Black Church News in Virginia
Seeds of Hope: Restore us, O God
Once, while traveling on a train, he became so engrossed in the book he was reading that he forgot his destination. As the train made its last stop, the conductor went to him and said, “Sir, this is the end of the line.”
He frantically searched his pockets for his ticket but could not find it. Not being able to find it, he looked bewildered and confused. Sensing his predicament, the conductor asked, “Where were you going?”
After a lengthy pause he said to the conductor, “I can’t remember. I’ll have to phone my wife and ask her.”
The writer of Psalm 80 recognized that the children of Israel had abandoned their relationship with God. With a heavy heart he prayed, “Restore us, O God, make Your face shine upon us that we may be saved.” Realizing that they were going in the wrong direction he asked God to “restore them and save them.” And He did!
Throughout history, from the dawn of Creation until this very moment, God has never abandoned anyone. It is always the other way around: we have abandoned Him.
A mother received a letter from her son in prison. In his despair he wrote her and said that he got into trouble because God had abandoned him. With a heart filled with love and sadness she wrote, “Son, if you do not feel the closeness of God it is because you have left Him.”
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