He asked you for life, and you gave it to him — length of days, for ever and ever. - Psalm 21:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 14, 2013): Psalm 20 & 21

Welcome to St. Valentine’s Day - the day that we set aside each year to the idea of love. It is the day that we get to tell the people that are important in our life (and not just our lovers) how critically we need them. And while St. Valentine’s Day has become a day set aside for hyperbole and exaggeration, I do not think that our critical need for each other is an exaggeration. To phrase it in the form of a book title “We Really Do Need Each Other.” God has built us for community and placed us, from the very beginning of our lives, in community – and we cannot exist without it. So, on this day, we recognize the lover in our life, but traditionally we also pay homage to the community in which we exist. We give our “Valentines” to those around us because that community is so important to us.

David’s life is drawing to a close, and he starts to reflect on his own life. And speaking in the third person, he reflects on the important things. And in this passage, the important thing is life. So we read that the king asked for life, and that God answered the request. But we realize that we never actually ask for physical life – it might be more accurate to say that we have life thrust upon us. But that is not really what David is talking about. What is true is that in the midst of David’s failure’s God continued to give the gift of life to him. In those moments where it would have been proper for God to demand David’s life end, instead his response was forgiveness and the continuation of the gift.  And for that, David was thankful. But the gift of life went beyond just David’s physical life. God, at David’s repeated request (especially in the Psalms), also gave life to a community and a nation. So this Psalm was in some way David’s Valentine to a nation as he thanked God for the community that God had graced him with.

And then he follows up his thanks for life with the idea that there will be no end to his days. But as the reader considers this passage, we realize that David’s days were swiftly drawing to a very real end. But David possibly saw three things as he wrote these words. The first was that even though his days on earth were growing short, this was not all that life had to offer. There was something else, even if it was something that David did not quite understand. Secondly, even though David would die, the community that God had given him would continue. In fact, in the midst of overwhelming obstacles in the history of the Jewish community, it is a community that still exists today. And third, it is an allusion to the coming of the Messiah, a king of David’s line that would reign forever and ever, until the end of time itself.

David’s “Valentine” reveals how precious the community was to him. He was compelled to let them know. May you also let your community know how important they are to you – not just on this day, but through all the days of your life!

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 22