Show us your kindness
by Peter Bean
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Show us your kindness, so we can be saved (Psalm 80:3).
Read Psalm 80:1–7,17–19
These words are spoken three times, prefaced by the phrase, ‘Lord God All-Powerful, take us back’. In between, there is a list of what God has done for the people. Again, these are interspersed with mini-comments, suggesting the people had fallen away. The relationship seems to have been on again, off again. At least from the people’s side!
It is very much a human psalm! Look at verses 4, 5, 6, 12, 13 and 16. According to the writer, God has turned away. Built the people up, then let them down. How often do we think like that? Things are going swimmingly. God is good to us! But then something bad happens. We cry: Where are you, God? Why have you let this happen? Why are you punishing me?
And it’s okay when we ask these things. The psalmist does so. God can handle it. Sometimes (always?), we think we can’t express our true emotions to God: those when we are feeling down, disappointed or questioning. But that is just when God wants us to come with our raw feelings. The God revealed in the Bible – and especially in the Psalms – is not one who turns away from us at the first sight of complaint, anger or despair.
We may feel uncomfortable thinking or expressing these things, but God can handle it. God is there waiting for us. That is shown by this refrain: God, take us back. Show us your kindness so we can be saved.
Despite complaining, blaming God, and expressing frustration with God’s actions, the psalmist knows in their heart that God is a God of compassion. A big enough God to let the insults fly by. A God of kindness who knows our every thought and values our every feeling. A God of kindness who offers a new beginning every day, whose mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22,23).
That’s the God this psalmist knows. That’s the God this psalmist can trust in. That’s the God we know and can trust in.
Lord God All-Powerful, show us your kindness so we can be saved. Amen.
Peter is often out tending his garden – with 83 fruit and nut trees and extensive native bushes, he says there is a lot to do! Other times, he will be walking his dog, reading (too many books at a time), enjoying his family (15 grandchildren!), and occasionally writing – poetry, opinion pieces, devotions! To keep out of mischief, he is currently teaching himself to play the piano and is writing a paraphrase of each psalm. You can read these on his website, Creative Walking www.creativewalking.com.au/psalm-reflections.html
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