Today’s Scripture Reading (December
16, 2012): Psalm 34
I love crime
shows – and I have watched crime investigation shows from the days of watching
Quincy, M. E. in the late seventies and early eighties through to currently
watching the CSI’s and the NCIS’s. But, even though I do like to watch them, I
like them from a distance (as in on my television.) The problem is that I also
know the reality that these occupations have to deal with – and that reality is
often not very pleasant. As graphic as the shows try to be, reality is much
worse – and I know that.
As a teen I
worked for a short time with a veterinarian. At the time we lived in a small
ranching community and so I had the opportunity to go out with the vet when he
was called out to the different ranches around the town. And some of the things
that I had to deal with rivaled some of things that I am sure crime
investigators have to deal with. And sometimes, with the really bad ones, the
places smelled so much that I felt like I could taste it. Okay, I know that
that is really not possible, but I still felt that way.
It works the
other way too. I have passed restaurants and the smell that was coming from the
kitchen was so good that I felt once again that I could taste it. It is a
strange phenomenon – but a very real one.
David is on
the run. He is hiding with priests and he is pretending that he is insane. His
reality is that he no longer knows who to trust. And his only refuge is in God.
But he does not need a God that is seen far off, or one that we might see on
our television screens. The God that he needs is the one that is so close that
he can taste him.
There are
many things that we can know. We can see and hear even at a distance, but
tasting is different. Tasting requires a closeness and an intimacy – tasting can
never be done from a distance. One of the phrases that we sometimes like to use
to describe God is that “he is closer than our next breath.” That is a God that
we can taste.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm
56
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