So, every once in a while I am able to sustain a relatively consistent devotional life. In those times, my "devotional" of choice is "A Guide to Prayer for God's People," a great little resource published by Upper Room. It follows the liturgical calendar and has a basic pattern of invocation, a Psalm, a reflective reading, a daily scripture reading, reflective writing, intercessory prayer, a hymn, and benediction. The Psalm is the same throughout the week. This week it has been Psalm 80, and as I read it throughout the week I have been surprised (somewhat) by the things that have stuck with me.
Earlier this week, I reflected on how the psalmist really embodied human nature. He spends the entire Psalm basically saying, "Hey God, we're in trouble, but if you bail us out this time we promise to not mess it up again." In other words, making promises he, they (Israel), and we know that we are incapable of keeping in order to get some peace from the raging storms of life. This morning, though, I really began to see the psalm as a recognition by the psalmist that there is no hope apart from God, as well as a plea for God to "call off the dogs."
I could almost hear the psalmist in our modern vernacular crying out, "Enough already! We get it, we screwed up...again...but give us a break. Please!" It just reeks of a people needing some kind of relief. Boy, do I get that! I understand it on a global scale and I get it personally (as I'm sure you probably do too). Many are the times I've watched my friends or family members go through things and I just wanted to get in front of God and say, "Really?!?! Have they been that bad? (DIGRESSION 1 or CLARIFICATION 1: I, in no way believe that pain and suffering is determined by whether a person has been "bad" or "good". Sometimes bad things happen just because bad people exist, accidents happen, and sometimes others' decisions impact our lives in ways we wish they didn't] Does it really warrant all of this?!?! C'mon God, give them a break [DIGRESSION 2: I can't type this without hearing David Lee Roth saying, "One break, comin' up!" a la Van Halen "Unchained"]! They're broken. They need your face to shine upon them and give them rest."
How or why they hang on leaves us all astonished at the human capacity to survive. Yet, some of us - like the psalmist of Psalm 80 - know what drives that capacity. It is the same thing that drove Abraham, Joseph, and Israel in the wilderness. It is what has sustained people throughout history caught in the overwhelming circumstances of a broken world. It sustained the early martyrs, the victims of crusades, wars, disease, and natural disasters.
Hope.
It is the anticipation that things can and will change...and quite possibly in my next breath.
That, in essence, is the season of Advent for those within the Christian faith. It is a renewing of hope in the face of everything that says there is no hope. It is once again reminding ourselves, and others too overwhelmed by life, that there is coming a time (as it has already come), when all things WILL be made new; that God's face will shine upon us and give us all rest. Every person. Every creature. That's good news, indeed.
Even so, Lord...come quickly
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