What does it mean when we pray, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation,”? David prays this in the context of Psalm 51, a prayer of confession and repentance. In this portion of the Psalm he has confessed his sin before the Lord and now he is asking God to restore him to covenant faithfulness in the way of a restored joy. But the joy he seeks is in God’s salvation. He does not ask to be restored in the joy of his own salvation. He asks that God will give him the grace to look away from himself to God and his salvation. Salvation belongs to God and he gives it to whomever he wills. His children may wander in sin and faithlessness but to those who he has given salvation it will be their yearning to be restored in the joy of his salvation as they have tasted again the misery of sin. Therefore to pray this prayer is to be like one who has a bitter taste in his mouth and is yearning for the riches and tastes that has satisfied him before. But as we learn to trust God in his means of grace by praying this prayer with David is there something that he gives in addition to prayer to restore us to the joy of his salvation?
A Christian man who has lost his job is praying for God to give him his daily bread and he knows he is worse than an unbeliever if he does not provide for the needs of his own family. Therefore while he prays he uses the time God entrusts him with everyday to look back at how God has provided, contact employers, send out resumes and do odd jobs while looking forward to what God promises. So also we can confess our sins and pray that God would restore to us the joy of his salvation while we continually look back at God’s salvation worked for us in the past and look forward to the promises of God’s salvation in the future. I would suggest these five points of action, some of which derive from the chapter The Cross Centered Day form C.J. Mahaney’s Cross Centered Life while you pray for God to restore you to the joy of your salvation.
1. Learn the Gospel:
C.J. Mahaney encourages the reader to memorize the gospel so that we have the promise of his gospel in our hearts wherever we may be. But memorizing and learning are different. If memorizing is defined by hiding God’s Word in your heart then I think we are learning. To learn something means to be changed by it because ideas have consequences. There are many people memorizing information for a test, but it is quickly forgotten. But learning of God’s salvation is allowing it to penetrate your hearts so that your thoughts and affections are changed. When what you have learned is remembered and meditated upon it continues to be a means God uses to build you up to his grace in his salvation.
2. Pray the Gospel:
As you pray, “Lord, restore to me the joy of your salvation,” sit with your Bible open in your lap and your eyes upon the page in search for the God of the gospel. Search the Scriptures and pray them back to him in thanksgiving with wonder and amazement of who he is, what he has done and what his promising to do. This morning I sat with my Bible open to Psalm 47 and prayed with awe to the God of the gospel who, is a great king over all the earth, subdues peoples under us, and nations under our feet, chose our heritage for us, has gone up with a shout, sits on his holy throne, and is exalted. It is in these times that God restores to me the joy of his salvation.
3. Sing the Gospel:
Search for and sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs that reverberate with the lyrics of God’s salvation. There are songs that make us feel good by the form of the music and we need to be careful not to mistake this for the restoration of the joy of God’s salvation. Sing songs that speak the truth of God as the gospel. Search for hymns that reflect the truth of God’s Word and cause your mind and heart to look away from self to God. Sing hymns, psalms or songs that are God centered upon God’s gospel. Order and keep a hymnal with your Bible so that you can sing to the Lord a new song.
4. Preach the Gospel:
Restoring the joy of God’s salvation in our hearts comes when we preach the gospel to ourselves and our neighbors. In Psalm 42 the Sons of Korah teach us to say to ourselves why are you downcast, set your hope on God. When we remember the God who is the gospel to our souls then our souls are lifted up beyond our situations and circumstances to hope in him who has and continues to bring us through them for our good and his own glory. As Martin Lloyd Jones says, “You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself…You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’ – instead of muttering in this depressed and unhappy way.” You may not be depressed or discouraged but if your joy is not in the God of the gospel then you are and will find your soul experiencing the misery of your sin. So it is better to preach to yourself now that you “shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Your joy in God’s salvation is also found when you preach the gospel to your neighbor. We talk about what we enjoy and we enjoy it all the more when what we talk about in our understanding. The more you talk about the joy of God’s salvation then the clearer its beauty in your own soul. We become like the apostles in Jerusalem who could not speak of anything else but Jesus and his salvation for them because he was their delight and the God of their salvation.
5. Read the Gospel:
Restoring the joy of God’s salvation in our hearts comes when we read the Bible and what others have said about God’s salvation and the effect it has had on their lives. I suggest that you have a regular daily reading plan through the Scriptures. In doing this you need to pray and read asking God to reveal himself and his salvation to you through Christ everyday. He will make known to you who he is, what he has done, what he is doing and promises to do that you may glory in his salvation. There are a number of plans you can use. There are M'Cheynes daily readings posted on our website or you can use some of the reading plans suggested by Bible Gateway. I also suggest you read twenty minutes a day from theological or biographical literature that will build you up to the joy of God’s salvation. Here are a few ideas to get you started, but if you are interested in a suggested reading list please email me.
God is the Gospel, John Piper
Discipline of Grace, Jerry Bridges
The Cross, John Stott
The Christian Life, Sinclair Ferguson
The Swans are Not Silent Series, John Piper (Biographical Series)
Body of Divinity, Thomas Watson
All Loves Excelling, John Bunyan
The Christ of the Covenants, O. Palmer Robertson
Written in Stone, Philip Ryken
The Holiness of God, R.C. Sproul
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