David asked God to restore the joy of His salvation to him because he knew it was still there. He needed God to bring the joy back that he had lost during his time of sin.

Mississippi State Softball, an unseeded team, recently eliminated Oklahoma University (who hasn’t missed the College World Series since 2015) from the NCAA softball tournament creating an unforgettable underdog story. In a post-game interview one of the players said, “An underdog is still a dog.” That stuck with me and brought me back to the story of David. Though he made countless mistakes throughout his life and did things he knew he shouldn’t have done, he was still a child of God. An underdog is still a dog. Circumstances, mistakes or shortcomings do not change our identity.

David asked God to restore the joy he had lost. Many times, in our own lives we just accept the loss. We don’t ask God to restore, we don’t see ourselves as still being a dog. It’s almost as if we remove ourselves completely from being restored. That is not God’s heart at all for us. He longs to restore us back to right relationship with Him. He longs to forgive our sin and redirect our hearts. He longs for our stories to have the greatest comeback and inspire the world with His unconditional and longsuffering love. Let’s choose to live out David’s heart to the Lord in asking Him to restore to us the joy of His salvation.

Go:

1. What have you allowed the enemy to take that needs to be restored by God in your life?

2. What sin might you need to confess and repent from?

3. Do you believe that you’re still a dog? Do you have enough faith to pray David’s prayer today, for God to restore the joy of His salvation to you?

Workout:

Overtime: