Monday Reflection – September 20, 2021

Monday Reflection – September 20, 2021

Declare Life!

I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. Psalm 118:17

Today’s Watchword is a powerfully confident statement in the midst of all that was going on. It seems clear that David was facing the threat of death, this was a recurring reality in David’s life. His enemies hoped that he would die, and perhaps he himself feared he would perish at their hands. The news of his death may have been spread among his people, as the tongue of rumour is ever ready with bad news. In this context, the Psalmist proclaims himself as yet alive and confident that he shall not fall by the hand of the destroyer. He is cheerfully assured that no arrow could kill him, and no weapon of any sort could end his career. His time had not yet come.

Perhaps too he had been sick and brought to death’s door, but he had a conviction or discernment that his sickness was not unto death, but to the glory of God. Whatever the case, David knew that he should not so die as to give victory to the enemies of God; for the honour of God and the good of his people were both wrapped up in his continued life. While yet alive, he devoted himself to the noblest of purposes, he resolved to bear witness to God’s divine faithfulness, and declare the works of the Lord. He is determined to recount the works of God, and he does so in this Psalm, where he reflects with love and admiration upon the splendour of God’s prowess in the midst of the fight.

This verse is a charge as well as a comfort for us. We will not be hurried from the land of the living. The Lord’s prophets shall live on in the midst of famine, war, plague, and persecution, till they have uttered all the words of their prophecy. God’s priests shall stand at the altar unharmed till their last sacrifice has been presented before him. No bullet will find its billet in our hearts till we have finished our allotted period of activity. We labour on till our time comes. As I write this, I recall that as I shared thoughts about the death of a United Church minister last week, someone reminded me that having being spared from Covid-19, my time had not yet come.

Importantly, to live signifies not barely to live, but to live contentedly and purposefully. It is to commit to live today better than we lived yesterday, as we strive to become more like Christ. Paul affirms in today’s New Testament text in Galatians 2:20 – “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

I wish to also remind us that death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). I believe David emulates this truth in today’s Watchword. Let us learn to speak life to our circumstances. There is so much happening to us and each other, exacerbated by the never-ending and dreaded Covid-19. Pain, sickness and death is everyday news and many cannot find the strength nor time to mourn appropriately. Yet, let us speak life to our pain, life to our sadness, life to our sickness, life to depression, life to mental challenges, life to heartbreak, life after death, life and more life! Let’s rid ourselves of negativity and toxicity and let’s speak life, hope and positivity.

Jermaine Gibson