A devotion on Psalm 80.
Honestly, at the beginning of December I feel urgency over
much of what is planned for the month.
The Psalmist has urgency in his
voice as he petitions: “Restore us, O
LORD God of hosts; show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.”
On a July Saturday
night, I felt urgency when I had no cable TV.
After calling an 800 number, I learned the operator was in the
Philippines. A worker, half a world away,
was adjusting my cable box, thus I was connected with one who was restoring my
picture. In the ten minutes the box
slowly uploaded we talked. I asked how
he was after a typhoon which had cut through his country the week before. He then gave a lengthy monologue about how
his family had been severely devastated by a previous storm, Typhoon Haiyan, in
2013. I listened as a cheerful worker
relayed a story of initial sadness, then restoration. I shared that I had given a small donation to
World Vision, an international
organization giving disaster relief to Filipinos. Before my cable was reconnected, we were also
connected in a significant way. I was
thanked for my gift, and my heart was touched when he said: “I will consider
that your donation was used to help my family.”
Undoubtedly typhoon victims, with ‘bowls of tears to drink.’
voiced urgency similar to the Psalmist:
“Stir up your strength and come to help us.” My response to a remote crisis was a leap of
faith. In Advent, I consider that Jesus
came to ‘give us life.’ After the typhoon,
my check was given in faith that it would allow a new advent as Christ’s life
was extended to hungry, destitute victims. In faith, the check was mailed in order to
help unseen people. My phone call not
only connected my TV, but restored the picture I had of God’s work in a needy
world. In a sense, my leap of faith
transferred from the unseen, to the seen as I heard a first hand account of the
positive effects of disaster relief restoring families.
As we give, may we do so in leaps of
faith, understanding that what is given in God’s name has the power to
strengthen and restore.
