(October 25, 2014)
One of
the great tragedies for me, as I read Psalms, is that I can see the fall
of David coming. David is so dedicated
to the Lord, so faithful, and so willing to give praise and love to the Lord. But the undercurrent beneath that is David’s
pride – he wants his enemies destroyed. This is common to much of the time period (I
don’t want to say I am judging him by a modern standard), but that same
conflict between the righteous man of God and the king who takes what (and who)
he wants in lingering there just beneath the surface. It worries me, of course, out of fear of what
is lurking below my surface that I don’t see. This self-blindness is one thing that makes it
vitally important that we do everything we can in the good times to build up
sufficient strength to withstand our temptations in the bad times.
The
other thought I had as I read today was the wonderful language about speaking
peace to our neighbors with mischief in our hearts. I have been the victim of this quite a bit
(including recently), but it is important that I not be an instigator. One thing that I think I am learning is how
important it is to give honest praise and compliments to others – to build
others up rather than tear them down. Tearing
people down isn’t something that I ever thought I was doing, but my criticism
of others, I have learned, is not helpful and often harmful. But while I am trying to work on praising
others it is important that I mean what I say. Flattery differs from praise, I believe, based
upon this standard – praise is honest while flattery comes with mischief in our
hearts. I find myself better able to
praise others lately, but I don’t want to deviate into flattery at any point –
I want to praise people when they are praiseworthy (and everyone is) rather
than because I want or need something from them.
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