But as for me, I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; LORD, do not delay. – Psalm 70:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 2, 2016): Psalm 70

Denys the Carthusian was a monk who lived in the 15^th Century. And he is said to have had the body and make-up of an athlete. Which is interesting because Denys was a monk for most of his life and seemed to have led a life void of physical activity. He believed that the day should consist of both times for contemplation and for action. And so he portioned his days accordingly. The first part of the day he spent in prayer and then what was left he gave to his writing and study. This was the athletes practice for almost the last 50 years of his life.

Psalm 70 is actually just a rewrite of a portion of Psalm 40 and was probably used for liturgical purposes. But this last verse seems to have been a Psalm that fit the life of Denys the Carthusian. To be honest, I am not sure how he would read the first portion of the verse, but I suspect that this was very much the reality that he knew in the midst of his contemplation. This is not a statement about bank accounts, it is the reality of our spiritual existence. We are all poor and in need of God. During his contemplative times, he would have understood this. I think there is a reason why Denys started his day with contemplation. He knew that he needed the strength that he would find there to relieve his poverty and his need and allow him to function through the second part or the action part of his day.

The second half of the verse Denys did write about. He said that God was his helper in all of the good works that could be accomplished through him, he was his deliverer from all of the evil ones, and that the cry of “Do not delay” was the cry of every individual sinner. We desperately need God’s presence throughout our lives, and we depend on him deliver us from ourselves. “Lord Jesus, come quickly” is a prayer that lives on the lips of all Christian believers.

Denys was a prolific writer. He was buried upon his death in 1471, but 137 years later, for some reason, his body was dug up again. Witnesses of the disinterment of Denys reported that the while most of the body had decayed and returned to dust, the fingers he used in his writing, the thumb and forefinger on his right hand, were perfectly preserved. It seemed that time had not yet caught up with the athlete’s active fingers, or maybe there was just still so much left to write.  After seeing one of his commentaries it is said that Pope Eugene IV declared “Let Mother Church rejoice to have such a son.” Denys might have replied that his writings were only the result of a God who had come to him, who helped him to do good and delivered him from the evil that lurked all around him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 86