Tuesday,
May 4, 2021
Please
listen, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph’s descendants like a flock. O God, enthroned above the cherubim, display
your radiant glory to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Show us your mighty power. Come to rescue us! Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.
O Lord God of
Heaven’s Armies, how long will you be angry with our prayers? You
have fed us with sorrow and made us drink tears by the bucketful. You have made us the scorn of
neighboring nations. Our enemies treat
us as a joke. Turn us again
to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Make
your face shine down upon us. Only then
will we be saved.
You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations
and transplanted us into your land. You cleared the ground for us, and we
took root and filled the land. Our
shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars. We spread our branches west to the
Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River. But now, why have you broken down our
walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit? The wild boar from the forest devours
it, and the wild animals feed on it. Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s
Armies. Look down from heaven and see
our plight. Take care of this grapevine
that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself. For we are chopped up and burned by our
enemies. May they perish at the sight of
your frown. Strengthen the
man you love, the son of your choice.
Then we will never abandon you again. Revive us so we can call on your name once
more. Turn us again to
yourself, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. Psalm 80:1-19
Three times in these 19 verses the Psalmist appeals to the
mercy of God with the truth statement that, only then will we be saved. This is not just an appeal, it is a faith
statement that is sorrowfully missing in our day. While many in America fear what we can see,
buildings collapsing from terrorists crashing planes into skyscrapers, national
or personal bankruptcy, or death by COVID-19 plague, the more fearful reality
for 21st century (or any day) people is the unseen
Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
The Psalmist nailed it over and over….ONLY then will we be
saved. He was talking about the kind of
revival that does not include waving American flags and congratulating
ourselves on being the biggest, best, baddest or whatever. When it comes to our infrastructure,
superstructure and just plain existence as a nation, we hang like a spider over
an open flame (to quote Jonathan Edwards).
And it’s only by a single strand of faith that we stand, connected to
God. What we’ve consistently done in
America is stretch that strand by overloading our pockets and ignoring the God
Who gave us our freedom and blessing.
Ancient Israel and modern-day America have parallels that are
too similar to ignore. Ancient Israel’s
Godly beginnings (or “religious” if you prefer socio-policitical correctness,
more accurately, atheism) saw a ragtag movement of former slaves conquer the
land of Palestine, filled with fierce rivals.
18th Century colonies in the New World clobbered the British
Empire and began a new experiment in liberty.
Both Israel and America grew prosperous and mighty. Both (eventually) turned their collective
backs on God.
And, now we’re up to date.
That is us. We are a secular
nation; God is being phased-out as surely as our dependence on vaccinations,
political machinations, and economic manipulations have become the new drug of
choice to assuage our sense of worry.
And, like ancient Israel, America is going to find out the
reputation we celebrate as a decent, moral, peacemaking people won’t mean a
thing when God shakes the rug out from underneath our surprised feet.
For You Today
YOU,
singlehandedly, cannot turn America back to God, but you can be PART of what
does accomplish that. Start praying with
the Psalmist:
Show us your mighty power. Come to rescue us! Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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