I am under vows to you, my God; I will present my thank offerings to you. – Psalm 56:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 3, 2016): Psalm 56

“There are no atheists in foxholes,” or at least so the saying goes. It is thought that the origin of the saying might have been in a sermon given by U. S. Military Chaplain William Cummings before the Battle of Bataan, a battle in the Philippines between the Americans and the Japanese in January 1942. But the reality is that saying fails in a couple of ways. First, the horrors of war and the death found in foxholes is often a reason why soldiers doubt the existence of God. When we come face to face with the worst that we as people are capable of doing to each other, belief in God is sometimes extremely hard. But beyond that, the God found in the foxhole is also usually very short lived. It is one thing to find God in the extremely scary scenarios of life, but the reality is that when we find him there, we also usually leave him there. When the danger is over, so is our commitment to God – and any promises that we might have made in those moments are usually left far behind.

We really are not sure exactly when David wrote this Psalm. According to the inscription, this Psalm was written around David’s experience in Gath. What we don’t know is whether the Psalm was written while David was still in Gath and in fear of his life, or after David was safely away from the city. But either way he had apparently made a vow to God. David is acutely aware that he is a man under a vow. But the vow was not made just under the threat of death in Gath. David’s vow to God started as a youth in the pasture with the sheep. It continued as he was anointed by Samuel. It was a vow that was present before his fight with Goliath, and not just while he shared the battlefield with him. And the vow that David had given to God would continue long after the trouble of Gath was just an item in the rear view mirror.

As Christians, we also are a people under a vow. The question becomes how seriously we are willing to take that vow. If our God is just the God of the foxhole, then the reality is that we will most likely leave our vow there as well. But if we are willing to be a people of promise during the good times, then our vows will follow us into the foxhole – and they will follow us out of it.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 22