Psalm 4:2
"How long, O you sons of men,
Will you turn my glory to shame?
How long will you love worthlessness
And seek falsehood?"
It's so easy for me to read the Psalms with my finger pointed.
It's so hard to take something so emotionally charged as a song & put ourselves in the same mindset as the author. So what usually happens when I read a Psalm is either a complete disconnect because I can't relate or I start pointing - "Yeah, sons of men, how about that? Why you gotta be that way?"
But something interesting happens when I just read one verse instead of the entire Psalm: perspective.
"How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame?"
Is this David talking to the ambiguous "wicked," or is it God speaking to us?
Aren't we all technically sons of men? The only thing separating us from "the wicked" is simple: grace.
God's grace.
Because, not that long ago, we were the "sons of men." And it's so easy to fall back. So couldn't this verse just as easily be God speaking to us?
"How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame?"
How often do we do that? Take the glorious message of Christ & pollute it? We are quick to anger instead of love. We judge without the full story. We condemn. We selfishly complain when we don't get a want when so many others are without basic needs.
And that is To. Our. Shame.
We are Christ's ambassadors. We are the representatives. If we don't live what we're preaching, how can we expect others to accept Him?
Because isn't that the goal of all of this?
Leading those in darkness into this marvelous Light?
How can we lead when our light is so smothered by anger, envy, jealousy, strife, sarcasm, dissention, arguing, and petty-ness? We take His glory & turn it to our shame.
"How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?"
This is exactly what we do when we are not resting in Him, when we are not pursuing His Kingdom. We are pursuing worthlessness and seeking falsehood.
I've taught enough English to know: These are Action. Verbs.
We're not simply in this state-of-being, zen-like state and then worthlessness & falsehood seek us out - We. Are. Actively. Looking. For. Them.
When we are not pursing the good of the Kingdom, we're still pursuing something - and that something is worthless and false if it's not for God, if it has no eternal purpose or value.
But we are not without hope - when we recognize this in ourselves, there is a promise in the very next verse: "The Lord will hear when I call to Him."
He will not leave this son (or daughter) of man.
As soon as I recognize my sin - He. WILL. Hear. When. I. Call. To. Him.
A promise.
And another action verb.
I must actively cry out to Him.
He will not force me. Because love that is forced is no love at all.
But when I cry out, when I actively seek Him & turn my back on my worthless, false pursuits, He is quick to hear and save me.
Praise be to Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment