Admitting Intensity

Psalm 124 – 1 A Song of Ascents. Of David. "If it had not been the LORD Who was on our side," Let Israel now say – 2  "If it had not been the LORD Who was on our side, when men rose up against us, 3 then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; 4 then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; 5 then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul 6 Blessed be the LORD, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth. 7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers, the snare is broken, and we have escaped. 8 our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made Heaven and Earth.

His name was Ricky, and he had the standing swagger of someone with law enforcement experience. When I met him, he was doing safer work lecturing a room full of bureaucrats on how to handle threats of violence. In telling him about incidents, he said those he was responsible for protecting will report we were concerned, or troubled.

You were afraid, said Ricky flatly. Say so.

As the author of Psalm 124, King David could match Ricky's bravado at least stride for stride. He also shows an understanding of Ricky's demand for honest recall and testimony. In recounting the faithfulness of the Lord to His people, David isn't satisfied to say they were concerned, or troubled, or even that they were afraid. He reaches for a metaphor to convey intensity and says that without God's intervention swollen waters would have gone over there soul.

What do we risk when we redact our testimony to say that what we once thought perilous wasn't so bad after all? We risk belittling God's intervention after the fact. We risk an opportunity He may have otherwise used for people currently experiencing fear and vulnerability to connect with our experience. We risk, in turning our previously harrowing experience into a Disney cartoon, rendering the reality of God's deliverance remote when we next faced a real crisis. We were afraid, really afraid, and we can say so.

We can say so without lingering with a perverse kind of love over words that will trigger a relapse into fear for us or for those whom we may influence. Psalm 124 is short. Fear has its place, and David moves on. As we fashion and refashion the personal narrative which does so much to define us in our own eyes, we can choose words that are honest and balanced.

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