Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 139 · May 19
Turn Us Again
“Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”
Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
That sentence is said three times in this psalm, and it grows. In verse three: O God. In verse seven: O God of hosts. In verse nineteen, the last line of the whole thing: O LORD God of hosts. The request stands almost word for word each time. What lengthens is the name of the one being asked, which is what happens to a prayer repeated by somebody who is not giving up.
Between the repetitions the psalm says what the situation is. Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. Then a long complaint about a vine: Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it, and then the hedges are down and it is burned with fire, it is cut down. Whoever planted it is being asked to come back and look at it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine.
Pray it as it was written, and pray it three times. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. Say the third one slower than the first two, and mean the name you have arrived at.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 139 is The Measure You Use (Luke 6:38).