Em-PHA-sizing the Wrong Syl-LA-ble

Had I read Ann's 9th chapter, Going Lower, a bit earlier, I probably wouldn't have written the post on dying to self. Her whole chapter was on humility, but written with more flair and better developed analogies. Ahh, there is nothing new under the sun.

Well, this post is certainly nothing new, but as "A Thomas Jefferson Education" by Oliver DeMille asserts, the best way to learn something is to read it, write it, and discuss it. I have read my Bible this morning, a chapter in Ann's book, and now I am writing about it. I invite you to help pursue the last tenet by discussing it with me here, so feel free to leave a comment.


Ps. 63:1 "O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;"

I have always read it like this: Oh God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

But like our pastor reminded us on Sunday, the Bible is not about us. It is always and unrelentingly revealing GOD to us. He gave the example of the David and Goliath story. How many of us have been taught that the application to that story is that we, through God's help, can slay the giants in our lives? Yet Pastor Geoff posited that the proper way to read that story is like this: The sheep-herder of Israel goes to fight his enemy, this shepherd wins the victory and his victory is imputed to the entire nation of Israel. What a foreshadowing! It IS all about God.

So I re-read the verse from this morning with this emphasis:

O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

I had always read that "dry and thirsty land" figuritively. But David did not write this in a palace, looking out over the Judean desert, thinking "I want to desire God like I would desire water in that dry land." According to Spiros Zodhiates, the editor of my study Bible, David was IN THE PHYSICAL WILDERNESS being hunted like an animal (1 Sam. 22&23). Early in the morning is a prime-time to travel and gather food, before the heat of the day takes your strength. Water and food are critical to physical survival. And in these actual literal circumstances what does David want? GOD, GOD, more of GOD.

I glanced the title of a book the other day "Made to Crave" and yes, we are made to crave. What is David craving? Not gratitude, not understanding, not joy, not even life itself (63:3): GOD.

I have been thoroughly challenged and provoked by Ann's book. I needed this teaching, encouragement, and challenge. Ann mentioned a different book in a recent posting called "Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier" by Robert Emmons. This book seems to set out gratitude as the goal. Gratitude is a grand gateway. But a gateway to what? Not a gateway to better performance and better success and closer friendships. Those may be by-products, but for gratitude to be satisfying it must be a gateway to GOD.

Ann herself said it this way, ""The one thousand presents wake me to the presence of God- but more so, living eucharisteo, living in thanks, had done the far harder work of keeping me awake to Him."

Gratefulness is all about GOD. My life is, should be, must be, all about emphasizing that one syllable.