Ignorance.
By definition it means a lack of knowledge or information.
A source that I have found to be a fountain of knowledge and insight once uttered, "Before I do anything, I ask myself if an idiot would do that. If the answer is yes, I do no do that thing!" - Dwight Schrute of "The Office"
While I don't necessarily condone the use of calling others idiots, I do wholeheartedly believe that the essential idea of this quote is life-altering for the believer. We are a people with a long and eventful history. It's filled with heroic and group highs, yet riddled with individual and community lows. We need not look far to find examples of this, however, I would like to direct your attention to the book of Psalms where we find examples of both in abundance.
The author of many of the Psalms is a man from the people who had a range of emotions not unlike our own. He had urges, fears, troubles and nightmares just as we do today. Apart from all his great accomplishments and exploits, perhaps his greatest gift to us today was his writing.
Sometimes, I like to imagine this people's champion perhaps stepping out on his balcony and bursting into song! "My gift is my Psalm, and this one's for you!"
No matter who you are, where you are in life or your walk with the Lord, there is a Psalm for you, "...and you can run and tell everybody, that this is your Psalm."
Seriously, there is great theology in the Psalms which encompasses the human dilemma of life, while also reminding us of our victory through God over the world. The most powerful message I gain from the Psalms isn't found in the themes of sin, suffering or faith. No, my hope isn't found in an acrostic or a motif. It's not in chiastic structure or the parallelism of any particular Psalm.
My hope is found in the simple fact that there are more than one Psalm of King David. I don't celebrate his numerous shortcomings, even though I can relate to multiple failures. I celebrate his numerous attempts to get it right. David embodied the "get back up again" attitude that we desperately need today. "Forgive me Lord, and try me one more time..." I love that song because it speaks about me. It speaks about David. It speaks about you.
None of us are perfect. We fall, we lose, we make mistakes. Thanks be to God that we can also learn from them! We can learn from the lessons taught in the Psalms through the lives of others so we no longer have to be ignorant or doomed to repeat them. We don't have to make the same mistakes anymore!
"Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction..." - 1 Corinthians 10:11
By definition it means a lack of knowledge or information.
A source that I have found to be a fountain of knowledge and insight once uttered, "Before I do anything, I ask myself if an idiot would do that. If the answer is yes, I do no do that thing!" - Dwight Schrute of "The Office"
While I don't necessarily condone the use of calling others idiots, I do wholeheartedly believe that the essential idea of this quote is life-altering for the believer. We are a people with a long and eventful history. It's filled with heroic and group highs, yet riddled with individual and community lows. We need not look far to find examples of this, however, I would like to direct your attention to the book of Psalms where we find examples of both in abundance.
The author of many of the Psalms is a man from the people who had a range of emotions not unlike our own. He had urges, fears, troubles and nightmares just as we do today. Apart from all his great accomplishments and exploits, perhaps his greatest gift to us today was his writing.
Sometimes, I like to imagine this people's champion perhaps stepping out on his balcony and bursting into song! "My gift is my Psalm, and this one's for you!"
No matter who you are, where you are in life or your walk with the Lord, there is a Psalm for you, "...and you can run and tell everybody, that this is your Psalm."
Seriously, there is great theology in the Psalms which encompasses the human dilemma of life, while also reminding us of our victory through God over the world. The most powerful message I gain from the Psalms isn't found in the themes of sin, suffering or faith. No, my hope isn't found in an acrostic or a motif. It's not in chiastic structure or the parallelism of any particular Psalm.
My hope is found in the simple fact that there are more than one Psalm of King David. I don't celebrate his numerous shortcomings, even though I can relate to multiple failures. I celebrate his numerous attempts to get it right. David embodied the "get back up again" attitude that we desperately need today. "Forgive me Lord, and try me one more time..." I love that song because it speaks about me. It speaks about David. It speaks about you.
None of us are perfect. We fall, we lose, we make mistakes. Thanks be to God that we can also learn from them! We can learn from the lessons taught in the Psalms through the lives of others so we no longer have to be ignorant or doomed to repeat them. We don't have to make the same mistakes anymore!
"Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction..." - 1 Corinthians 10:11
Written by Lt. Darell Houseton
Newark Ironbound
0 comments:
Post a Comment