Monday, June 16, 2014

Monday, June 16, 2014

Psalm 80

“Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”

Do you struggle with the Psalms? I do because they so often present a worldview that contradicts my own. Today’s reading is one such example:

“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.”

I don’t connect with the image of a God who punishes and abandons. It doesn’t quite work for me to think of every negative life circumstance meeting me as the payment for some past wrong.

And yet, I do connect with the feelings of God’s absence. There are times when I long for “God’s face to shine” because I don’t feel particularly loved or when circumstances are going every way but mine. And there are times when I witness injustice or another’s intense suffering and question the very goodness of the universe. At times like these, the Psalmist and I can sit down and have a heartfelt conversation over coffee.

I called a friend the other day to wish her happy birthday. She was overwhelmed by all the people who remembered her. “I know intellectually that I am loved,” she confessed, “but many times I don’t feel it. Today, I feel it!”

Today, we peek into the Psalmist’s journal and witness a time when he or she didn’t feel God’s love. And yet the very act of writing uncovers a deep faith and a profound trust that God is still there despite all evidence to the contrary. Today, we may not believe that God will save us from every unfortunate circumstance, but we can often get a glimpse, however brief, of God’s shining face that assures us of God’s presence nonetheless. It’s then that we have the strength to be that presence for others.

-David Shumaker