For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. – Psalm 109:22

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 12, 2019): Psalm 109

I know that I am rich. A few months ago someone broke into my car and found a change purse that I had kept in my vehicle. It was filled with coins that I might need someday, maybe eight or nine dollars worth. I was upset, but the loss of the money has not in any way set me back. I don’t keep change in my car anymore, but I still have change. Every time I open my fridge, I find food. Every time I look in my closet, even on wash day, I find clothes. I own a car, actually three, including my two-dollar mid-life crisis car, a 1983 Mustang Convertible with a 5.0-litre engine. I don’t have everything that I want, but I have what is important and, admittedly, many less important things. I am rich. And I know that.

Yet, I am also poor. I am broken and hurt. Sometimes I am troubled by those who want to criticize me, and yet often even those who are close to me, who I have considered to be my friends, have hurt me. And continue to hurt me. As I move through life, I know that often my heart is wounded within me.

The title of Psalm 109 indicates that the author of the Psalm is David. And David, King of Israel and a man that had all that he wanted, admits that he is poor. We might question that. Among the people of Israel, there were very few, if any, who had more material wealth than David possessed. He had wives and children. He had flocks. In every way that we can imagine, David was wealthy, and yet he admits his poverty.

And it is the second part of David’s claim to which we need to give our attention. David’s heart is wounded within him. And as long as our heart is wounded, we are poor, no matter how much we might possess materially. And the wounded heart is a common trait of the human race. The cause is varied. Sometimes our hearts are wounded because of the acts of others. Sometimes we wound our hearts by our own actions. Often just the realities of life hurt us in ways that we cannot describe.

Yet, God is the one who holds our wounded hearts in his hands. And he is the healer of our hearts. And so David, feeling wounded, poor, and needy, looks to his God to heal his heart and save him according to his (God’s) unfailing love.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 110