Seeing as the Savior Sees
Song of Ascents. LORD, remember David and all his self-denial. He swore an oath to the LORD, he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob: “I will not enter my house or go to my bed, I will allow no sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, till I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.” Psalm 132:1-5, NIV
John Donne focuses himself and his readers in Letters to Several Persons of Honour, "When we think of a friend, do not count that as a Wass thought, though that friend never knew of it." He continues, "If we write to a friend, we must not call it a Wass letter, though it never find him to whom it was addressed; for," he concludes, "we owe ourselves that office, to be mindful of our friends."
If Donne's mindfulness is good, the pastor and poet would agree that the grace-saturated, prayer-propelling mindfulness of Psalm 132:1-5 is even better. What is this author and petitioner's synonym when he thinks of his brother psalmist David? From the forest of words which could describe this outsized national patriarch, he picks, the NIV says, self-denial.
This classification could be easily undermined with the authority of Scripture. David had a huge appetite for life which Bono himself likened to a rock star. He numbered the people over even Joab's objections. He claimed a wife promised to him who had subsequently been wedded to another man, all because he could. Then there was Bathsheba. Self-discipline doesn't readily come to mind when describing even David's attributes. But that's the point.
As our prayers are washed in the blood of the Lamb and seen through the righteousness of Christ, we will sift through and find what is noble and praiseworthy in those made in His image and redeemable by His sovereign action. As the psalmist does in opening his song, we will freeze-frame the best moments of fallible national heroes, contemporary leaders, and of family members whose flaws we know all too well. We will ask, perhaps out loud as here, that the Lord remember these attributes when He thinks of them, perhaps hoping in faith that the Holy Spirit will help us to remember them this way as well.
These sanctified thoughts and prayers, then, as Donne says are never wasted even if they are not delivered directly to the person they concern. Every resolution carried through to remember our brothers', and our leaders' most disciplined moments strengthens discipline in us and weakens the tendency to vitiate our strength and divide our opportunities to do good with the habit of bitter complaining.
John Donne focuses himself and his readers in Letters to Several Persons of Honour, "When we think of a friend, do not count that as a Wass thought, though that friend never knew of it." He continues, "If we write to a friend, we must not call it a Wass letter, though it never find him to whom it was addressed; for," he concludes, "we owe ourselves that office, to be mindful of our friends."
If Donne's mindfulness is good, the pastor and poet would agree that the grace-saturated, prayer-propelling mindfulness of Psalm 132:1-5 is even better. What is this author and petitioner's synonym when he thinks of his brother psalmist David? From the forest of words which could describe this outsized national patriarch, he picks, the NIV says, self-denial.
This classification could be easily undermined with the authority of Scripture. David had a huge appetite for life which Bono himself likened to a rock star. He numbered the people over even Joab's objections. He claimed a wife promised to him who had subsequently been wedded to another man, all because he could. Then there was Bathsheba. Self-discipline doesn't readily come to mind when describing even David's attributes. But that's the point.
As our prayers are washed in the blood of the Lamb and seen through the righteousness of Christ, we will sift through and find what is noble and praiseworthy in those made in His image and redeemable by His sovereign action. As the psalmist does in opening his song, we will freeze-frame the best moments of fallible national heroes, contemporary leaders, and of family members whose flaws we know all too well. We will ask, perhaps out loud as here, that the Lord remember these attributes when He thinks of them, perhaps hoping in faith that the Holy Spirit will help us to remember them this way as well.
These sanctified thoughts and prayers, then, as Donne says are never wasted even if they are not delivered directly to the person they concern. Every resolution carried through to remember our brothers', and our leaders' most disciplined moments strengthens discipline in us and weakens the tendency to vitiate our strength and divide our opportunities to do good with the habit of bitter complaining.
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