Living in the Spirit
October 24, 2018
Scripture Reading: Psalm 34:1-8, (19-22)
I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him, and be radiant;
so your faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
and was saved from every trouble.
The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord rescues them from them all. –Psalm 34:4-8
The explanation of this Psalm that appears in the cited source below is: Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away. Abimelech gave David bread in the story reported in 1 Samuel 21. It was King Achish of Gath before whom David acted the madman. He was lying to both as he was using all his cunning to escape from King Saul. I assume this poem was written with hindsight when David felt secure.
Hopefully, most of us are not experiencing peril like David’s, but the world can be too much with us* at times when such assurance is a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46).
One of the things I admire about David is that he lived his life in active tense. I have discovered through my grammar checker program that I have a propensity to write in passive tense and that is not the accepted way of writing in modern English. (I also do not naturally apply enough commas and do not use enough articles: a, an, and the). I make some of the changes the grammar checker recommends, and I leave some in based on my bias regarding whether it makes sense or not, which probably means it does not make sense to someone else. I do not think any of that would mean anything to David because he lived in active tense. Are we all called to live in active tense?
Are we called to stay in close communion with God in everything we do so that we are engaged and ready when the need to serve presents itself? Athletes must stay prepared to play when sent into a game even if they routinely set on the bench. Paul tells us we must serve Christ as a good athlete. I would add like David.
Prayer: Lord, help us remain ready to serve when you call. Amen.
*Derived from William Wordsworth’s poem The World Is Too Much with Us see at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45564/the-world-is-too-much-with-us