Afterwords -- the addict's psalm
"To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me." (Psalm 25:1-2)
November 2, 2023
Dear friends,
For a number of years, I served as a volunteer at a Twelve-step alcohol-narcotic rehabilitation center, giving pastoral care to residents seeking a relationship with God. Each week there were men and women who wanted to hear more about the God of the Bible, rather than simply defaulting to a generic god. Step three was turning their will and lives over to the care of God "as we understood him." Our Higher Power has a name, and he has made himself known to us supremely through his Son, our Lord Jesus.
One day I was reading Psalm 25 with a resident, and he exclaimed, "Hey, that's a psalm for addicts!" This psalm became popular when I worked with the residents and was known among them as "the addict's psalm".
Why? Well, there were so many things within that psalm that resonated with those in recovery: feelings of powerlessness and shame; the burden of guilt; times of loneliness and great affliction; the need for mercy and forgiveness from the Lord; and an awareness of the depth of sin: "Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions..." (v 7) "O LORD, pardon my guilt, for it is great." (v 11). Also, very real was the awareness of the power of a hostile enemy and the entangling net of bondage. (v 2, 11, 15, 19) -- "My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net." (v 15)
Now, it's unlikely that David (the author of this psalm) specifically had alcohol or narcotic addiction in his mind as he wrote this song. But, and this is important for us to see, he did realize his utter dependence upon God in the face of a powerful and crafty foe. He realized the seriousness of his sin, the depth of guilt, his need for forgiveness, mercy, and grace, and his desire for God's instruction (guidance, teaching) in order to stay safe on God's path, and to keep his feet from the hidden snares of evil.
Two prominent themes in Psalm 25 are the desperate need for God (v 1, 6, 14), and the kindness of God to instruct the humble (v 4-5, 8-10, 12). Dependence upon God and humble teachability are vital to walking with God in the path of righteousness. Satan is the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy the image of God in man (John 10:10; cf Gen 3:1). The world, the flesh, and the devil oppose -- sometimes violently -- the renewal of that image, the image of Christ in us. This is not a pretend war -- the devil is using live ammunition.
So, you may not be an alcoholic or a drug addict, but every one of us is in recovery (or should be in recovery) from our own addiction to sin (Rom 7:13-25; Gal 5:16-24). Like the Psalmist we too may feel powerless, and we may sense our life is out of control and unmanageable. Like the addict we come to believe that the Lord can restore us to sanity. But even if we do not feel that desperation, we always stand in desperate need for the Lord and his enablement. Apart from abiding in God's word, and obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit, we are much more vulnerable, and in greater danger, than we realize.
As a believer in Christ, our identity now is that of a redeemed, forgiven, and adopted child of God. But not all things are completely new yet. In this life we will always be "recovering sinners." The first of Luther's 95 Theses (posted October 31, 1517) was this: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." That is, every day of our lives we will have need of repentance. Every day we will pray, "deliver us from evil". Every day we will pray, "Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me..." (v 4-5) Every day, to the very end, we will need to fight the good fight of faith.
Psalm 25 is a wonderful passage to pray through verse-by-verse to affirm our trust in the Lord and his forgiveness, and to seek his power and wisdom for the battle against sin. Also, I remembered this past week that this psalm was put to music in a chorus, "Unto Thee, O Lord" (Maranatha! Music, 1974). It's easy to learn, and here are the lyrics.
IN OTHER NEWS.
-- "We became isolated and afraid of other people." (Dino D'Agata) Read how alcoholism (and the journey to recovery) affected one family. Here's a longer excerpt...
"The personality configuration [of addiction] is something I would broaden from alcoholism and narcissism to a more far-reaching spiritual term: idolatry. When people, in the biblical sense, cling to idols (even when in modern parlance we use the nomenclature of personality disorders or psychological diseases), the rest of us become pawns in their quest to please whatever god it is they’ve chosen. These gods can be as broad as successful careers or as cerebral as overarching ideas about life." (Dino D'Agata, Comment essay 11/01/2023)
-- "The wheel of providence revolves, but its axle is eternal love." (C. H. Spurgeon, on Malachi 3:6, "Unaffected by Change")
-- "I say: Love Israel and its neighbors, including the Palestinians.” (Jack Sara, president of Bethlehem Bible College) Some years ago we visited Bethlehem Bible College while in the West Bank. This article reminds us not to forget the Christians caught up in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
-- "We don’t have to be experts in every subject, but we do have to practice strategic hesitation before accepting a claim as true and publicly endorsing it."
-- Here are the world's best cheeses. (I like cheese, but I don't think many of these are available locally.)
-- Dr. Dendro (aka John Seiler) writes in response to my question of whether this is a "mast year" for black oaks. He says, "It is a good acorn year for red oaks in general. Black oak (Quercus velutina) is a type of red oak. All oak species in the 'red oak' group have leaves with pointed tips and their acorns take two years to develop. The 'white oak' group have leaves that have rounded tips like the common white oak (Quercus alba) and their acorns mature in one growing season. The white oaks in this area are having a low acorn year." (The local deer are frequenting our front yard this year like it's an all-you-can-eat acorn buffet under the black oak!)
FINAL QUOTE. "We are, Lewis suggested, like a seed patiently waiting in the earth: waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener’s good time, up into the real world, the real waking. I suppose that our whole present life, looked back on from there, will seem only a drowsy half-waking. We are here in the land of dreams. But the cock-crow is coming." -- Alister McGrath, from C. S. Lewis: A Life (Tyndale, 2013). This is an excellent, albeit more critical, biography of C. S. Lewis.
That's it for this week!
Sandy
Image credit. Photo above by Warren on Unsplash; the drawing below is one of a group of sketches by Edward Hopper of a sleeping cat. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
