Today's Scripture Reading (September 21, 2022): Psalm 63
Decades ago, I had an
opportunity to sit with a Hindu believer for a conversation. The discussion was
about many things, but eventually, it turned to religion. And my friend had a question;
"You believe that there is only one God?" I nodded. I wasn't well versed in Hindu beliefs, but I knew they worshipped a pantheon of gods. There was a
slight pause in our conversation before my Hindu friend decided to continue. "We believe there are many gods, but I think that you
might be right; maybe there is only one." After this slight confession, our conversation moved
on to other topics, and regardless of how I tried to bring the discussion back
to one God, for my friend, that part of the discussion was closed, and he was
not ready to open it back up again.
Years later, I was privileged
to attend a local Hindu Temple for a special worship service. The Temple is intentionally
designed to bring both humans and the gods together in one place for a time of
worship, sacrifice, and devotion. I was welcomed into the Temple and seated
with the elders at the back of the worship area. From where I sat, men sat on the floor to my right, and women gathered on my left. And at the front were
various representations of the gods we were to worship. Worshippers would bring
in their sacrifices, usually in the form of fruit, and lay them in front of the
gods. Later, these sacrifices were gathered and cut up to be shared among the worshippers. At the
end of the evening, I started to leave only to have one of the worshippers
exclaim, "Praise the Lord!" It brought a broad smile to my face as my new Hindu
friends tried to build a bridge between their beliefs and those of their Christian visitor.
The First
Commandment declares that Yahweh is God alone, and there should be no one else
in his orbit or placed anywhere near his level. It might be surprising to some
that there has never been opposition between many of these believers in
multiple gods to add Yahweh to their pantheon. The resistance is ours; as
believers in one God and followers of the First Commandment, we believe that
Yahweh should not be placed on a pantheon with any other gods.
There is a world of
difference between saying "Praise the Lord," acknowledging the existence of Yahweh, and saying
that "Yahweh is my God." Some have looked at the first verse of this Psalm and recognized the poetic dualism in the
phrase "You, God, are my God." But it is really more than that. First, David acknowledges that God exists. "You are God." The statement is similar to my Hindu friend's declaration of "Praise the Lord." But then David takes an additional step that my Hindu friends could not take; he
declares, "You are my God. There is no room in my life to
follow other gods. It is only you that I desire. Earnestly I seek you; I thirst
for you, my whole being longs for you just like my body longs for drink in a
dry and parched land where there is no water." David declares that there are no other gods in
your orbit and no pantheon on which you would fit. There is only you, and there
are no other gods to whom I am willing to share the worship and devotion that
belong to my God.
Today's Scripture Reading: 2
Samuel 17
No comments:
Post a Comment