I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery. – Psalm 31:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 16, 2016): Psalm 31

It has been said that Emperor Tiberius was the forgotten Roman Emperor. His reign was situated between Augustus and Caligula. Augustus was a game changer. His father, Julius Caesar was murdered because his opponents feared that he was trying to limit the influence of the Senate and essentially was on a path to crown himself king. And, in the end, the steps Julius Caesar was making did lead to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

Augustus became the first Emperor of the Roman Empire. In Augustus, everything that Julius Caesar was accused of trying to do was completed. Augustus became the first Emperor of the Roman Empire, and the Roman Republic was finally laid to rest.

Next Tiberius and then the insane Caligula. Caligula was irritable, mean and short tempered. The diagnosis of insanity is actually unproven. We are not sure if he was actually insane, or if this was a figurative diagnosis given to him by people with an axe to grind (however, there is the story that he planned to make his favorite horse a consul, one of the highest political appointments in the Empire. Probably not the action of a sane man.)

And in between Augustus and Caligula, Tiberius, the forgotten one. The Star Trek franchise gave this forgotten emperor a nod by making his name the middle name of one of its most famous captains – James Tiberius Kirk. But the reality was that Tiberius was a reluctant ruler. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to be Emperor, and often just seemed that he wished the Senate would run the empire and leave him alone. Tiberius was forgotten and essentially broken.

It is David’s fear that this is his destiny. We are not sure the circumstances, but once again the rebellion of Absalom seems to rise to the top of our list of possibilities. David has been kicked out of his city, and Absalom seems intent on undoing everything that David had done, effectively erasing all of his Father’s accomplishments. In the disturbance that Absalom was creating, everything good that David had accomplished was lost. All that seemed to be left was his mistake with Bathsheba. David was broken and forgotten, his life had ended up meaning nothing. He was a piece of broken pottery, useless and destined for the trash.

But David also knew that the only one who fix any of this was the Master Potter. Things were still in control of God. He was the only one who could repair his broken life.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 32