Return, O
LORD; how long will you tarry? be gracious to your servants. Satisfy us by your
loving-kindness in the morning; so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of
our life. Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us and the
years in which we suffered adversity. Show your servants your works and your
splendor to their children. May the graciousness of the LORD our God be upon
us; prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork. Psalm 90:13–17
The Psalmist doesn’t mess around. “Afflicted” is a pretty
strong action verb. There is nothing easy about these days with which we have
been entrusted. But the easy garden life only led to curious conversations with
the Evil One.
Pain and sadness drive us back to His bosom. It is in His lovingkindness that we rejoice
and nothing else. It is through His grace that the work of our hands prospers.
It is not we ourselves, less we boast and confuse ourselves with thinking we
are gods.
And the refrain that echoes throughout today’s reading is a
plea: remember how frail You have made us. We are each broken creatures,
beautifully and wonderfully made, but busted, and in the process of
restoration.
And the point of the advent season is to remind us that He
is all in, with outstretched arms, totally committed to the healing process. He
is not some force who started the big ball spinning and then took one giant
step backwards, to watch from a distance.
He is the good shepherd who seeks those who are lost,
willing to lay down His life for the wandering sheep.
I shall not want.
A choice.
To rejoice in His green pastures and His cool waters.
I will be glad.
A decision.
May I see His works and splendor.
Magnified.
Magnify the LORD God.
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