Thursday, April 19, 2012

Psalm 5:2 (KJV)

"Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray."

There are many of the psalms that start with essentially the same claim on God's attention, and it is a strange thing to ask of a God, no? I mean, wouldn't God know your troubles before you cry them out to Him? In fact, wouldn't he know them before you know them?

Perhaps, but then the relationship between God and man is exactly that. A relationship. And in a relationship, we relate. We tell things. I tell my wife I love her. I've told her for twenty years. And she responds. "I know," she says. And she does. Still I say it and still she responds. It's a relationship.

Crying out to God (and I've done my fair share in recent months) makes a demand on His attention of course, but it also makes a demand on our own attention. There are a thousand little problems I don't decide to bring to God everyday. I handle things on my own. In essence, the prayer I make for His blessing, for his assistance, is a product of prioritization, no? "Here's the stuff that I can't handle on my own. Here's what troubles me most." This is, I think, the meaning of the last segment of the verse. "for to you will I pray." That is, "I'm bringing this issue to you - other issues, I'll take elsewhere or handle in other ways."

Central in the verse, "my King and my God," is key. There's the possessive nature - "my" - and there's the sense of allegiance being paid. "I am your subject and your..." What is the commensurate term? Subject is to king as _____ is to God. Worshipper? Servant? Creation? All of the above? And more?


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