Today’s Scripture Reading (February
9, 2013): Psalm 11 & 12
There is
something about the shadows that cause shivers to go through our beings. It is
the basis for all of the ghost stories that we tell around the campfire – and the
basis of some of the most persistent problems of childhood, the ever present
boogie man living in the closet or under the bed, any place where shadows lurk.
It is the shadows that scare us – it always has been.
And the fear
never really goes away. When we grow older it becomes a fear of dark nights and
dark alleys, because you never really know what is that is lurking in those
shadows. A few years ago I was working out at a gym and I was on the cross trainer
with two girls using the machines beside me. The two of them were talking - one
of them was telling a story about an unpleasant experience with a guy that had
surprised her from – yeah, the shadows. She is describing this guy and finally
she looks for someone in the gym close to the size of her nemesis. Finally she
looks at me and then back at her girl friend and just motions in my direction
and just says the words – “he was bigger than him.” I wanted to tell her that I
was not all that dangerous, but I was not sure that it would have been all that
helpful.
David
pictures his enemies as being ready to attack from the shadows – their weapons
were already in their hands and ready to be fired. And the problem is that
weapons that are fired from the shadows cannot be defended against – because we
never really see the attack coming. Every person that gossips or accuses us from
a distance is doing nothing more than shooting at us from the shadows. It was
an experience that we – and David – know all too well.
But David
also knows that it is not the voices in the shadows that define him – it can
never be the unknown enemy firing from a distance that gives him his identity.
That role belongs only to his God – and our identity belongs only to our God.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm
13 & 14
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