Psalm 80: 1-7 Listen, Shepherd, Israel’s Shepherd—
get all your Joseph sheep together.
Throw beams of light
from your dazzling throne
So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh
can see where they’re going.
Get out of bed—you’ve slept long enough!
Come on the run before it’s too late.
get all your Joseph sheep together.
Throw beams of light
from your dazzling throne
So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh
can see where they’re going.
Get out of bed—you’ve slept long enough!
Come on the run before it’s too late.
God, come back!
Smile your blessing smile:
That will be our salvation.
Smile your blessing smile:
That will be our salvation.
God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
how long will you smolder like a sleeping volcano
while your people call for fire and brimstone?
You put us on a diet of tears,
bucket after bucket of salty tears to drink.
You make us look ridiculous to our friends;
our enemies poke fun day after day.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back!
Smile your blessing smile:
That will be our salvation.
Smile your blessing smile:
That will be our salvation.
The image of light, one we associates with Christ this time of year as we declare him the light that comes to our darkness, is sued by the psalmist. But instead of proclaiming that the light has come, the psalmist asks God to send the light. The psalmist seems impatient as he waits for God to act. It reminds us of the waiting aspect of Advent. Like a child who anxiously waits for Christmas and has no doubt that gifts will be under the tree, we anxiously wait for God to come again. I wonder if we belief in God's promise to come again as readily and easily as the child waiting for Christmas?
God does send his light. We are impatient people. Anxiety and fear overwhelm us and at times the light of God cannot be seen.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the light is all around us. I just have to be the light for others and often times God's light appears in the most unexpected encounters.