"The most valuable thing the Psalms do for me is to express the same
delight in God which made David dance." ~ C. S. Lewis
Since my early twenties I’ve been an avid Bible reader. In fact, my hospital reading after giving birth to my firstborn was the book of Acts…probably not typical postpartum fare. Yet up until the age of 45 I had still never read through the entire Bible in one year’s time.
But that year I purchased a vintage hard-cover biography of Harry Ironside as a Christmas gift for one of my sons who was returning from Bible college. Ironside was a Bible expositor/pastor who served at Moody Bible Church in Chicago from 1930-1948. I’m never one to gift a book without reading it, so that December, it came to be that Ironside’s biography made a big impression on me. I was inspired to read through the Bible that year and every year for the second half of my lifetime. Ironside had begun his annual read at age 13 and also made up for the first 13 years in arrears before he turned twenty.
In my retreats, I often encourage women that “a woman of faith must saturate herself in the Word of God”. That carries a whole different meaning than ‘you should read your Bible’. In fact, I’ve often quoted something that Elisabeth Elliott’s father (Phillip Howard) wrote in one of the Christian periodicals he published:
"A Christian who is saturated with the Word is likely to have a calm, wholesome outlook on life; to be kept steady in the path of God's will in either joy or sorrow, wealth or poverty; he is likely to be a pleasant companion, not voluble in aimless talk; and he will not be overly disturbed by world conditions."
That sentence sums up the benefits of Bible consumption fairly well. I still have a few books of the Bible to finish for this year’s pass to be complete, but currently the Lord has sent me back to the Psalms for a do-over, as if I had missed something important.
I’ve appreciated the Psalms as much as the next person, but having a real enemy to fight has given the poetry of David (and others) some added texture! I mean, I’ve personalized a Psalm here and there in my life. The Lord has lifted a handful of verses off the page to bring insight into life’s situations. But, suddenly every single Psalm is highly personalized and carries great meaning, comfort and encouragement.
For example, this from Psalm 31:14-16 “But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast Love!
Maybe I’ve never had a real enemy before…an enemy that was bent on destroying me, but suddenly I completely understand David’s real enemies in the Psalms and I don’t have one bit of a problem asking God to be victorious over my enemy…to in fact, destroy my enemy.
How about this from Psalm 40:10 “I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.”
That resonates with me because I believe in the power of God and I also believe in the efficacy of treatments. But at the end of the day, God is always the one who delivers…and that reality I do not want to conceal. I want to make his love and faithfulness known in the great congregation.
So this brings us to an update on my treatments. In the words of my surgeon, I have jumped on the chemo train and will be riding it until mid-September. That is the point of chemo…get started and keep going. There won’t be a lot of other news to report, and I’m not going to drag you through ongoing side-effects! (GAH!)
But, if you are praying for me I have two requests for this summer, no three:
1) that my health would stay strong so as to avoid any breaks in treatment that would prolong this phase;
2) that the Lord would enable these chemicals to attack my enemy;
3) that I would embrace a season of rest.
Even though there won’t be much in the way of treatment updates, I’ll probably not be able to resist writing up some thoughts from time to time…so stay tuned.
My Love,
Sue
(sue@ccontario.com)