06/18/2022
We read a psalm that we didn’t write, about a time that we didn’t live, and yet it becomes our own. The emotion, the faith, and the belief are suddenly ours, and the I becomes us, just as if we were saying it and writing it. David writes “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want”, and those words relieve our wants; the green pastures become ours to rest in, and the still waters are as smooth and crystal clear as if we are seeing them with our own eyes. Some might call this imagination, but the faithful call it the Holy Spirit. We read more than what David saw with his eyes, we are lead to feel the relationship he felt with the Lord. Do we feel it? Do we live that gift as we are immersed in each verse? Is the comfort of David ours as his words are transformed within us? Does the I, and the me, that he wrote become us?
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 ESV
The Bible, God’s Word, is more than a roadmap to Heaven, or a recipe for eternity, it is the emotion of God, and the love we feel as we become one flesh with Jesus. When we read of Peter denying Jesus is it simply the telling of an age old story about him, or the very real memory of our own denial… just yesterday. When Peter weeps, isn’t it our tears that are running down his cheeks?
“Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.”
Matthew 26:74-75 ESV
Scripture is not something we recognize as fantasy, or ancient history, it is a link, a glue that binds us today, at a deep spiritual level, to what transpired long ago, and there is no other book that can do such a thing. It is our faith incarnate, the resurrected Christ over whom we just mourned, and shed tears… it is God’s love that has saved us, and the blood of Christ, that courses through us as grace.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12 ESV
Faithful Poets and songwriters have a gift just as David did, and their words can bind us together with the pure emotion and feeling of God. Oh, there are love songs and poems that bring tears to our eyes, but those inspired by the Holy Spirit make us one with what we are reading and hearing concerning the Lord, and give flight to Him in us.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:16-17 ESV
Four years ago I wrote a poem that I had only lived in part, but I felt the emotion of the Spirit from the very start. When we read it today I pray that the beat up old shoes and angel wings become our own, and in Christ our disappointments are banished with our sins. I pray that we let this story become your own.
The Wind beneath my Arms
By Rich Forbes - 06/2018
I wore a pair of beat up shoes
The day I found the LORD
But I swear that they were angel wings
The way that I flew home
I soared above the asphalt
I shouted out His name
And since that moment in the clouds
I’ve never felt the same
Lifted up on angle wings
The wind beneath my arms
I felt the love surrounding me
His grace became my charm
The life in which I foundered
Had fallen from my hand
Those sins I can’t imagine
Were numbered like the sand
When country boys meet Jesus
And the wind begins to blow
Rain falls on the corn fields
In the winter comes the snow
Their souls pour out like sunlight;
The water becomes praise
And the hell that they once knew
Turns into prayers they raise
Friday night hell raisers
Settle into Sunday saints
And all the old “let’s do Er boys”
Turn into “no I cain’ts”
So I’m lifted up on angel wings
With the wind beneath my arms
Having turned from sinful ways
For the Holy Spirit's charms
The life that I once foundered in,
Redeemed, began again,
And all the disappointment
Was banished with the sin.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for tying us so tightly to you, and your Son Jesus, as we read your Holy Word. Thank you for transforming the parables of Jesus into lessons we learn about ourselves and our relationship with you. Thank you for each psalm that, though written by another, becomes the song we sing from our own hearts, and the outpouring of our own spirits. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God whose Holy Spirit gives us remembrance, inspiration, and an amazing insight into you. Praised be your name for every glimpse we receive into your heart, and for every word of inspired verse you write with our hand, or sing with our voice. Merciful are you who transforms us with every Word that we read, and emotion we feel… each beginning with you, and becoming a germinated seed within us, fed by your loving revelation, and watered with Christ’s own blood, His living water within us. Wash us clean with this His blood, the wine of the New Covenant. Let His gospel transform us into His image, one parable, one prayer, one Word, and one nail at a time. Find us worthy in Him, as we humble ourselves before you, and sing words that well up from within our spirit, and glorify you as our soul revels in your Spirit. As your every Word becomes us, so we pray that we are remade to be as you are.
Rich Forbes