Psalm 56 and the Portland Rescue Mission
Writer Author Richard S. Adams
Christian Article
:
Inspirational
- Fiction No
If you read my articles you know I cling to Scripture the way a person clings to a life preserver. As each wave swells up menacingly my hold on Scripture tightens. I do not replace God with Scripture, but it is my constant reminder, assurance, comfort, that yes, God is way out there somewhere, but also right here, aware of everyone and everything. Scripture says that God knows when a little sparrow falls to the ground. Consider that.
Those who do read Scripture read it for a host of reasons; information and knowledge, resource for an argument, and the most dangerous of reasons, as a duty so they can feel good about themselves. It isn't always easy to allow yourself to be vulnerable to what Scripture says. If you do, it will pin you to the wall. Then you have to decide whether to shake that off and go on with life or to allow it to germinate in your spirit. We always have a choice of whether or not to allow the convicting power of Scripture to transform us, but if you stay in it long enough you will eventually stop shaking things off.
I read Scripture personally as though God were talking to me, not someone else. I try to lower my defenses and make myself vulnerable to the sometimes painful sifting process. Today was different. I read Psalm 56 as though it were in the mouth of someone else, someone talking to God about me. Did this have anything to do with a recent trip with friends to the Saturday Portland Market? I remember parking on the Burnside Bridge, across the street from the Portland Rescue Mission. We saw people sleeping on the bridge and in front of the Mission. That is the picture that flooded my mind as I read Psalm 56. Imagine a homeless woman or man, a widow, an orphan, an immigrant reading this Psalm to God with you in mind.
It was both a revelation and an affirmation that we have a long way to go in this thing we call culture. Both the environment as well as animals are more important to us than the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and the homeless. Will God forgive us? What does Scripture say? Is God more concerned about the marginalized or how we separate ourselves from others based on what we (say) we believe?
Maybe I read this somewhere, maybe I heard it somewhere or maybe God dropped this into my spirit. The question is not mine, but is there a place for the greatness of the proud among the faces of the wounded and the marginalized? Where does Jesus seek his church; in the monuments of the rich and famous or among the hearts of the broken and wounded? Where will he find you? Where will he find me?
Editor's Comment:
About the Writer Author
State:
Portland
Country:
Oregon
Email:
rsaofyap@yahoo.com
Website:
www.yukonangelproductions.com
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