Here Comes Daniel, God On Tail

Hopping down the bunny trail. Did you hear that in the subject-line? That's cool.

God took me down the bunny trail on Monday, illuminating both James 1:2-3 and Psalm 25:3, and passing through Psalms 23 and 24. Let me show you the way.

I started the day in James, as part of my small-group's following of Pastor Rick Warren's 40 Days in the Word. The object of the time with God was to read over James 1:2-3 several times, then paraphrase it, then (as with ay good devotional time) apply it to life -- in this case, obviously, mine. Well I was not unfamiliar with the verse. It goes like this:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance" (James 1:2-3 NIV).

Since I knew it fairly well, I was having some difficulty putting it in my own words -- it generally came out roughly the same way. After several minutes of trying I abandoned it. The night previously, at a once-a-month potluck, worship, and study session at my church, we had read through Psalm 23. For the first time ever, reading that Psalm and meditating on it, I pictured myself as a lamb in the verses, and Jesus as the shepherd. (Hard as it may be to believe, my working as a writer and all, I don't generally visualize what I'm reading -- so this was new to me, and I'm working on it as often as I think about it.) Well, it was a really cool experience; so, after failing with James, I decided to revisit that Psalm.

Then, since I was there, I continued through Psalm 24. Then I remembered that Psalm 25 had come up in two different contexts the previous week, with two very different purposes. I had wondered, the second time -- and almost half-jokingly -- whether or not there was something in Psalm 25 that God wanted me to know. So I decided to read it. That's when I hit verse 3:

"No one who hopes in you
   will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
   who are treacherous without cause" (Psalm 25:3 NIV).

Let me pause briefly to say, I don't propose the following as THE way to interpret this verse. By considering it in the way I'm about to, it lead me to deeper thought about God, and my relationship with Him. To that end, I believe it is helpful. Follow me here:

Poetry in the Psalms often follows a scheme of stating a principle one way, then in the second line restating that same principle in a slightly different way. That is, some verses which at first glance seem separate are actually treating the same subject. Now, if we look at verse 3, we see an "ABBA" pattern.

A: No one who hopes in you
B:      will ever be put to shame,
B:      but shame will come on those
A: who are treacherous without cause

Both lines I labelled "B" discuss shame: it will not come to these; it will come to those. Then, if you notice, the second "A" line doesn't have a direct object: it does not say to whom they are treacherous without cause. But if we pair it with the first "A" line, the direct object becomes "you," that is, God.

How, you may ask, can we be treacherous to God? Treachery usually implies trickery and harm, neither of which we can pull on an omniscient, omnipotent God. But what if treachery means only "dealing falsely"?

When we claim a promise of Scripture -- "No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame" -- and God lives up to His end (never being put to shame), would we not be treacherous to cease holding up our end? If he keeps us upright, but then afterward we cease putting hope in Him? What if God gives you the desires of your heart, and then you stop delighting in Him? Sounds fairly treacherous. And, since He already upheld his half of the covenant, I would say we are without cause in our treachery.

Before this waxes entirely too long, let me bring you full-circle. I realized in my own life that I had been treacherous toward God in cancelling my end of a promise-claim when God had already upheld His. And it was a situation, I realized, in which God blessed me spiritually, not strictly financially -- which, it seems, we most easily recognize. And why is that? Does financial blessing make for an easier testimony, perhaps? But we seem to value less the spiritual blessings -- His bringing us closer and more like Him through...

Trials.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." Because God may be in the process of blessing you spiritually.

See you Wednesday.