Lightweights In the Wind

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Friday, January 19, 2018

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.  My victory and honor come from God alone.  He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.  O my people, trust in him at all times.  Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.  

-        Interlude   -

Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind, and the powerful are not what they appear to be.  If you weigh them on the scales, together they are lighter than a breath of air.  Psalm 62:5-9^(NLT)

King David’s use of the term common people is not a slur, just a reference to the average, everyday person.  On the other hand, the powerful are not what they appear to be means just what it says; they’re false, illusory, deceptive, and misleading.  When they appear benevolent they’re actually self-promoting.  When they’re bragging about powerful accomplishments, they’re actually hollow and bankrupt.

The irony, in case anyone missed it…David was the most powerful man in the universe when he wrote that; he could speak from absolutely first-hand experience.

David said that together the common person and the powerful person add-up to the weight of a feather on the scale.  Another translation puts it this way:

Man as such is smoke, woman as such, a mirage.  Put them together, they’re nothing;
    two times nothing is nothing. ^{The Message©}

My – oh – my; that could sure take the wind out of your sails, couldn’t it?

And that is David’s whole point, exactly.  Some of our wind needs to go! 

And, as previously noted, David was powerful in the extreme – he’d even been a murderer, liar, adulterer, and conspirator, acting as if he was powerful enough to sin with impunity.  He had broken all ten of the commandments…yet no person on earth would dare confront him; until God put exactly that on Nathan the prophet's to-do list. 

Yet David wasn’t always a power-brokering mover and shaker.  He was once a shepherd, one of the lowliest of occupations.  So he spoke from personal experience, knowing that the position you occupy on earth is tenuous at best, and a trap at worst.

And so the shepherd-boy/king says he waits quietly before God; mouth closed!

And so the shepherd-boy/king says he hopes only in God; assets in proper perspective!

And so the shepherd-boy/king says he lays aside victories and honor; they’re God’s anyway!

And so the shepherd-boy/king says he (and we) should run to God; there’s no other help or resting place that will mean anything.

For You Today

Do you place all the weight of your life (like that feather in the wind) in trust of God?

Or is there anything else you trust more?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com