SUN-SEEKERS

I was SO READY for spring this year, and was cheered by two gift bouquets of tulips. I put them together in one vase and placed them on a west-facing lamp table, spreading out the blooms in a circle. Later that afternoon, I was surprised to find they'd done some re-arranging of their own, all turning toward the sunshine coming through this window tracking the afternoon sun. I knew plants still in the soil sought the sun, but cut ones? The sight of those “head-turners” reminded me of comforting phrases in Psalm 34, especially these:

I sought the LORD and He delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. (vv. 4-5)

The word “radiant” especially caught my attention. Going through a season of loss and grief doesn't exactly make every day or hour a sun-shiny one. But God is teaching me to look up in faith to His love and sufficiency. And maybe to look out in faith to point those around me to the source of true joy and hope.

To be radiant, even when my days aren't all that sunny with happy connections and happenings.

Years ago, I received a number of notes and E-mails that were, well, grumpy and unappreciative. Yes, dumping on me. I knew enough of the sender's background to realize they wanted their own way instead of submitting to the Lord's discipline and better plan. Dealing with their negatives was a good exercise for me in asking whether similar behaviors were true of me. Yes, as David wrote in this psalm, to “seek the Lord.” To “look to Him.” And—in so doing, gain His perspective on fears and unmet expectations.

That last phrase of verse 5, “never covered with shame,” holds so much quiet power. In looking to the Sun of Righteousness, the shadows fade in the brilliance of His perfect love. There's another aspect to this psalm. The credits indicate David wrote it after a scary time (told in 1 Samuel 21), when he was running for his life away from mad King Saul. He was trying to hide amid some enemies—bad choice—especially since he turned up in the home territory of Goliath, the enemy giant he'd killed!

Do I still have fears, things that upset and scare me? Of course, I'm human. But I have a choice, like those crazy and lovely tulips, to seek the Light. To let the inner beauty God crafted as “me” to shine forth in the brief time I have to bloom for Him.

Sadly, my tulips wilted and had to be tossed after a few days. But I enjoyed the colors and reminders of spring's re-emergence. I reflected on the love shown me by those who gave me the tulips. And I realized God, in His grace, allowed this reminder to seek Him—the One bigger than fears or disappointments, and whose radiant Love is available to me, 24/7.

HANDING IT OVER (Psalm 31)

This old abandoned service station in an Eastern Washington town seemed

to illustrate to me the feelings expressed in Psalm 31: down and unwanted.

An ongoing series on the 48 psalms listed as “recommended reading” for "down times" by counselor David Seamands (author of Healing for Damaged Emotions).

“Favorable outcomes…solution-based…positive results.”  Such are the catchwords of our generation. We want things that take away the pain—if not instantly, then as fast as possible.  Psalm 31 runs straight into those ideas with the truth that life isn’t always easy and sometimes it really hurts and confuses. David gets right to the point with something I’ve probably prayed in one way or the other:

In you, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame, deliver me in your righteousness.

The word “shame” reappears in verse 17:

Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I have cried out to you.

Our English word “shame” comes from the Hebrew bosh, meaning to become pale.  Good description, for it seems the blood and courage drain away when someone “shames us.” I felt similarly “depleted” when I ran into people who “shamed” me for innocent and upright actions and words.  They were so emotionally disheveled that their perceptions of people and life were distorted.

Bingo!  Did you read Saul into that (“emotionally disheveled,” “perceptions distorted”)? Welcome to history repeating itself in the ordinary threads of life.

A MENTAL/PHYSICAL MESS

So here, in Psalm 31, is a persecuted believer feeling it in his bones.  Verses 9-13 give a glimpse into his medical chart. Lots of tears, anguish, groaning, weakness, forgotten, like broken pottery, pressured by slander and other attacks. Depression manifests itself in such ways, like a creeping darkness. But the portion of Psalm 31 that lifts me most is verse 5:

Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.

Does it sound familiar? Jesus, on the cross: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”  When he had said this, he breathed his last. (Luke 23:46)

Stephen, as stones flew, killing him: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”(Acts 7:59)

Making the world “right” is not my responsibility. I’m to trust and obey.  Sometimes that’s really hard because our world’s mantras are “favorable outcomes…solution-based…positive results.”

Psalm 31 records a journey, from hurt and dismay to trust.  Because David was frank enough to recall his pain, we benefit these thousands of years later in our own spiritual battles.

But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.”My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies." (vv. 14-15)

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD. (v. 24)