Thursday, December 20, 2018

Is God’s Face Shining on You?


Advent Lectionary Readings
Psalm 80:1-7
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Hebrews 10:10-18
Please listen, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph's descendants like a flock. O God, enthroned above the cherubim, display your radiant glory to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Show us your mighty power. Come to rescue us! Turn us again to yourself, O God. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. O LORD God of Heaven's Armies, how long will you be angry with our prayers? You have fed us with sorrow and made us drink tears by the bucketful. You have made us the scorn of neighboring nations. Our enemies treat us as a joke. Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven's Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. Psalm 80:1-7

Make your face shine down upon us. Consider that this phrase is repeated in this section of scripture. The shining face of the Lord is the Shekinah glory of the Lord. Think how Moses must have felt basking in the presence of the Lord God…and then his own face was glowing when he returned to the presence of the Hebrew people. We should all want to have God glory shine on us.   
The LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace. Numbers 6:25-26 NASB

When God’s face shines on us…we will be saved. Really? When we choose to accept God and have a relationship with Him then we will be saved. I imagine that when someone chooses to believe in God—the angels in heaven will rejoice…and God’s face will shine. When our sins are washed away by Jesus blood we have a covenant—a bonding relationship—with God Himself.
And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, "Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. Matthew 26:27-28
Come to rescue us…He does that by providing us with salvation. Turn us again to Yourself, O God. God doesn’t change… Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8
God doesn’t change—we do. But God will rescue us… each in our individual ways.
God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.                  1 Corinthians 12:6
Is God’s face shining on you?

Prayer ~ Lord God, let Your face shine on us…and be gracious to us. Lift up Your countenance on us…and give us Your peace…now and forevermore. Peace for us…and peace for Your chosen people—Israel.

Daily Bible Reading: 1 Peter

Advent Random Act of Kindness - Let someone in front of you in traffic.
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© 2018 photo and text by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.
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