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Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come to save us! Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us the scorn of our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. (Psalm 80: 1-7)
We as believers should be all about living and enjoying life to its fullest as Jesus Himself promised us in John 10:10; you and me, dear Friend are called to go just beyond existing. There's more to life than the movements of daily routine!
Every Christmas, either Nellie or I will remember a Christmas filled with snow! We were a young family, not yet blessed with all four of our wonderful daughters, but we had Nellie our oldest, and Saraí. I had attended seminary in Denver for one year and had wonderful memories of that city and decided that we would drive up for the Christmas holidays and spend about a week there. We arrived late in the evening and we went straight to Casa Bonita, a delightful restaurant known even on SouthPark for its entertainment atmosphere. The girls loved it as did Mom and Dad. We drove home, went to bed and awoke to find all the cars in the parking lot covered to the middle of their doors with snow! A blizzard had come through Denver. Thank God we were on the first floor of this motel and I was able to walk to a nearby grocery store where I bought nonperishable foods, coloring books, hot chocolate mix, crayons, and other things to entertain the girls and we had food on which to survive. Later that day we took the girls out to experience the snow and they were delighted; and yes, disobeyed the command not to eat the snow. While it was fun and beautiful, trudging through the snow was difficult. Every step was a labored force against the snow.
Sometimes the pressures of life and the demands from work or health issues make us cry out like the psalmist in this psalm, "God, where are You? Why are You not listening to me? Why am I going through this?" The psalmist on behalf of his people was crying that. Life was one trudging step after another. "Stir up your might and come to save us!" was his cry on behalf of his people. "Restore us, O God; let Your face shine, that we may be saved." And a list of complaints about those and those things who were making life difficult. We have that same list sometimes.
Advent is a celebration of restoration that came from God through His Son, Jesus. Out of the misery that we sometimes trudge, God brings us full restoration and salvation - victory! And into the fullness of life and God's love we can walk! Our victory is only a prayer away!
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, hear our pleas. Some of us are going through difficult times. Others of us are barely walking because of life; but hear us and restore us. Make our steps move from trudging to waltzing in Christ Jesus' name we pray, amen!
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Lift your voice to the Lord and then lift your feet in obedience to the blessings God is about to share with us!
Eradio Valverde
