Scriptures: Psalm 80, 66:18, 85:6

In Psalm 80 we hear the cry of a patriot who loved his nation and desperately wanted to see Israel return to God's favor. At this point in history Israel had overnight gone from a nation of conquerors to a nation of captives; one of blessing to one of bondage. The author of the Psalm, Asaph, was crying out to God to save his country. In this message, Dr. Merritt draws parallels between Israel's experience and the United States. Though Israel is God's chosen people, we see in this passage some simple and practical things Christ-followers can do to restore God's hand to our own nation.

"We don’t need to be praying for revival to come to America. We need to be praying for repentance to come to America. Because prayer from an unrepentant heart simply adds fuel to the fire of God’s wrath. You see, our problem is not just that we are a sinful people. Our problem is we are a people who refuse to repent of our sin. The word restore literally means “to turn.” As long as our back is to God, we will never see His face shine. Notice in this Psalm that it was not that God’s back was turned toward them, their back was turned toward God. They were the ones who needed to turn around, not God." --Dr. Merritt

Keywords: America, Israel, captivity, loss, reputation, rebellion, broken, alcohol, abortion, homosexuality, heart, crying, prayer, repentance, Dr. Vance Havner, revival, Winston Churchill, Billy Graham