Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

September 23
Tuesday


AN EMERGENCY
OF THE SPIRIT

READ:
2 Samuel 1:17-27
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
David Lamented with
this Lamentation
over Saul and over
Jonathan his son.
__2 Samuel 1:17
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

In March 2011, a devastating tsunami struck Japan, taking nearly 16,000 lives as it obliterated towns and villages along the coast. Writer and poet Gretel Erlich visited Japan to witness and document the destruction. When she felt inadequate to report what she was seeing, she wrote a poem about it. In a PBS NewsHour interview she said, "My old friend William Stafford, a poet now gone, said, 'A poem is an emergency of the spirit.' "

We find poetry used throughout the Bible to express deep emotion, ranging from joyful praise to anguished loss. When King Saul and his son Jonathan were killed in battle, David was overwhelmed with grief (2 Sam. 1:1-12). He poured out his soul in a poem he called "the Song of the Bow": "Saul and Jonathan were beloved and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided....How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle!....I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan; you have been very pleasant to me" (vv.23-26).

When we face "an emergency of the spirit'__whether glad or sad__our prayers can be a poem to the Lord. While we may stumble to articulate what we feel, our heavenly Father hears our words as a true expression of our hearts.

__David McCasland

``````````````````````Sometimes I do not pray in words__
``````````````````````I take my heart in my two hands
```````````````````````And hold it up before the Lord__
``````````````````I am so glad He understands. __Nicholsom
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God does more than hear words; he reads hearts.

*******************************Today's bible Reading __ 2 Samuel 1:17-27*****************************

17 Then David lamented
with this lamentation over
Saul and over Jonathan his
son, 18 and he told them to
teach the children of Judah
the song of the Bow...:

19 "The beauty of Israel is
slain on your high places!
How the mighty have
fallen!

20 "Tell it not in Gath,
proclaim it not in the streets
of Ashkelon__lest the
daughters of the Philistines
rejoice....

21 "O mountains of Gilboa,
let there be no dew nor rain
upon you, nor fields of
offerings. For the shield of
the mighty is cast away
there! The shield of Saul,
not anointed with oil

22 From the blood of the
slain, from the fat of the
mighty, the bow of Jonathan
did not turn back, and the
sword of Saul did not return
empty.

"Saul and Jonathan were
beloved and pleasant in
their lives, and in their
death they were not
divided....

24 "O daughters of Israel,
weep over Saul, who
clothed you in scarlet, with
luxury; who put ornaments
of gold on your apparel.

25 "How the mighty have
fallen in the midst of the
battle! Jonathan was slain
in your high places. 26 I am
distressed for you, my
brother Jonathan; you have
been very pleasant to me;
your love to me was
wonderful, surpassing the
love of women.

27 "How the mighty have
fallen, and the weapons of
war perished!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Although Saul had treated David as his enemy, David did not treat
Saul as his. When Saul and his son Jonathan died in battle, David
honored them in the song in today's passage, which opens and
closes with the refrain "How the mighty have fallen!" (vv.19,27).