“Restore us, O Lord God of Hosts; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!” (Psalm 80:19)
As I read Psalm 80, I am reminded of a story that has been told over the generations in my family. It is the story of a lonely Christmas Eve ride made about a century ago, by a man who, like the psalmist, was at the tipping point of brokenness, feeling the weighty unfairness of life, and wondering if God was busy elsewhere.
Old Joe and Emelia were immigrants to what is now Southern Alberta. Having gone through the challenges of leaving their homelands and of working a homesteading life in Western Canada, they now found themselves raising ten children on a single quarter-section of land. Then, in the midst of a hard year, one Christmas proved especially harsh, and Joe and Emelia had no money to buy presents for their large brood. Under the weight of this desperate emptiness, Joe made an equally crushing decision – he would sell the only thing of value that he owned at the time – his seed grain for next year’s planting. This would give him the money to buy his children some presents, and perhaps provide a respite from their lack.
However, after a long trip into town, once the grain was sold, old Joe found that in spite of his terrible sacrifice he wasn’t left with enough money to buy anything more than a simple bag of candy for each of his children.
Yet, in spite of that profound disappointment, and the hardness of life that would follow in the years ahead, Joe carried on – he continued to work hard, he continued to love his family, and he continued to trust his God. At the end of his life, with his dying breath, he prayed God’s blessing over his devoted children.
Psalm 80, like the
Advent season, indeed like the entire liturgical calendar, is a reminder to us
of God’s faithfulness through all of life’s deprivations. As we continue to be beset by the challenges
of this most peculiar of years, and even the disappointments it may bring to
this Christmas season, we can be encouraged in knowing that God’s face still
shines, and we will be saved.
- Lee Cutforth