November 25, 2022

Psalm 83

Luke 21:29-33

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving day indeed. This is a special time of the year and can also be a very difficult time. I know of a family that gathered for the first time without their son, a husband and good good man. Death strikes and leaves us empty. I am thinking of you and I cannot even begin to imagine the gapping wound in your heart. With you in mind, you who is about to have a very difficult season, I say the words of the Psalm “Here God lives among men.”

When the psalmist was writing these words, Israel was going through a hellish time. War on every side, Jerusalem reduced to a heap of destruction and only the anawim (the remnant) of Israel lipping along. He looked at what others would call, a sorry excuse of life and he remarked “Here God lives among men.” What in the world did he see?

Perhaps he saw someone like you. Someone whose family has been through the ringer and yet you find time to smile, to laugh. Perhaps he saw someone at their wits end, struggling to raise and understand a child with autism and through all that never ever quitting.

So in the spirit of thanksgiving I want to say to you THANK YOU. You revive my spirit. When I see how blessed you are, when I see how resilient you are, I know I have met Yahweh. Love you so much.