Restoration

     Every now and then you come across a person who really likes to restore things.  There are those who like to restore certain cars.  They might find an old one just rusting away in someone's field.  They take it home and spend a lot of time and energy trying to make it look just like it did when it rolled off the assembly line.  Then, there are those who like to restore houses.  Again, they spend a lot of time reworking the house until it looks like it did the day it was built.  I can't say that I have ever restored anything to its original condition.  I had my grandmother's watch restored by a jeweler who had to make a piece for the watch out of surgical steel.  The watch ran for a while, but is again not moving at all.  It looks good but doesn't work.  It is still an old watch.  Restoration involves getting the product to be almost like it was the day it first existed.   They don't try to make any improvements, but just like it did years ago.  In fact, with some restoration projects, if you make an addition that wasn't there in the beginning, the value decreases instead of increases.  King David was looking for restoration.  He wanted to get back the way he was before the sin that he had committed separated him from God.   Psalm 51:12 says, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit." 
       There are many lessons that can be learned in this Psalm.  But, for now, just look at the matter of restoration.  This is what King David desired.  He knew he had sinned against God and now he strongly desired to have the joy of God's salvation present in his heart.  Our Christian lives are like this quite often.  We soon realize that there is something different in our lives.  It is the fact that the joy has disappeared because of some sin in our past.  You have been robbed of your joy and sometimes don't eve know it.   It may have crept in on us in such a way that we didn't even realize that it was happening.  Once we did know the outcome of our sin, it is then that we need to turn to God for that restoration.  Do you know the joy of God's salvation today?  Has sin crept in and robbed you of the presence of that joy?  If so, cry out to God today for that restoration and let God do the work in your life.  In fact, God's restoration projects are the only ones that last.  Praise God today for His restoration.