Making ‘lucky’ blessed again
LORD, you have been merciful to your land;
you have made Israel prosperous again.
You have forgiven your people’s sins
and pardoned all their wrongs. (verses 1, 2)
Read Psalm 85:1, 2; 8-13
Australia has always been a richly blessed country. Australia felix – Australia the blessed country – Sir Thomas Mitchell the explorer, called it. Another way of saying this is to call Australia ‘the lucky country’, as the writer Donald Home did in the 1960s. This takes God out of the equation altogether.
It’s no coincidence that in the years since Australians began to take God out of the equation and drifted from worshipping God, the blessings have considerably diminished. We need to take notice of what the psalm writer says to us: ‘Surely he is ready to save those who honour him, and his saving presence will remain in our land’ (verse 9)._ And where God’s blessing is, there people find not JUST prosperity but the spirit to share their prosperity. People find justice, peace, compassion and faithfulness.
When we think of the way our society is right now, we see just how much we need God. The great thing is that he is there for us. We know that; but, in Australia, millions don’t. The harvest is ready. Let’s do more than pray that God will send workers into the fields. Let’s say, with Isaiah, ‘Here I am; send me’.
God, my Father, let me always acknowledge-not just to you but to those around me-that you as the giver of all good things. Amen.
by Robert Turnbull, in ‘Living Water for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2001)
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