Sunday, December 21

Scripture: Restore us, O Lord God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved. (Psalm 80:19).

Observation: Psalm 80 is a psalm of lament. Lament is pain plus voice. The psalmist is amplifying his own pain and the pain of the Israelites loud enough for God to hear. The psalmist asks God to “restore” the people from some sort of adversity. The restoration will be the result of God’s face shining on the people. The reverse is also true. The restoration will not occur until God chooses to shine. No shining, no saving.

But that begs the question, how could a person know God’s face is shining even if it is shining? It’s not like anyone has ever looked God in the face and lived to tell the tale. Not even Moses was allowed to see God’s face; Moses saw God’s back, maybe a shoulder. So, if salvation depends on God’s face shining on the people, but God’s face is hidden from us, then how are we supposed to know when God’s face is glowing? There must be some sort of vehicle that is capable of shining God’s light in a way that people can see it, so they know salvation has come.  

That vehicle would be people, you and me. Like a lightbulb glowing because electricity is coursing through the filament, God’s power is supposed to course through us, and as a result, we glow. God brings the power; we bring the glow. How will the world know that salvation has come? Because the people of God are glowing. How are people supposed to see the face of God when no mortal eye can withstand it? We see the glow of God’s face when we see people living and loving like Emmanuel, God with us.

Application: The Christmas Eve candles are a powerful symbol. They represent the light of Christ come into the world and our calling as Christians. We are called to shine the light in a dark world. The more people shining the light, the less dark is the darkness. 

On the Sunday after Christmas in 2019, while I was serving another church, I closed my sermon with the following story. I share it now as an application of what it means to shine the light emitted by God’s face.

“On Christmas Eve, we lit candles, but the candles were a little different for us this year. In March, a 14-year-old boy was killed at a gas station one block from our church. That Sunday afternoon, we held a community prayer vigil, and at the end, everyone took a little candle, the same candles we would use on Christmas Eve, and we walked in a caravan to the gas station where the violence happened. We lit the candles. We raised them up. We said a prayer. Here’s why- it was a way of pushing back the darkness and reclaiming that space for the light. It was a way of putting the light in charge again. For a few days it looked like the darkness was in charge, but when we lifted those candles, we put the darkness back in its place. 

I want you to know that the real candle on Christmas Eve was you. It was me. The light has come into the darkness to be with us, and all we have to do the rest of the year is glow.”

Prayer:

The prayer today is simple. Let’s pray Psalm 80:19. May God help us be the answer when other people pray this prayer:

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.