Today’s Scripture Reading (March 15,
2013): Psalm 138
One of the
phrases that young lovers seem to use is the idea that the other person “completes”
them. The idea is that they were incomplete before the relationship began, but
like two puzzle pieces the couple fits together, when they combine they tell
more of the story. And there is a level where I can say that I understand that.
I know that my wife has very different gifting than I have – that together we
tell a more complete story. But there is a level where I hope that all of my
relationships are that way. The friends that I have gathered around me are very
different from me – and that is partially why the relationship works.
But I am not
sure that just because I have gathered people around me that they in any way
complete me. I actually rebel against that thought. I am complete all by
myself, and it is that sense of completeness that brings value into my
relationship with my wife and with my relationships with my friends. Too often
we enter into relationships wanted to be completed by the other, but instead of
completion we develop an unhealthy level of co-dependence with them. And that in
turn leads us into some very unhealthy decisions.
David writes
in this passage that because God loves him, he will vindicate him. The word
used in the passage –gamar-
is a little elusive. Other translations have interpreted the word with the idea
of “fulfilling the purpose that God has placed inside of me.” But in the
context a better interpretation of the word might be that “God completes me” or
“God brings completion to me.” Our
reality is that other people – no matter how much we may desire to be
romantically linked to them – can never complete, because they in themselves
are not complete. That task lies only with God. He is the one that brings real
completion to our lives.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm
139
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