Turn Us, Heal Us, Save Us

There are at least three or four times in the Bible where God uses a peculiar type of sentence construction:

“Turn us, O LORD, and we shall be turned.” (Lam. 5:21)

“Turn us again … cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” (Ps. 80:3. 7. And 19)

“Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed” and

“save me, and I shall be saved.” (both in Jer. 17:14)

In each of these we see a curious prayer. We desire a change in our condition, our spiritual state, and our life direction, but recognize that such a change is somehow fundamentally beyond a mere exercise of the will. We recognize that if God does not somehow step in and actively move us in the right direction, we will continue to fail.

This is also seen in the seeming contradiction of God’s commands to us that we repent, and the places where the Bible clearly states that repentance is a gift.

Commands to repent:

Mt. 4:17 – “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Ac. 2:38 – Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins …”

Ac. 17:30 – “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:”

Repentance is a gift:

Ac. 5:31 – “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”

Ac. 11:18 – “… Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”

2 Tim. 2:25-26 – “in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

Rom. 2:4 – “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

In these passages we see that God, through preaching, commands us to repent, and yet on the other hand an acknowledgement that for those who do believe, it is because God has granted them repentance. He is the one who enables us to believe, to desire to change, to grieve over our sins, and to see our utterly guilty state as an offense against his holiness, deserving of eternal punishment. But it is he also who enables us to hear and believe the gospel, and be converted. This is a prime example of the seeming dichotomy between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

The command to repent is given to render men without excuse in the day of judgment:

Ac. 17:30 – “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

This command is also a reason for us to make every effort to preach the gospel. The kingdom of God is open to us now, but we must repent of our sins and believe on Jesus Christ, whom God has ordained to be our Savior. The command is to “all men everywhere” - people of every country and every century. Those who hear and respond, and turn from their wickedness in genuine contrition, with a desire, aim, and determination to change, will eventually realize that that desire and obedience came, not from their own heart and will, but by a working of the Holy Spirit that first birthed them by the Word, gave them a new heart, and then out of that newborn heart, a sincere desire to turn from their sins, and believe on the Son of God. They will also see that the means of their salvation was the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf, bearing the penalty of our sins and thereby satisfying the just wrath of God against sin.

The Regenerated Heart

Ezekiel 36:25-29 – “I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. Then you will live in the land that I gave your forefathers; you will be My people, and I will be your God.  I will save you from all your uncleanness …”

Notice that in all this section it is GOD who takes the initiative, and the people respond. HE does the cleansing, HE gives the new heart and spirit, HE replaces the dead heart with a living one, HE puts his Spirit within us, HE motivates us to obedience. It is HE who saves us from our uncleanness.

Modern men often do not see the seriousness of our fallen condition. They see sin and our unsaved condition as a mere weakness, a sickness that can be resolved by “changing our ways” and “getting religion”. The Bible does not show us as spiritually sick, but spiritually DEAD. A dead person cannot “decide” to be born again, any more than a person can decide to be physically born. But for reasons known only to God (eternal sovereignty), he chose us individually to hear the gospel, and then gave us a new birth so we COULD believe on Jesus Christ and repent.

Eph. 2:8-9 – “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Is this not the reason we pray for others to come to Christ as “LORD, please change their hearts and cause them to come to Christ.” Even if we don’t think it through in a theological sense, we realize that God can and does work on the minds and hearts of people to bring them to Christ, and to get them to desire him.

Our need of God’s moving is also seen in the father’s cry, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief”. We desire to believe, but need his help and empowerment. God – you turn me, and I will really and truly be turned.

This is our cry also as believers when we realize that we have fallen from our first love, or allowed coldness or lukewarmness to infect us. Lam. 5:21 says “Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.” We are praying that God would renew us and restore to us the joy of our salvation and our early zeal.

How does this grace come to us? Ps. 80:19 – “Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” It is by God’s shining, and our beholding, his face. When he turns his face, his attention, his pleasure to us, that grace flows to us in turning us from sin, healing us, and saving us from our sins.

And what is at least one of the effects of this turning? That our hearts and voices are turned to him in genuine thanksgiving and praise. Jer. 17:14 – “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.” We recognize that he alone is praiseworthy and the object of OUR praises.