Tuesday, May 4, 2021

The Storm You Can't See

 

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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