"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."
Israel's history is full of examples of God's activity among and for his people. There are seasons where we find the Israelites enjoying an abundance of material and spiritual blessings. There are also those other seasons where we see the Israelites facing tests and trials incurred as a result of their disbelief and disobedience.
Asaph, in this Prayer For Israel's Restoration, calls upon God as the Shepherd of Israel, the one who leads Joseph like a flock. During a season of hardship he recalls the image of God as one who is Lord of all the hosts. He recollects God's capability and handiwork in calling forth Abraham and establishing his Covenant with him through his son Isaac, his grandson Jacob, and through his great grandsons, of whom Joseph plays a significant role.
Whether because of disbelief and disobedience, or simply because we live in a world that is badly broken and in need of major spiritual repair, we find times in our lives when we feel as though we are being fed the bread of tears and given tears to drink in full measure. Life is real. And life can be very heartbreaking.
The most honest appraisal of the condition of the world is one that sees the world growing spiritually darker and, as it does, our belief and faith in Jesus Christ has an ever more increasingly isolating effect. Our testimony isn't publically welcome. Secular images of Christmas are acceptable in public places but Nativities are not. Liberalities of all sorts are acceptable in the highest offices of a nation that prints "In God We Trust" on its currency and boasts of "One Nation Under God" in its pledge but insists that it is against the law for an obscure judge in the South to erect, at his own expense and on his own time, a plaque of the Ten Commandments on court house property. There seems to be no end of the sneering comments that are made by unbelievers toward and against Christian believers and the Christ.
Where and how do we view ourselves as the people of God? Do we see ourselves being victimized by the worlds system? Or do we envision ourselves being equipped and empowered to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing spiritual climate of this present world? Our personal perception of Christianity in today's world will have a determining effect upon our effectiveness as believers in a world fast succumbing to the powers of darkness.
Asaph's prayer contains both an ancient historical theme as well as a modern practical one. As we engage ourselves in the festivities and traditions of the Advent Season, our thoughts and the meditations of our hearts should indeed be upon the historical event that came to pass in Jerusalem those centuries past when the Christ child was born as the promised Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. Our thoughts and meditations, though, would not be complete without enlarging upon this great Advent theme by considering the promise of His future return as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to usher in the close of the Church Age and establish righteousness, peace, and justice in a measure that surpasses any that's ever been known. |
