"A Prayer for Restoration"

PSALMS 80 [To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth, A Psalm of Asaph.]
Do you feel as though I was not done? I'm not; the truth of the matter is that this continues to go on; only now we move on from what surrounds us, to Him that is above us. Whether you know it or not, idols are a pretty big deal in the way they cause us to turn away from following the True and Living God; even the most devout Christian can be somehow tangled up with idols, and they might not even realize that they are. Yesterday on the radio, someone called in with a question about why God would ask the men of Israel to put away their pagan wives, yet He would allow women like Rahab and Ruth to be listed in the lineage of Christ. I was waiting for either one of the pastors to give the direct answer, but their answers seemed to skirt around the real reason; not that it was because they did not have the answer, because I believe that they did, deep down in their hearts; but they came very close and it seemed that it was just a the tip of their tongues. The direct answer is one of belief, as in who did the women believe in, idols and false gods, or the True and Living God? The pagan women that God instructed the men of Israel to put away where following false gods, and would have caused those men to do the same; Rahab and Ruth were women that had turned from following false gods and wanted to follow the God of Israel. Obviously by now you should have guessed that the title of this post is the title above this Psalm in my Bible. Restoration is something that happens when we come to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, where fellowship with God is restored to our souls; but it also continues each and every day that we are living here on this earth. I think it's rather odd the way that it works, but I am truly glad that it does. What happens here is not totally the same as what happens in heaven; in other words, we have our version of what is going on with us, and then there is God's version of the truth...
"Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD. The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel's right hand, making accusations against Jeshua. And the LORD said to Satan, "I, the LORD, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire." Jeshua's clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. So angel said to the others standing there, "Take off his filthy clothes." And turning to Jeshua he said, "See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes."" (Zechariah 3:1-4) NLT